Swept under the Rug

Muhammad West

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Channel: Muhammad West

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Episode Notes

Friday talk recorded on 23rd October 2020

Our Collective Shame

  • South Africa is reported as of the countries with the highest rape statistics in the world
  • 70% of women feel unsafe when walking public
  • Up to 40% of South African women have experienced sexual and/or physical abuse
  • Over 30% of children experienced some form of sexual abuse
  • Very small number is reported

How many in our closest circles have experienced

  • Physical force
  • Unwanted touching
  • Unwanted comments
  • Unwanted looks

Strongest Condemnation

  • This is of the greatest of sins
  • If looking is haram than how much worse is more than that
  • The rights of the weak and vulnerable are the strongest in the eyes of Allah
  • The last advice of the prophet (s)
  • The culprit is an oppressor
  • A person in a position of trust is so much more reprehensible

Beware of the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah. Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4090

  • Penalty for rape is execution
  • Allah’s retribution in these crimes in this world and the next is most sever
  • This crimes gets exposed

Speak Out

“Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart – and that is the weakest of faith.”

Sahih Muslim

It is your duty your jihad to expose and hold the culprit to justice

Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم( ) said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, “O Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم( ) It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم( ) said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.”

Bukhari

Covering the Faults of Others?

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“Whoever removes a worldly hardship from a believer, Allah will remove one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection from him. Whoever grants respite to (a debtor) who is in difficulty, Allah will grant him relief in this world and in the Hereafter. Whoever conceals (the fault of) a Muslim in this world, Allah will conceal him (his faults) in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah will help a person so long as he is helping his brother.”

Narrated by Muslim (2699)

If the sin affects the rights of another person, such as if he sees him stealing from someone’s house or shop, or he sees him committing adultery with the wife of So and so, then it is not permissible for him to cover up for him

If we do not stop them more and more lives will be destroyed by our inaction

Applaud and Support those who Speak Up

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said,

“Verily, among the greatest acts of jihad is a word of justice in front of a tyrant.”

Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2174

Those who speak up give a voice to countless silent sufferers and save countless more potential victims

Social Media Accusations

IMPORTANCE OF VERIFYING INFORMATION
“O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar - evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, 
lest you should harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done”
Surah Al Hujuraat 49:6
يَا أَيُّ هَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ جَاءكَُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَ تَبَ يَّ نُوا أَنْ تُصِيبُوا
قَ وْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَ تُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَ عَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ

The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“It is enough lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears.”

Narrated by Muslim in al-Muqaddimah, 6; Saheeh al-Jaami, 4482

He said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say:


Importance of Verifying Information

“How bad it is for a man to keep saying, ‘They say…’. ”

Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 866

“The believer reserves judgement until the matter is proven.”

Al-Hasan al-Basri said:

Innocent until proven guilty

Why have the normal channels failed?

Swept under the Rug

  • When predators can operate for decades or predators are allowed to offend repeatedly then our system is broken
  • When the victim does not feel safe to tell their family or community leaders our system is broken
  • When the victim does report the crime but nothing ever happens to the predator our system is broken

When we blame and shame the victim eg.

  • Why were you there
  • What were you wearing
  • Why didn’t you say anything earlier

When we care more about the honour of a rapist and molester than an innocent person we are part of the problem

  • When we silence the victim we are an accomplice
  • This is not protecting the dignity of Islam but rather tarnishes the image of Islam

We Stand by You!

  • If you have been harmed then speak up privately or publicly
  • If someone in the position of authority over you (a parent, a teacher, religious leader, boss, etc) ever assaulted you then speak up
  • Remember the story of Yusuf (AS)

Advice to all of us

Protect your Children

  • Monitor them especially holiday time
  • Most crimes against children are by friends or relatives


–Hadith: “…the brother in-law is destruction”

Bukhari

In every home

  • Do not leave them alone
  • Teach them of inappropriate touching and looking
  • If ever they complain to you support them. If they can not confide in you then who can they turn to
  • Look at their attitude towards certain adults

Reforms Needed

Role of imams:

  • Most muslims turn to their imams as their first port of call
  • Sabr and silence is not the way
  • We need to create a safe and dignified platform for victims to report their abuse

We call upon community leaders, counsellors, doctors, lawyers, etc. to create a support structure

A survey should be done in all schools especially religious institutions into this issues

Beware of Private Sins

“I certainly know people of my ummah who will come on the Day of Resurrection with good deeds like the mountains of Tihaamah, but Allah will make them like scattered dust.”
Thawbaan said: “O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us and tell us more, so that we will not become of them unknowingly.”
He said: “They are your brothers and from your race, worshipping at night as you do, but they will be people who, when they are alone, transgress the sacred limits of Allah.”

