It is a painful blow in the heart, to see how the Ummah suffers today and in what a degenerated state it is. The distance from the Shariah and the Islamic order transformed the life of the Ummah into chaos and darkness. Numerous shameful and un-Islamic actions are found among the Muslims. Actions which create a big problem in the society, but the wrong helpers are on the march to solve the problems of the Ummah, namely unbelievers who don’t know nor accept the Islamic values. Unbelievers who are deeply rooted in even these un-Islamic actions. For that reason, it is no wonder that the problems of the Ummah do not find an end, because just as a thief cannot put an end to theft in the whole world, exactly like this an unbeliever cannot put an end to the un-Islamic actions, which are the downfall and ruin for the whole humankind.
In Afghanistan in a practice known as bacha bazi, or “boy play”, high-ranking Afghan elites use boys between the ages of 10 and 18 to entertain them as dancers, dressed in make-up and girls’ clothing. They then hold the boys hostage, raping them and forcing them to engage in other sexual acts over extended periods of time. Once these children and youth of the Ummah escape their enslavement, they are left with deep psychological, emotional, and social trauma.
A report issued by Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said that 68% of paedophile victims are poor people who can’t earn quick money and the other types are kidnapped from their families or streets. Those boys who escape often have no resources to fall back to, and many eventually end up returning to their former masters. In rare cases, where a victim brings charges against his abuser, he is often the boy, laundering money and influence, who is sent to prison.
While the Afghan Government shows that it fights against this big problem of pedophiles, bacha bazi is known to exist among the military, police and the echelons of government. According to Abdulkhabir Uchqun, MP from northern Afghanistan, this act is not just alive, but steadily growing since the US Invasion. He said, “Unfortunately, it is on the increase in almost every region of Afghanistan.” The US is also screaming loud and excitedly to fight for children’s rights in Afghanistan, but reality shows other facts. A report released on 29 January 2018 revealed the United States’ long-term complicity in widespread sexual violence against Afghan boys. Between 2010 and 2016 alone, there were nearly 6,000 accusations of child sexual abuse reported by American military personnel, with no actions taken in response. The US military has been aware of these abusive practices for years, but has worked to hide them from the public eye in order to proceed with its cooperative relationship with the Afghan police and military. The American military machine also has its own history of sexual violence, against its own forces and civilians. Rape has been used as an act of war against women, children, and prisoners of war throughout every major conflict in the past century.
These facts are about the child sexual abuse in Afghanistan but in the US itself, the reality is even worse.American children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry the almost 90,000 cases of child sexual abuse reported each year fall far short of the actualnumber. Abuse frequently goes unreported because child victims are afraid to tell anyone what happened and the legal procedure for validating an episode is difficult. The latest 2015 Child Maltreatment Report from the Children’s Bureau was published in January 2017. The report shows an increase in child abuse referrals from 3.6 million to 4 million. The number of children involved subsequently increased to 7.2 million from 6.6 million. The report also indicates an increase in child deaths from abuse and neglect to 1,670 in 2015, up from 1,580 in 2014. Some reports estimate child abuse fatalities at 1,740 or even higher. The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average almost 5 children every day to child abuse and neglect.
The question is now, why should such a government as the US try to get rid of such a misery in Afghanistan, where it is rampant even worse in their own country? The secular values and liberal freedoms in the US are the reason that the individuals become that much immoral. And the Afghan Government promotes also such values, that’s why acts like Bacha Bazi are on the rise. The conclusion is that the Ummah will never experience a liberation from un-Islamic actions unless it has the right liberator. The only state order in which no one is spurred on or is free to be a pedophile or sexually abuse a child, let alone force him into a sexual act due to his poverty circumstances, is the Islamic government of the Caliphate upon the method of the Prophethood.
Islam is the only state order that does not give people unlimited freedom, that he becomes the slave of his desires whispered by Satan. Thus, the human mind and his inclinations are automatically far removed from such atrocities. The true Islamic system will save and teach the Ummah the concept of taqwa again so that the righteous moral behavior will become a standard in the society and this also creates hatred for any depraved immoral actions. In contrast under secular rule such immoral behavior is given an environment to flourish due to the promotion of sexual freedoms like in the US and the western countries. It is crystal clear that if there is no limits for a person’s development and he has no instructions on how he can regulate his urges, it soon comes to such acts as sexual abuse of children, or even worse.
This is a further confirmation that a state system and order of life which are created by humans does not manage to extinguish such immoral acts. So no matter how secular and democratic Afghanistan should become and how much freedom the population has, the child rights violations will continue in Afghanistan as they do in America. As long as the Ummah does not return to the true Islam and regulates all the affairs of one’s life according to the Laws of Allah (swt), the Ummah remains in this degenerate state and experiences no true bliss and satisfaction in one’s being. For the absolute humanity can only be found in the system of the One who created the humans and this is only Allah (swt).
﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ﴾
“Allah! There is no god but Him: the Living, the Eternal. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. To Him belongs all that is in the Heavens and the Earth. Who can intercede with Him without His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them. They cannot gain access to anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases. His throne is vaster than the heavens and the earth, and guarding of these both does not fatigue Him. He is the Exalted, the Supreme.”
[Quran 2:255]
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Amanah Abed