As a Muslim, Hussain says ‘It needs reinforcing that our faith does allow us to report abuse’
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Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Based on his research and his personal experiences of child sexual abuse, Hussain shared his acute insight into the ways the issue is regarded within the Muslim community.
He describes some of the barriers that prevent victims and survivors from speaking out.
Hussain was raped when he was a child, by a respected adult member of his Muslim community.
Hussain observes that many Muslim victims and survivors of sexual abuse are reluctant or scared to speak out because of the response they are likely to get from other Muslims, particularly those in authority. His own experiences illustrate this.
When he told one senior cleric that he was still suffering mentally and physically from the sexual abuse he endured as a child, the cleric laughed at him and said ‘You were nurtured by us and you are coming to tell us what to do? Get lost’.
Responses to Hussain’s account from other Muslim authority figures have included ‘Look at what the West is doing to the Muslim world. Do you want to open this up?’ and ‘You are tarnishing the reputation of the Muslim religion’. It has also been suggested to him that he should be the one to repent.
These reactions have had a profound effect on Hussain, and he has spoken to scores of Muslims who have been sexually abused by clerics or members of their family or community.
He has heard that many are repressed by Imams from speaking out about abuse. ‘I feel myself and many others have been let down by those who have authority to deal with this. It needs reinforcing that our faith does allow us to report abuse.’
From his conversations with many Muslim health professionals, Hussain knows it is difficult for even highly educated people to take actions that conflict with their deeply embedded beliefs. ‘When it comes to faith, it can be a red line for them’ he says.
He suggests that religious texts can be used in a positive way to convey messages to people. For example, he says, Muslim law is clear that child sexual abuse is wrong and prescribes harsh punishment for abusers.
‘We don’t want that implemented here’, he says. But he adds, it is strange that many Imams will take a firm line with people for not dressing traditionally, but ‘when it comes to something that is universally acknowledged as wrong, they do nothing’.
He comments ‘What I am really against is Imams using their influence to silence victims. More robust measures need to be in place’.
Hussain is concerned that there can be mistrust of the police by the community, and reluctance by the police to ‘take on’ investigations into abuse in predominantly Muslim settings. This is not helpful for victims, he says.
Hussain feels that his experience of abuse continues to affect his mental health and his relationships.
He would like to see more counselling and opportunities that allow Muslim victims and survivors to feel comfortable taking the first steps to reporting abuse. He says ‘We need to give them a space where they can share what they want to share, and not judge, and to signpost them to organisations that can help them’.
Hussain says he is seeing some positive changes in attitudes within the Muslim community and wider society, but that the community is disadvantaged because it is under constant scrutiny.