Narrated by Ibn Maajah (4245); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah

Repent

“And those who, when they have committed Fahishah (illegal sexual intercourse) or wronged themselves with evil, 
remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins; — and none can forgive sins but Allah —
 and do not persist in what (wrong) they have done, while they know”
Surah Aal ‘Imran 3:135
وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَ عَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْ فُسَهُمْ ذكََرُوا اللَّهَ
فَاسْتَ غْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَ غْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلََّّ اللَّهُ وَلَمْ
يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَ عَلُوا وَهُمْ يَ عْلَمُونَ
“And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterward seeks Allah’s forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful”
Surah Al Nisa 4:110
وَمَنْ يَ عْمَلْ سُوءًا أَوْ يَظْلِمْ نَ فْسَهُ ثُمَّ يَسْتَ غْفِرِ اللَّهَ
يَجِدِ اللَّهَ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا

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WARNING!!! AI generated text may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Muslim Central's views. Therefore, no part of this transcript may be copied or referenced or transmitted in any way whatsoever.

AI Generated Summary ©

The speakers discuss issues with violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and the loss of family members. They advocate for protecting vulnerable people and recommending holding onto positions and avoiding harms. They stress the importance of verifying information on social media and avoiding harms, and emphasize the need to act quickly and methodically to prevent further harm. They also emphasize the importance of protecting privacy and creating a safe platform for individuals to express their beliefs. They emphasize the need for forgiveness and protecting people's privacy.

AI Generated Transcript ©


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I was relying on regimes rely on a man or a man from the desirable alameen wa salatu salam ala mousseline signal Muhammad Ali he was off the edge my my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam, Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen always and forever will begin with the praise of Allah Subhana Allah and inshallah Allah Allah Allah Allah we have a witness that none so right abortion besides a loss of data, and we send our love and greetings to beloved Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to his pious until family to his companions and all those who follow the Sunnah until the end of time. May Allah bless us to be steadfast upon the Sunnah of

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Mohammed salatu salam in this life, and to be alongside him in general to the dose in the US euro. I mean, when from the dollar. So we had a lot we were so happy from, from Ronald Islam that we were able to release a survey poll, we you got to mention, and coming to vote, which Joomla topics are most relevant to you, and we thank you for your, your, your response, and so on. Although we did not expect that today we would be talking about gender based violence, and it is not an easy topic to talk about. And this is, of course, following allegations that have been leveled in our community, just you know, over the past couple of days, and collectively we know spawn a lump. We've said this

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many, many times that South Africa is consistently one of those countries that has a pandemic it has not just when I thought what a pandemic was something worse than the Coronavirus. It is the violence against women and children, etc. sexual abuse of women and children that

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not just specific to these latest allegations. Botswana law we know that study of the study shows that the vast majority of the women in South Africa they feel unsafe, they feel that they are potentially either either they have experienced sexual abuse, they have experienced some form of abuse, or the fearful that you know, the squid could harm them. A study done into the season, up to 40% of South African women have experienced some form of sexual abuse panela 40% year four out of 10 women around us has experienced some form of sexual abuse. And even more scary and shocking, we have of the highest incidences of violence against children. One in three children, I have three kids,

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and to think that one of them based on these statistics would be a victim of sexual abuse, you know, it gives me You know, it makes me sick to my stomach and some heinola we give this for this would be the lecture also very hot and something that we we we want we need to see a change in our community. And as horrible as these statistics are, we know that only a small fraction only a tiny fraction of the true situation on the ground gets reported for many times the victim is too afraid to embarrass to report this. It is sometimes swept under the rug and today insha Allah we'd like to address this issue and that is why today's topic is actually called swept under the rug because this cannot

