Why Did Islamic Teaching Not Stop the 'Grooming Gangs'?
The 'Prophet' on Rape
The decades old scandal of British girls being sexually abused by gangs that are mostly made up of Pakistani-background Muslim men is finally getting the attention it deserves. An element that perplexes a lot of people is why the men's religious background did not act as a ‘brake' on their behaviour. Surely, Islam teaches that rape is wrong under all circumstances? Not so fast.
Let us focus for a moment on how Muhammad responded to the sexual abuse of women captured by his forces. What follows should perhaps be avoided by sensitive readers.
In one of the most disturbing hadiths of the Sahih Muslim collection, some of Muhammad’s followers came to him with a question about the treatment of captive women. His answer was staggering in its callousness and its implications for later Muslim conduct.
Here is the relevant hadith in full: “We went out with Allah’s Messenger [may peace be upon him] on the expedition to the Bi’l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, [but at the same time] we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing “azl” [withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception]. But we said: ‘We are doing an act whereas Allah’s Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him?’ So we asked Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad] [may peace be upon him], and he said: ‘It does not matter if you do not do it [withdraw before climaxing], for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born’” (Sahih Muslim Book 8 Hadith 3371; see also Sahih Bukhari Volume 3 Book 34 Hadith 432).
In case it needs to be spelled out, what we have here is a group of Muslim men raping captive women while taking care to withdraw before they reach the point of climax.
Instead of furiously commanding them to stop such vile conduct, and taking the women into his protection, Muhammad cheerfully instructs his followers to do to the women whatever they desired. To make matters even worse, Muslim tradition states that the following verse of the Qur’an was revealed precisely to ease the qualms of Muslim warriors about having sex with enslaved captives: “Also [prohibited are] women already married, except those whom your right hands possess” (Qur’an 4:24).
So, according to the word of Allah, if “your right hand possesses” a woman, sex with her is totally lawful even if she is married. It does not take much imagination to work out that untold miseries were visited upon women who were unfortunate enough to be captured by Muslim forces as a direct consequence of Muhammad’s actions and the Qur’anic approval of rape that followed on from it.
It can, of course, be argued that what happened with the ‘rape gangs’ in Britain does not present an exact parellell with what is describe above. Muhammad's teaching presupposes armed conflict and the the holding of slaves. However, the cited hadith definitively establishes the principle that there are certain circumstances in which rape is entirely permissable, receiving sanction from no less a figure than the prophet of Islam.
It is but a short step from believing ‘rape is not always wrong' to rationalising abhorrent behaviour. This is evidently what happened in the case of several, supposedly devout, perpetrators. They made a point of seeing the girls they were abusing as ‘property’ (i.e., ‘their right hands possessed them’). If they could convince themselves that this was the case, they could also convince themselves that their religion does not stand in the way of their actions, quite the contrary in fact.
For much more about the links between Islamic teaching and violence (including sexual violence), see my book ‘Nothing to do with Islam - Investigating the West’s Most Dangerous Blind Spot’
Kind regards,
Peter
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