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Three Ways We Can Protect Our Children From Jimmy Saville Imams

“Surah Adiyat,” my friend says. “I still remember the surah [chapter of the Quran] I was reading when he touched me. I was 8 years old.”

I ask my friend to identify the paedophile who abused him but my friend is reluctant to do so as his abuser is now dead.

However, I manage to find out from him that it was someone prominent in the Wimbledon area in south west London, possibly connected to Wimbledon Mosque, who “taught” Quran to children some 40 years ago.

For those of who you don’t know, Sir Jimmy Saville was a children’s presenter on the BBC for almost 20 years from the 1970s to the 1990s.

He used to have a children’s show called “Jim’ll Fix It” in which young children would write in to him and he would fulfill their dreams.

At the time, Jimmy Saville was every child’s hero, an angel who would make their dreams come true. I remember writing to him as a young boy, asking him to “fix” a trip to Disneyland for me.

The Queen honoured him with a knighthood (the “Sir” title) and he won dozens of other awards and accolades.

After he died in October 2011, over 450 people came forward to testify that he had sexually abused them. It appeared that Saville wasn’t just fulfilling the dreams of the children, he was fulfilling his own dreams.

For years the BBC was aware of these allegations but they refused to take them seriously. They thought that by brushing the matter under the carpet it would disappear.

And it’s just as well that Saville never replied to my letter. Instead of Disneyland I might well have ended up in Thailand if Jim had agreed to “fix” my dreams.

So the subject of this week’s blog post is to warn against Jimmy Saville imams (or Jameel Savilles if you like). By this mean I mean paedophiles disguised as imams.

Before I continue I just want to add that a few readers feel uncomfortable when I talk about taboo subjects on my blog.

Some fear that talking about such things “gives a bad name to Islam infront of non-Muslims.”

I think it is important that we remember that Islam is not an anti-aging beauty cream which we have to “sell” and “beg” people to buy from us. Islam is sufficiently robust to protect itself from image or reputation problems.

People who mock the Quran or the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) have been doing it for centuries, it isn’t something new. Yet it has still not prevented Islam from remaining the fastest growing religion in the world, especially in Western countries.

We should be careful to distinguish between criticism of un-Islamic practices of Muslims, and Islam.

We should be confident to talk about taboo subjects and problems that exist within the Muslim community because the first step in solving a problem is to admit that it exists.

If we brush these issues under the carpet and pretend that they do not exist, we prevent our community from growing and progressing.

During the years I was in prison in the UK there were many outwardly “devout” Muslim prisoners in the “VP” wings (living quarters).

Among them were Muslim clerics in prison for abusing children they were supposedly teaching the Quran.

“VP” is a prison acronym for “vulnerable prisoner”, which means paedophiles, rapists, rats and other prisoners who are vulnerable to being attacked by other prisoners because of the nature of what they have done.

In UK prisons, VPs live, exercise, work and associate completely separate to mainstream prisoners. When VPs move within the prison, they are cordoned off from mainstream prisoners. There is no contact between the two groups.

Rats (informants, grasses, snitches, etc.) are definitely bottom of the prison food chain because even paedophiles look down at rats and frequently attack rats in their wings.

While in prison I met a Muslim prisoner who told me that when his younger sister was 12, his mum used to send her for Quranic lessons with a man at a shop.

It turned out that the teacher had been touching her inappropriately.

When her brother (the prisoner telling me this story) found out he wanted to go to the man’s shop and smash his face in, but his mother prevented him because it would bring “be-izzati” (dishonour) upon their family.

And then some Muslim prisoners from Slough told me about the “mawlwi on a bike” – a man in Slough who used to go round to the houses of families on a bicycle to teach their children the Quran

It turned out that he was also inappropriately touching the children, inside their own homes when the parents were not looking.

In this case, the families were brave enough to believe their children and take action. This paedophile went to prison.

These are real stories about real people that happened to people that I know.

The reason I am unashamedly writing about this topic is because there is no room for paedophiles in our community. We should not be afraid to confront and stand up to paedophiles, whether they are prominent people in the community or not.

A minority of Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis are paedophiles and rapists, so that means that the majority are not.

Likewise, thankfully the majority of Muslim imams, clerics and Quranic teachers are also not paedophiles and rapists.