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continue anymore. And Subhanallah and you know if we really as a family want to deal with this issue, head on, it becomes incumbent if you are the the you know the patriarch if you will the matriarch of your family, Babs, take this weekend to sit down with the kids in your family to sit down with the teenagers of your family even those who are in the advanced years and ask in your closest circles of friends. Has anyone ever experienced physical force sexual abuse unwanted touching unwanted inappropriate comments from someone at work someone at school someone in your in your immediate circle even looks wahala inappropriate looking as anyone experienced this and you

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might be surprised you might be shocked at what what comes out. So we begin with there's a number of issues that we need to address here today. We begin with the strongest condemnation and you know unreservedly

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we condemn in the strongest terms any abuse against any other person, whether it is verbal, physical, sexual, emotional, financial, Islam is a religion of rights and it's a religion to protect the rights of every single human being in this world of every faith and SubhanAllah. So we condemn anyone who has harmed any other human being and this form of harm sexual abuse, is of the greatest of the Kabbalah. It is of the major, major sins and ease of the most heinous sins in the sight of Allah Subhana Allah think about it in the Quran, Allah has said it is haram for us to look at someone with lust to even look at someone inappropriately it is haram. It is mentioned in the Quran

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that we should lower our gaze both to men and women. Allah said that looking is haram. So what about commenting? What about touching? What about forcing oneself upon another person? Why do you have to be loved? And Subhanallah? As I said before, many many is in the Quran. Surah Nisa in particular, Allah has mentioned the strongest, the strongest, into the strongest stems how the rights of women, orphans and children have used in the last part Allah Allah is deeply

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Sacred when it comes to the rights of the vulnerable in our community, and it is those the last advice behind Allah moments before, you know, before the process of my pathway listing 24 hours before he passed away, the final advice was to care for those that are weak and vulnerable in our community. And as for the, the culprit, the predator, the one that perpetrates this abuse thing, he is a volume, he is an appraiser, and of the worst categories of people on the day of kiama, would be the Titans the volume in those who oppress others, the likes of their own, and the surrounds that we find here in the dounia. Those who in their own households that they are tyrants, they families live

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in fear of them, they exploit and abuse them. And panela As I said before, if we look through the Quran, have the highest and the most severe consequences of those who harm and harm other people. And so, I personally in the position of trust, a person who is in a position of authority, whether it is you know, your boss at work with it is the Imam of the masjid your teacher, an educator, your father, your grandfather, Subhana, Allah, anyone who is in a position of trust over someone vulnerable, and they abuse and exploit that trust, that it is more reprehensible. And of course, the sun is just compounded. And we say to all those who has done this, and will continues continuing to

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do this in particular, or someone that has done this and has gotten away with it a lot the promises will cease to be way of the do out of the oppressed to be we have the person that you have harmed that you have heard, for there is no barrier between that door and Allah Subhana Allah and the P that there are people that we have heard, and Subhanallah they are making do out against us, we should be way that ultimately alas pantalla will take action but even if you know the law, even if even if the leadership of the community, you know, never could come out and support these people. It is a loss behind the Allah that takes it upon himself to take action. And we know the civility with

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a lot takes action. So had a lot something to ponder about something to think about. The worst punishment you could find in the Sharia is of course, stoning. And stoning. Very rare. It is very rarely practiced, you hardly ever find someone being stoned to death. But stoning is in the case of two consensual people to people who couldn't have intercourse consensually to married people and commit adultery. What if it is Suhana law done by force by one party, then it is not only Zina that requires stoning. But it requires an additional punishment of abuse and additional punishment of causing mischief of harming someone. And so some heinola the punishment is even more severe. We know

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the punishment for right just on its own is execution, what Subhana Allah and more and the prophets of Salaam, as we said, In a previous footbaww, that a person was convicted of committing rape in Medina, and he was sentenced to death he was executed. And so if that is the penalty in the dounia, we can only imagine the retribution in the Acura and so panela we ask that all of us whatever crimes we have committed to come clean, and to confess our sins not to not to any person but to confess our sins to Allah. And to make it right the harms that we have done. Because of course, the pipe whatever difficulties is in the dunya, the Astros retribution is so much worse. And these times

