In October 2014 the National Crime Agency (NCA) admitted that an extensive number of suspected paedophiles will escape prosecution due to the monumental task of actually convicting the flood of cases coming through the door. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP) estimated 50,000 people in the UK are involved in downloading and sharing images of child abuse, out of the suspects a mere 660 arrests have been made.

Keith Bristow, director general of the NCA said ”It was uncomfortable to accept that some of those in the UK who regularly access indecent images of children will not end up facing justice…  law-enforcement agencies must instead focus on the highest-risk offenders.”

A report by CEOP in 2012 found new trends in child sexual abuse offending. CEOP reveals research conducted by the NSPCC;

• Around 5% of UK children suffer contact sexual abuse
• Approximately 190,000 of these will fall victim to contact sexual abuse by a stranger before turning 18, representing more than 10,000 new victims in the UK every year

The second half of 2012 was dominated with reports of sexual abuse from the 70’s and 80’s, most notably the predatory and prolific sexual offending of Jimmy Saville and prominent celebrities in the public eye. The long and ugly list of British politicians and celebrities continues to be exposed and covered up.

With the endemic child abuse we find politicians continuously attributing the culpability on police and local enforcement agencies as though they are the root cause of the explosion of sexual abuse in the UK. Labour called it ‘disgraceful’ adding that the NCA was not fit for dealing with the problem. Former head of CEOP Jim Gamble “the government are now placing blame on the police…” the home office said “we are clear that all crimes should be investigated,” adding that the government was ”determined to stamp out” what was an ”appalling crime.”

Politicians of secular liberal democracies have a habit of ignoring the ideological underpinnings of their governing systems and constantly point figures at the institutions of the state. Such endemic problems in Britain such as the sexualisation of children, abuse of children and women, and a raucous self-indulgent culture are not the cause of governmental bodies whose responsibility is to obtain trends and try to rectify symptoms, but are rooted in the values that these systems are predicated on.

The answer to the question of how we deal with this heinous crime, lies in the process used to treat any disease. Like any disease treating the symptoms merely masks and diverts our attention from the problem whilst only after investigating the root cause can the treatment be found. The ideological question, however is not one for the House of Commons. Instead they would prefer to sensationalise global security issues such as terrorism and the threat posed by an enervated militia thousands of miles away from home.

The proliferation of child abuse is only one of the many symptoms that the Capitalist society displays. The marketing of women as sexual commodities whose value is reduced to lustfully advertising yoghurt and deodorants along with a glamorised celebrity lifestyle of sex and drugs fuelled by a multi-billion pounds pornography industry, the outcome of a hyper-sexualised society is inevitable. When this is married to a narcissistic culture that takes pride in sexual freedom, with no moral consciousness or accountability to God, the outcome is to satisfy desires however you see fit even if that paradoxically crosses the “red line” of sexual freedom.

This reality is however a mouthful to accept and the truth hurts as they say. So instead we see a blame culture by politicians even if it means picking on the minorities and juxtaposing the problem with a particular race or religion. In those limited cases where the ethnicity of the perpetrators was known, white men in gangs were responsible for most of the abuse. In relation to the size of the Black and Asian populations in Britain, Asian perpetrators were over-represented as were Black.

The widely publicised Rochdale grooming case involving 9 Pakistani men tapped into an undercurrent of racism and anti-Muslim feeling with the media and politicians quick to blame culture and religion for why Asian men targeted young white girls. Given the multitude of child abuse claims that have come to light in the wake of hundreds of sexual abuse allegations against Jimmy Saville, the media and the politicians still try to divert attention and exploit this report to highlight the disproportionate representation of particular ethnic groups as perpetrators. In reality, the report shows abuse is not necessarily specific to any ethnic group but a wider societal problem. This means that the underlying societal values are in fact responsible and not an ethnicity, religion, nationality or social class.

Consequences of such dogma has led to parts of the community of Rochdale to be treated indifferently. Just recently a Rochdale Taxi driver admitted to offering his customers with a white driver. Such are the social realities that Muslims will grow up with in Britain due to the government deflecting criticism of the social values of this country and instead shifting the blame to Muslims. Politicians then attempt to gain political expediency by showing the actions they will take to improve the local authorities handling of the symptom and avoid discussion of the cause. In summary, the cause of child exploitation is completely ignored and instead a societal discussion on ethnic minorities, namely the Muslims, takes place, even though statistics show that child exploitation is an endemic problem of the wider society.

In contrast, an Islamic society is underpinned by a completely different set of values to the liberal position. Islam sets out laws to prohibit the sexualisation of women for the gratification of men as Muslims carry a different set of concepts that view man-woman relations as preserving the human race and doesn’t focus on the sexual aspects of the relationship and limits sexual activity to marriage. Islam views sexual freedom as a danger to society that is harmful for the society and leads to corruption. Hence, meetings between men and women in seclusion outside of wedlock is forbidden. It is not permitted for woman to show of her charms to strangers and men and women looking at each other lustfully.

”Tell the believing men to lower from their gaze and to protect their private parts. That is better for them, Allah knows details of what they do, and tell the believing women to lower from their gaze and protect their private parts” (An-Nur:30).

”No man should be in seclusion (Khulwah) with a woman without her Mahram” (Al Bukhari)

Islam inculcates the concept God consciousness and an unwavering and clearly defined moral code for individuals in society.  The Islamic personality is rooted on the basis of accountability to the Creator. This means that a Muslim seeks the pleasure of Allah SWT and not his own desires.

”On the day when Allah will resurrect them all together and inform them of what they did, Allah has kept account of it, while they have forgotten it, and Allah is witness over all things.”

The Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet (saw) addresses men and women as human beings not commodities, it does not objectify women rather sanctifies them, women have the same worth as men in the eyes of Allah (SWT) and what defines them is their piety.

“Whoever commits a sin is requited for just that, and whoever works righteousness -male or female -while believing, these will enter Paradise wherein they receive provisions without any limits.” [Surah Ghafir:40]

“The most complete of the believers in faith, is the one with the best character. And the best of you are those who are best to their women.”(At-Tirmidhi)

“O Messenger of Allah, who is most deserving of my good company?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Then your father.” (Al-Bukhari)

Finally under the political authority of Islam, the Khilafah, the social system is constructed on these values. All Muslims are taught the concept of accountability to God (Taq’wa) and so this self-policing mechanism means that an individual restricts his actions to the Shar’iah.

Secondly, the status of women in Islam is consistent with the political, economic and education system of Islam. This means that companies or politicians would not be free to take advantage of women, nor objectify them. Moreover, the education system will teach the same values to the whole of society and as a result a public opinion is created that shuns the degradation of women as we see in secular liberal societies.

Any individuals that commit such a heinous sexual crime would face strict punishment in order to deter the rest of society from abusing women.