Maryam Amir – Sexual abuse allegations and the Islamic Response

			I have heard many in the community say
		

			that we should look towards the life of
		

			the Prophet to know how to respond to
		

			the allegations of child sexual assault.
		

			And in doing so, I have noticed that
		

			there is only one incident that's consistently mentioned,
		

			and that is the slander of Aisha, that
		

			there were companions who participated in slandering our
		

			mother, and in doing so, they were part
		

			of a grave sin.
		

			And therefore, we should wait before we have
		

			any more information about the allegations against Wissam
		

			Sharif.
		

			I'd like to share with you that that
		

			comes from a place of deep concern for
		

			our community.
		

			The problem is that when we prioritize a
		

			particular incident in the time of the Prophet
		

			ﷺ, and overextend legal maxims that we can
		

			derive from that incident, instead of mentioning other
		

			instances in the life of the Prophet ﷺ
		

			that are more applicable in this moment, ones
		

			in which injustice occurred, ones in which the
		

			Prophet ﷺ held a perpetrator responsible and accountable,
		

			and taught his community ﷺ accountability, what we
		

			do is then give credence to the idea
		

			that speaking about child sexual assault or *,
		

			speaking about gendered violence, speaking about *, creating
		

			child *, only happens in this one instance
		

			or on very rare occasions, when in reality
		

			speaking about it right now in this moment
		

			is so critical because child sexual assault, *
		

			exists in every community.
		

			This is not one instance in which it
		

			has happened and it is shocking and it's
		

			never existed before or again.
		

			There are adults who are watching this video
		

			who are the victims and survivors of child
		

			sexual assault, who from their Qur'an teacher
		

			as a man were molested or assaulted when
		

			they were a little boy.
		

			From their time that they were a child,
		

			a young girl in the home of their
		

			parents may have been assaulted or molested by
		

			their mother or by a grandfather.
		

			So taking this moment in our community to
		

			instead of prioritizing the conversation on protecting the
		

			potential perpetrator, instead of holding accountability for the
		

			victim, creating systems of accountability within our communities.
		

			Beyond this case, we are going to change
		

			our community to ensure that our victims of
		

			child sexual assault know that we will never
		

			tolerate it and we will act swiftly like
		

			the Prophet ﷺ did when there was a
		

			woman who was going to the masjid to
		

			pray in Medina and she was raped and
		

			she came to the Prophet ﷺ and the
		

			Prophet ﷺ found the perpetrator and the Prophet
		

			ﷺ held accountability.
		

			We can draw from both incidents and honor
		

			the idea that we should always speak with
		

			caution but we should also recognize that child
		

			sexual assault, *, gendered violence, grooming, spiritual abuse
		

			are all realities in every community including ours
		

			and that our religion teaches us how to
		

			navigate prioritizing victims, protecting the most vulnerable and
		

			ensuring that our community has a no-tolerance
		

			policy.