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behind Allah, Allah has shown time and time again, it becomes exposed in some Allah protect us for the sins that we do that these things come out. And so we need to speak out against this. And we should, you know, move away from this. This this concept of sweeping things under the rug and remaining quiet and covering things up a lot. The prophets of Solomon says whoever abuses and evil action, let him change it with his hand, and he wasn't able to do so then let him change it with his tongue meaning he speaks out against it. And he was too weak to even do that, then he's hot should the test this thing and he should make do out against it. And this is the weakest form of email

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that's behind a lot. If a case has come to you as an Imam, or your kids have complained to you as a parent or as an educator, and you see something wrong being this has come to you now then it is your responsibility. It is your duty is logic upon you to do something about it. It is not sufficient to say that it's not my business or have supper or keep quiet, it will just go away. This must change and Subhanallah it is an incumbent command from the Prophet Salaam that if we see something wrong, then we need to do something about it. Because if we don't we become complicit in that in that wrong. It is our duty to expose these culprits not. You know, I'm not saying that everything should

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be done publicly. But I'm saying that these people should be brought should be brought to justice. And it is a type of jihad, in fact, an easy Jihad because it is not easy. speaking against those in authority, speaking against those who have done the wrong and have in a position of power, they've abused people. It is a type of jihad and that's why the prophet SAW Solomon says that we should help our brother, whether he is the oppressed or the oppressor, and the Sahaba said Yasuda wa Salaam we understand that we should always support the oppressed, we should stand for the rights of those who have been oppressed, but how do we support the oppressor and so the process of this is by preventing

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him from causing operation or her from causing the operation and Subhanallah when we take action, we are doing justice to the victim.

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And to the oppressor, we are helping the victim and the oppressor, we are rectifying the oppressor and preserving the rights of the oppressed. And so long as this continues, then we perpetuate oppression in our in our community. And so we speak out against these things. And we use this concept and people ask, but does not the Sharia say that we should cover faults and if we see something wrong, we should you know, make things a mark mathema to the only these become open Allah, Allah doesn't want us to expose the faults easily. He's a hadith in Sahih Muslim with the provinces

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waiver conceals the fault of a Muslim in this world, Allah will conceal the fault of another person in this world and in the Acura. So yes, indeed, we make things close, but understand what this means. This means that whenever you see somebody in the club, and she hasn't harmed anyone, she hasn't taken the rights of anyone she's done something that was not correct. She had a slip of judgment. It is not important for you, you should not be plastered all over social media and let everyone know what Sylvania did. We saw how much vanilla leaving the liquor store, we should not make and speak to it as we speak to the person who committed the sin, guide them advise them. But

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it's not meant to be made publicized. A person committed a mistake 2015 years ago, it didn't harm anyone. It didn't harm anyone's rights. It only is a sin between that person and last panel data, there is no reason to make this public. However, if the sin is ongoing, and it harms and a fix the rights of some person financially, emotionally, if someone's rights are being taken away, if someone's dignity is being harmed, then it is our responsibility to stop this thing and we need to bring the the culprits to justice. And if we do not do so, then this this oppression the sin will destroy more and more lives. So we need to understand that just as much as we keep things quiet. In

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cases of battles between that person and last dollar when it matters of the dunya when it harms a person, when someone is a victim, then it is our require our prophets of Salaam says we need to stand up against against oppression. And therefore we applaud those who had the courage to come forward. We applaud those who had the courage to speak out because in this area, especially matters of sexual abuse, there is a great amount of stigma, there is a great amount of of a you know a backlash behind the law. You know, instead of supporting the victim, you find people actually criticizing the victim, people asking nonsensical questions, you know, to degrade the victim. And so

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we say to those who have the courage to speak up, the Prophet says to you that Verily, amongst the most the mightiest forms of jihad is to speak a word of truth or a work of justice in the face of a tyrant. Will you speak up to someone who is abusing and harming people, and you speak the truth against them, then this is the highest form of jihad and SubhanAllah. With us speaking up, you give voice to the countless millions of people that are that are suffering in silence. There are so many people that we walk by, we work with that we are neighbors that have gone through some kind of trauma, they carry the scars for the for for the rest of the lives, they never had the courage to

