Child & Animal Sexual Abuse – Causes & Solutions

Every then and now, we hear some tragic news of a minor or animal being raped, it is indeed a very heinous act and we see emotions afloat all over the media and social media; but under the cloud of emotions and debates, we always ignore to find the actual root causes and solutions, rather we start a blame game.

First of all, we need to understand that sex crimes are crimes like any other crimes; and crimes are meant to be the part of the world; I know it sounds weird but it is a bitter truth; crimes started on this world the day son of Hazrat Adam A.S killed his brother over a woman. This world is never meant to be a perfect place free of all evils; if that were the case, there was no need of this world as Allah already has a perfect world of Angels in existence. Our world is supposed to be an imperfect place, it’s a maze where evil and good co-exist, that’s why this world is called a “Place of Trial”.

These sex crimes are also not new, they have existed since long but they get highlighted more often now due to media – like any other topic. But there is no denial that such crimes have picked pace in recent times.  Every crime and criminal has a story; it’s not like a perfect person will wake up one day and rape someone; the seeds are sowed in a course of time. Let’s dive in to understand the root causes.

There are three stages of a crime:-

-DESPERATION: Imagine a person is hungry, he needs food, he is doing everything in his power to earn money so that he can buy food, but all in vain. Now the hunger is getting out of control, the hunger is overtaking his conscious; he is not thinking of robbing someone but all of a sudden, he sees an opportunity, maybe he saw someone sitting at a place who forgot his wallet, and instead of returning it back to the owner, he seized the opportunity to fulfill his hunger.

-AMATEUR: After the first attempt in desperation, there are high chances that the person will now be more interested in such opportunities rather than the legal ones; mind that even at this stage, the person won’t be thinking actively about robbing, he will be just looking for opportunities and hoping for someone to slip so he can seize. After a few successful attempts, the person will start getting used to it and adopt it as a primary method of fulfilling his financial needs and gradually he will enter the final stage.

-PROFESSIONAL: Now that person has become a professional; now he won’t be looking at opportunities, he will be creating opportunities; now he won’t wait for someone to forget his wallet, now he is pro enough to pickpocket.

So who is responsible for this person’s journey towards evil? He himself, but also the law and society as a whole. Society was responsible for neglecting him, if his hunger was dealt with, he would have been saved. Islam says that it is our duty to look after our neighbors if they have everything they need, if we maintain this chain, no one will sleep on an empty stomach but we are so busy in making our own lives luxurious.

And law is responsible too; if the person would have been grabbed in his initial attempts, he would have been saved.

Now ask a question to yourself, are you a thief? Probably you never stole anything in your life but honestly, we can’t say that we are better than a thief unless we put ourselves in his shoes. We have been provided well, our needs are being met; the real test would be if we get in such a desperate situation but do not adopt a wrong way.

Imagine this, you are sitting in an event, you are not a thief, you don’t have any intention of stealing but you see an opportunity, someone left his precious belonging behind and no one is looking, now is the test of your temptation.

And not only needs, temptation plays a big role too. Look around you, all this corruption is for what? Even a person whose needs are being met is still pursuing money without caring whether the source is Halal or Haram; everyone is after the money, even if they have to snatch someone’s right; and why is it so? Because of the temptation. When we see people around us with things that we don’t have; when we watch the lifestyle of celebrities and social media influencers, it ignites our inner temptation and we become so desperate to achieve all those things by any means necessary.

Ever experienced how all those oozing food commercials make it uncomfortable for you during Ramadan?

Now let’s put all these scenarios into our real topic of discussion – the sex crimes.

Sex is a need just like food; we get frustrated and angry upon feeling hungry, same is the reaction when our sexual needs are not met. There is an inner monster in all of us; we all fulfill our sexual needs in one way or the other. It all depends on what is available at our disposal. Some adopt prostitution – which requires money; some are in illicit physical relationships – which also require money; and at the very least, we watch porn and masturbate – for which we need privacy and a good internet access.

Thoughts of raping a child or an animal never crossed our minds because we have other sources to defuse the fire inside us. Look at most of the predators, these are the people whose needs are not met and they are neglected by the society too; not only for sexual needs but other humanitarian needs too. This is the group that is ignored, never smiled at, never talked to, in fact, we don’t even consider them part of our society, we look down on them as inferiors and pathetic beings just because they do not meet our so called standards. We don’t give them their rights or needs, so they snatch it; but we are not much different than them, we do the same evilness but in sugarcoated form. We curse a street vendor for coloring fruits in order to deceive the buyer, but how many times have you received your burger as exactly shown in the advertisement and photos? Have you never noticed how these multi nationals trick you with glamorous marketing?

