Muslims condemn grooming

A sermon delivered to congregations in around 500 UK mosques tackling street grooming by gangs has been deemed as "very important" by Policing Minister Damian Green.

Mr Green wrote on his website: “It reminds people that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority, of British Muslims, condemn child sexual abuse as strongly as any other group in modern Britain".

Alyas Karmani, an Imam at a number of Bradford mosques and director of a youth charity was responsible for writing a sermon going out to hundreds of thousands of Muslims today, in the wake of the sentencing of a paedophile ring made up of seven Asian men.

After delivering the sermon at the Islam Bradford Mosque during Friday prayers, Mr Karmani said:

"Although the spotlight has just been on certain gangs or individuals from Muslim backgrounds, what's obvious and clear from all the research that's done on this subject is that these individuals come from all backgrounds.

"Because the spotlight is on us as a community, we need to use that to really increase the profile of this issue across the whole of society.

"This is a proactive measure by the Muslim community across the whole of the UK. It's actually quite unprecedented that so many mosques, in every major city in the country, and every umbrella organisation, is actually supporting this particular sermon".

A sermon going out to congregations in around 500 UK mosques has warned that a "major challenge" will be created for the Muslim community in the wake of the sentencing of a paedophile ring made up of seven Asian men and the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

The sermon is expected to say:

Today is a historic day to stop child grooming, the chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation has said ahead of mosques delivering sermons to hundreds of thousands of Muslims today, condemning street grooming by gangs.

Mr. Mohammed Shafiq said: "Today in hundreds of mosques across the United Kingdom Imams will deliver a sermon setting out to tackle this menace and what needs to be done.

"When I first spoke out in 2006 I was all alone, it has been a difficult journey with death threats, ridicule and personal attacks but it has all been worth it. Then the Ramadhan Foundation was on its own campaigning and now there are hundreds of Imams taking their place.

"I applaud all the Imams and the 'Together against Grooming' campaign but our work must not stop after one sermon".

Campaign group Tackle Against Grooming has issued a statement ahead of delivering sermons to hundreds of thousands of Muslims today, condemning street grooming by gangs.

In the statement by Tag:

Around 500 mosques across Britain will deliver sermons today to hundreds of thousands of Muslims condemning street grooming by gangs. Imams and religious leaders will address congregations to highlight how the Koran condemns all forms of sexual indecency.

The campaign has been organised by Together Against Grooming, an organisation set up to tackle street grooming by gangs.

The move comes after five members of a paedophile ring found guilty of grooming vulnerable underage girls were given life sentences at the Old Bailey. Two other defendants were both jailed for seven years.