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come out to Angela, and when they hear someone speaking up, it gives them hope. And we hope and more than that, we hope that it is a deterrent for any other victims in the future. There was no part of this discussion about speaking out. I was asked what about social media? isn't the right place in the right platform? Should we put everything on Facebook and mentioned names that everything comes out? Is this is this the right way? The prophets of Allah Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran in Surah Surah O you who believe if asik if someone comes to you with with any news, then verify it first least you should harm people in events, and afterwards you become very grateful for what you

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have done. So as much as we say that, yes, we need to speak out. Not everything that is put on social media we know is correct. And not every accusation that is made on social media, you know, is something that we should just we should take as face value as being true. Allah Subhana Allah tells us that it before we act on any information we need to verify before we hurt someone in increments. So something comes to you someone is mentioned in on you know, some allegation is leveled whatever it might be, either the person labeling the lie, if you if we're not away, if we not, do not know the circumstances, then we have to investigate and Subhanallah the mission just also lapses. It is

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enough for someone to be considered a liar by showing everything that he is there anything we see on social media, we spoke about this before that you see something you don't know if it's true or false, but you see it, and you publicize it, then you become accountable for it. If that person was made a mistake in that person spoke out of turn, if we harmed a victim in some way, the interrupt handler we share in the guilt. And so the basic default is that if we don't know and if we're not involved in the situation, then we should investigate. And of course, as we know that a person is presumed

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innocent until proven guilty. And this is the default that everyone deserves a trial everyone deserves, you know, a fee earring out. And SubhanAllah. We need to though we we while we understand that, for me, the question is why have these victims and many victims have come out, and they've used social media to, to, to mention and to to bring forward this, these, you know the problems that they have faced the abuse that they have been faced, why have the formal channels failed, and without discussing the pros and the cons of social media and a Hamdulillah, we must say Alhamdulillah, that people have found a voice in social media and social media has been a platform

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with we know changes as caused, you know, change has happened across the world, the me to movement, Black Lives Matter. What it tells us is that the systems that we have in place, they are failing, they are failing the vulnerable people in our community, they are failing our women and children, they are failing those people that are that experienced oppression. The week is in China, for example, had it not been for social media, we would not have known of what's happening the little hinga

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you know, people of different ethnicities that are preached on a daily basis, because the system has failed because the formal channels support or protect the oppressor, and they do not support the oppressed. That is why people have resorted to social media. And so I think, a far more important discussion for us as a community. For us, as you know, as orlimar. as lawyers, as educators, as community leaders as media, we need to ask, Why are the structures that are mean to report these incidents? Why have they failed? Why has the formal channels failed? And why is the a, a conception a you know, this is, you know, everyone says this, you find comments upon comments on social media

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platforms that these matters are raised, but they're swept under the carpet, they are brought to the people in authority, and nothing ever happens. And so we need to ask ourselves when a predator can operate, and he can prey on victims for decades, when decades of victims, you know, have come forward and have given testimony and the spirit is not removed from a position of power. When a person when most of the offenders you'd find are repeat offenders, meaning they have victimized many, many victims, then, of course, we know there is something wrong with our system, the system is broken, when the victim does not feel safe to tell the parents, the grandparents to tell the family

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to reach out to the local Imam, the community leaders, they teach us if the victim does not feel safe by those people entrusted to care for them, then of course, it tells us that there is something wrong with our with our system. When the victim does not own the victim does even report when they have the courage to report the crime. And they say that we've taken this metaphor to the relevant authorities, but nothing ever happened. The perpetrator continues to operate continues to exploit more victims, than the stealth of our system is broken. And we need to we need to look at that. When we blame when a victim is blamed for coming out and speaking the truth when a victim comes to report