Paedophiles and rapists are most certainly not “men of God” so we have to protect our children from these monsters at all costs.

Here are three ways that might help to protect our children from these Jimmy Saville Imams.

1.Don’t live in denial and pretend that these things do not exist in the Muslim community.

In other words, don’t wait before it is too late and you psychologically damage your child for the rest of his or her life.

2.Prevention is better than cure

If you have young girls, send them to a female teacher to learn the Quran.

If you have to send them to a male teacher, make sure it is in a communal place where the children are never left alone with the teacher.

If the male teacher comes to your house, keep your child in your sight at all times. If he is genuine, he will not mind you keeping an eye on him.

If you cannot find a suitable teacher, consider online lessons via Skype or Facetime. Many families who successfully use this method.

3. Believe your child and do not be afraid to take action

Just like you can spot their lies about whether they pinched the biscuits or not, you can easily ascertain whether your child is making up a story as an excuse not to go to lessons, or whether it really happened.

If it turns out that something has happened, do not be afraid to take action to help protect other children from the monster.

Of course, sexual abuse is most certainly not a “Muslim” problem.

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One converted to Islam, the other went to far-right rallies: a modern tale of two brothers

Abdul converted to Islam seven years ago. “I never felt I was a bad boy. I was exposed to drugs and different elements, but I was never violent,” he said. He “stumbled across” Islam and was instantly attracted to the sense of structure and rules governing every aspect of his life.

“I thought, ‘wow, this is amazing’. But I also enjoyed all those things in my life, and I didn’t want to let them go. It was a slow process – it took about three or four years to realise I was living a lie,” he said. In the film, he talks of “drifting and wandering” until he became a Muslim. “It changed my life entirely. I was turning my back on my previous life.”

Lee was shocked at his brother’s decision. “I knew he had some sort of secret, but I thought he was gay or something. I wasn’t expecting this. If he was going to be religious, I’d have expected him to go into Christianity, not become a Muslim. It’s not something you’d expect a white man to do.”

Lee had taken part in several EDL rallies “against Muslims in general – the way they treat women, paedophilia, things like that. I didn’t really have a bad view of Muslims – it was something for me to do when I was bored”.

The brothers grew up in Dudley. For nine months after he converted on Christmas Day 2009, Abdul commuted from his home town to Birmingham before moving to the city. “I remember putting on my jubba [ankle-length robe] and literally shaking before I opened my front door, wondering what people would think. White people used to stare at me, sometimes with a look of betrayal. But I don’t take any notice.”

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Soon Abdul met Hina, a Pakistani Muslim, on Facebook. A week or so later they met in person; seven days after that they were married. “It was a leap of faith, trusting in God,” he said. It was also instant fatherhood for Abdul, then still in his 20s; Hina had two teenage sons and a daughter from a previous marriage. Abdul’s relationship with the boys, and his insistence on them being strictly observant Muslims, has not been easy. The couple now have another two children, two-year-old Zahra and baby Mohammed.

In the film, after Mohammed’s birth Abdul hosts a celebratory barbecue, inviting members of the local Muslim community – and Lee. In an awkward scene in the back garden, Lee observes that all the other men, including Abdul, are eating with their hands. “It’s like you’re going backwards,” he says.

Afterwards, he says: “I wouldn’t say I was comfortable, to be honest, I just did it for Shaun. He’s chose this path, I’ve chose [another], but he’s still my brother. I miss the Shaun I grew up with.”

I knew he had some sort of secret, but I thought he was gay or something.

Lee on his brother Abdul

Speaking to the Observer, Abdul said: “We disagree but we have mutual respect. I still feel close to him – blood is thicker than water. But I don’t know if I’m deluded.”

Khan spend six months persuading and reassuring the mosque elders before filming began. “We had to establish a relationship. They were saying ‘we trust you but how do we know it won’t be changed down the line?’ It was a difficult project. But I think there’s a sense of relief at the outcome,” she said.

Lee said his decision to take part in the film was “purely for my brother”, but added that the process had made him more tolerant of Muslims.

Abdul’s motive was “wanting our own voice to be heard rather than other people creating news about us”. He added: “I want people to start a conversation, just break the ice, just talk to us. Even the skinhead white guy. But British people won’t ask, they prefer to let things build up under the skin. We just need to communicate with each other and break down the barriers.”

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