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the case, and instead we ask the victim Why were you there? What were you waiting? What did you say to cause this when Subhanallah it tells us that we have completely completely done a disservice to the victims, and we are actually supporting the perpetrator. And so then these matters gets swept under the rug. And we can we we if we came more about preserving the honor of a rapist or a molester and, and deny and forget about the honor and the dignity of an innocent victim, then we become part of the problem. And when we see this happening, and it becomes more convenient to remain silent, to say have sober, make dua and to allow the abuse to continue, then we become complicit in that. And

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this is not in the in line and the teachings of Islam. This is not in line with what Islam teaches. So behind all of the story that is most mentioned in the Quran, is not the most of standing up to oppression, that'd be Moses standing up to Pharaoh and be Moses speaking against that which he was doing. And so Islam, Islam, and it's not the thing that hurts me the most. It's not just that the a person's dignity and honor has been harmed when we keep these things silent, and we allow it to continue. It tarnishes the dignity of Islam. Islam is the one that gets blamed when Islam Subhana Allah has nothing to do with us. Islam tells us speak out against against oppression. And so for

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those who have spoken on publicly, we commend you and we say we as a community, we stand with you that you should not feel that you are alone. That's behind Allah. Allah Subhana Allah says in Surah medalla a lady comes to the house a lamp, and she complains about a husband who had abused now he did not Peter is not physically abused. He did not sexually abused is not

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financially abused. What did he do? He said a vulgar word to her. He, you know, verbally abused by saying something very, that hurts her deeply. So she came to the libido something to complain about. My husband said this to me, and before the prophets of Salaam could respond

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Before the Prophet could even answer her appeal, a lot is funded by Allah Allah is called a semi Allah. Allah says I, Allah has heard the complaints of the majority of the lady who complained about her husband and she has taken the meta to Allah, that Allah says to all those silent victims, that Allah is your plight, and Allah and Allah this surah tells you as one seed of the surah if you look at in every irons, chromojet Allah, the only surah in the Quran way in every verse, Allah mentions his name, to say that Allah is with you, oh victim, that if you are not able to voice you your pain, then ally years it and Allah subhanho wa Taala is your molar, he is your protector, hospital, low

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net monokey lead sufficient for us last panda Allah in the case, we no one stands with you, Allah is with you. And so if you are have been harmed, we again appeal to you that you need to come forward. And you need to expose the harm that is being done because patola not just for your own sake, the fear is that these people continue to perpetrate this harm. And so whether it is through the formal channels, and whether it is done privately and it must be seen again. So behind Allah, many of these victims, they have taken the formal channels, they went to the families, they went to different bodies, they went different routes, and it fell on deaf ears, and then they took to social media, no

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one does this to get likes, no one does this, so that they they face can be shared. In fact, no one wants the face to be a real social media in this regard. And social heinola we need to we need to really, really think deep and hard how we're going to assist and create a platform that is safe, and so that people who have been victimized can come forward and speak and speak out against those in authority who have harmed you. And those who have assaulted you that this is it is it is a you know these people continue to perpetrate this. And remember spatola anyone in this situation takes things from a story of never useful Islam. He was of course, as we know, a victim of sexual exploitation,

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the lady of the house, she was in a position of power. He was an orphan, she had control, she had gods and she forced herself upon him. He fought and he rejected her. He's in as much as he could. Eventually he was imprisoned. And after years of being imprisoned, when he was finally released, he then exposed and he insisted that a court case be made, so that it must be known what was done, and that to exonerate himself, and to bring to bring justice. And so behind Allah, so they'll be usefully salami did not say, look, this thing that happened 10 years ago, 20 years ago, we'd all to keep quiet, no Subhana Allah, he actually raised it and he took the matter to the king. And he and

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he saw justice, and this is what Allah and Allah commands from us. And so beyond this specific issue and beyond, and hamdulillah we pray that Allah that Allah saves you and me from ever being victimized in this way and our children, more than that, more than being the victim, that Allah protect us from ever being the culprit. But Allah protect us from ever harming anyone, abusing anyone taking the rights of anyone, whether it is financially, whether it is physically, whether it is a dignity, they named Bella protect us and advice to all of us. Number one, let us be very careful with regards to our children's panela we know this festive season coming up that you know

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people are out and about, and we need to monitor our children. Unfortunately, we live in a very unsafe and unsafe environment. And most of the times the the criminal the ones that harm our children are the people that we trust our relatives, sadly, people, family members, friends that are in and out people that we could never have imagined they are the ones that we should be most wary of. There's not just clinically proven from the hadith of Man comes gonna be so Solomon says, My wife, you know, the way she dresses and whatever in the confines of a house, she may do this as she pleases no problem. But what happens is my brother comes in many has a brother in law comes over to

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cheat dress appropriately around him. And the Prophet says, The brother in law is this meaning that the in laws Subhana Allah, the relationship between uncle and brother in law and all these things it can become, it can really it is sometimes the source of sickness, it is the source of how problems can happen. And so we should always be vigilant and be careful that in every home and in every home, this could happen. It could happen with a decent Bishop Lee was a bishop score, these things happen. And so we should be very, very careful and we should monitor, monitor our children, we should know where they are, we should not leave them alone for extended periods of time. When when we when we

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leave, we should make sure that they are really in the key of someone that we trust, and we should teach them about inappropriate touching and looking and without children complaints. panela when our children come to us as parents as teachers, and they say that they felt that they felt something happened that was inappropriate. They felt some and they come to you to express a concern in confidence. It is your duty Subhana Allah it is what you have upon you it is forced upon you that you take this seriously that you have given him a yearning that you investigate this and that you find out because children will not make up stories of this nature. And that's

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heilala children are old enough to understand what is appropriate and inappropriate touching. And if children cannot turn to the parents who support for assistance, where do they go besides for that, and so, look at how children act with regard to certain other adults look and be careful if the personality has changed, it will become quiet, speak to them, they should know that they have, they can always speak to the parents, and you as a parent will have the backs upon a lot. Beyond this, there is definitely a need for reform, that swannell as a community, we are hurting and we are tired of hurting that we are bleeding and we want us to stop as imams. We've said this before, that unlike

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any other faith based community, our our community relies upon us more than that the Christians rely on the police and the Jews. They lie on the rabbis, because whenever there's a problem in the community, the first port of call is to find a local Imam mowlana to go to the MDC ojama hamdulillah. For that we love that we love that our community still comes to the Imam and sees the Imam as a source of guidance, a source of assistance, that Islam will be ready to protect me. But it also means that we are in a very, very strong position of Amana, we have a position of trust. And we should, of course, do whatever it takes to make sure that the people that come to us with concerns,

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we support them, we give them the necessary assistance. And then we stop the abuse to the best of our ability, we should encourage them to make formal cases where the police, it is it is the time of you know, suffer and be silent, is overspent a lot. Why? Because this person that is causing the abuse continues to cause the abuse, calling the man in and telling him, you know, you've done this abuse, please stop and make nobody's difference this time for so many different, but a predator does not stop. And so we should make sure that these cases are taken to the law and the law is practiced to the full extent, and so that someone has committed this wrong, you know, part of Islam is

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justice, this person needs to be brought to justice. And so as Imams, we need to do whatever it takes to support the victim. And to make sure that the as our primary concern is the well being of the victim and those vulnerable in our community. We need to create a safe platform and a dignified platform where people can safely voice the concerns if anyone was harmed, any comment was made against them any touching was done anything that anyone was victimized, they should be a very safe, secure, easily accessible platform with a report of abuse can be lodged, and it can be done in a very a dignified manner. And then the required investigation can then follow the fact as I said

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before, before we talk about why do people go on social media. My question is, why would the Why has the normal channels failed? And what can we do to ensure that those channels are restored. And this is where our our energy needs to be put in. We as community leaders, counselors, doctors, lawyers, Imams, all of us, we need to come together and form some kind of support structure, so that people should know that immediately, if something happens, that every child, every woman, every man, everyone young old, should know that if something, something that happened and was not right, I know exactly who to turn to. They will be the champion my rights. I even mentioned Subhana Allah,

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perhaps, to understand the full scale of what is happening. Do we do have a survey in our schools on madrassas, or masjids, who has experienced in their life? Who Suhana is currently experiencing gender based violence? Do we have the courage to have an anonymous survey just to look statistically the Muslim community, how prevalent is this issue? And I they say we will be shocked, we will be scaled, and that results, and every schools will handle it is our duty to ask our learners that, you know, is this happening? It is a duty of trust that we allow is placed upon us, you know, to take these this What if we cannot try to protect our women and children? You know, what are we doing as

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leaders as like as a community, if our people live in fear, if our people have been abused and nothing happens, then it's an indictment on all of us.

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For all of us who handle and there is no exception to this. This is what we know. We have twos lives that we live we live a public life that which people see people admire people respected our work and you know what we do publicly? But then is the private side what do we do in private? What do we do when it's all alone? Just us analyst pantalla us and those that are you know, you know, key, the provinces of MCs and how true this is, I certainly know of people of my alma will come on the day of kiama with good deeds that like mountains, you know, like mountains, that's how many good deeds they in the public sphere. They, they they built mosques, they

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were part of committees they did so much good in the public sphere that they have deeds, like the mountains, but Allah will make it like just a lower 95 all of them that they have piano and also have a beacon shop.

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Missing what these people what what person is this will come with mountains of good deeds, but it will be made now Allah will completely nullify all the good deeds, Allah will reject all those good deeds of FTM. Who are they? The processes? These are not strangers. These are people, our brothers, they look like you they amongst us. They are the people that we see they today who are they? They are the ones who basically in the public arena, they live a certain lifestyle, but when they are alone the promises, they transgress the sacred limits of Allah, then they go, they come at the worst of times when they are alone in the public sphere, in their private life. And so somehow not all of

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us this is not thinking about specific

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incidences, but how all of us have probably asked what is it that we search late at night? What do we communicate lately? What do we do when when the eyes of the world is upon us? What kind of life do we live in a private in our private capacity, this Hadees tells us that we should be we have those things that we do when we're all alone. And when I was seekers, we should not have dirty secrets and things in the closet that if people come out, it will nullify all the good deeds that we've done, it will ruin our reputation in the dunya and SubhanAllah. The reputation of the asker is far more far more severe. So most popular protect us, Allah grant our private lives to be even more

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beautiful than our public life. My relationship with Allah, the deeds that we do privately for the sake of Allah be even more beautiful than that which we do in the public arena. And lastly, of course, with every crisis, we know that a loss while we're still here, we're still alive those of Toba and healing and repentance is open the last prime dialysis and say to those who when they have come with a fascia, they've come with immortality, they've come with the worst of sins, or they wronged themselves with evil, they should remember Allah and ask forgiveness for the sins and then can forgive sins but Allah and do not persist in what they do not persist in what they have done of

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wrong. While they know a loss, Panda is extending an opportunity for all the centers of the world, stop what you're doing, make it make it stiffer, make it right, what you have learned part of part of repentance. Part of repentance is of course, number one, stopping the sun. And number two, it is about restitution. Making sure whatever was taken from the victim is returned. If you stole someone's hard money financially, to return it, you cannot get its default until you've made the restitution. And if you harm someone's dignity, then you need to you need to accept whatever justice is applied upon you in the dunya to safeguard you from the justice of the asset or the justice of

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the accident is far more far more severe. And then of course to repeat it to make it stay far, even the worst of sinners. But if they reform themselves in the dunya, then they may find forgiveness from Allah in the theater and whoever does evil or wrong. Allah says and afterwards seeks forgiveness, he will find a lot of forgiving, Most Merciful ask Allah Subhana Allah, Rama Rama pasa

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cuando Hassanein Allah, we have all sinned, and we all transgressed openly and secretly, as soon as we have done sins that we don't even know that we're doing that Allah forgive all of us. Yeah, Allah did not expose our sins in this dunya and in the area Allah what ever since we're doing grant us the strength to desist from it, forgive us for transgressing the limits and harming anyone. Yeah, Allah protect us and our children, protect our children in the law. Please protect our children and protect our community grant us to be better grant us to be a community that displeasing to you, and grant us to be successful in this dunya and the Astra Dracula hate them Allah Subhan Allah have

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mercy upon all of us, mean also la Sina Mohammed while early he also have a username and Warzone while Laravel alameen Santa Monica masa de la Helvetica to