Take a challenge upon you, stop watching porn, cease all your physical relationships, stop having illegal sex, stop masturbating and with all the temptation around you through the media, let’s see how long can you keep your inner monster asleep. Even still, it will be easier for us to control our temptation because we have so much to divert our minds; we can enjoy food, hang out with friends, watch movies, Netflix; but if we have nothing to do and our desires kick, it becomes difficult to control. Try it for yourself, if you are hungry but busy in office work or at home doing some other work or busy watching a good movie, the hunger won’t bother you much; but if you are free and have nothing to do, the hunger is out of control.  

We might think that how can someone become such an animal; a tiger don’t even raise a finger on other animals but when the same tiger is hungry, he unleashes himself in ways one can’t imagine.

I gave the thief and food example in the beginning, how the first step is taken towards the wrong path in desperation; same is the case with sex crimes. Even having illegal means of sex is a privilege; how many people have the money for prostitution? How many can afford to be in a relationship? How many have privacy at homes to peacefully watch porn? There are married people who don’t have enough privacy at home to romance due to small spaces and taboo. And moreover, along with their sexual needs, they have hunger issues too which makes it worse.

So when there is no proper way left to meet their needs, they look for other means; and as a first amateur step, they look for soft targets. Children and animals are targeted because they are vulnerable. And when they find their satisfaction and are not caught by law, they continue targeting the vulnerable and some of them become professionals. Just like many of us prefer to stay in illegal relationships because marriage is tough and requires responsibilities; or a thief who stops looking for job because robbing becomes easier; similarly, after a few attempts, a predator finds it easier to rape and dump rather than the quest of legal means.

And we as a society also play an important role in creating temptation, just like I gave the example of food commercials during Ramadan. Our Deen teaches us to be discreet and not show off, but we are doing the opposite. Please don’t tell me that all this adultery on media, provocative clothes, relationships around you are not tempting you. It does, we answer to the temptation by available methods. Some of us are privileged enough to order food right away the moment temptation kicks, but many do not; in fact, the repetitive temptation makes them frustrated and they lose their sense of rightness.

Yes, clothes are not directly responsible for sex crimes but indirectly they are, they cause temptation and the result of that temptation might be faced by someone else. When you go on a date or have an intention of impressing someone, you focus mostly on your appearance; and I am talking about clothes of both men and women. If you have an intention for a one night stand, you make sure to appear seductive enough to grab the opposite’s attention.

We often hear from women that everybody gets assaulted regardless of what they wear so why should I cover up my body; if your house gets robbed, you do not take out all the locks, in fact, you tighten up the security. I am not victim blaming, even if a woman is naked, no one has the right to assault her but if you have a shop full of jewels and have no proper security measures at place and you get robbed, everyone is going to blame you for your negligence. Just because you can’t stop professional criminals, doesn’t mean you stop taking precautions against amateurs; and amateurs are always larger in numbers. Just because I left my wallet in open doesn’t give you the right to steal it, but part of this theft is my negligence unless you are a pro who pick-pocketed for which I can’t do nothing.

Another thing is that it’s all painted as if it’s a man thing. Sorry to say, but women have achieved equality in crimes too; there are female thieves, robbers, murderers, drug dealers etc. Rape is something that woman is naturally not able to do directly; but it doesn’t mean that women are not involved in any type of sex crimes; they do commit sex crimes too but in different forms.

And women have sexual temptation too and they too get frustrated and depressed; but the reason why they do not involve much in sex crimes is because it’s easier for them to fulfill their needs unlawfully. Even for unlawful means – be it prostitution or relationship - a man has to have money and appearances, but a woman don’t. She just has to show interest and men will line up to be their slaves. I am not targeting women, nor it’s a gender fight, I know women too face issues regarding their sexual needs; I am just trying to explain the differences.

I am not showing any sympathy towards these predators, I just tried to explain some points; yet, I still haven’t covered every aspect, of course it’s a very complex issue.

And I am not in favor of unlawful means for sexual satisfaction; we should focus on halal mean which is marriage, but of course, marriage takes effort too; we can’t just marry to fulfill our sexual needs, marriage is more than sex. Satisfying needs through unlawful means create more problems; watching porn is a temporary satisfaction but becoming an addict will cause more damage with all the fantasies.

What we need to address is the other needs of these deprived people; if they will be given better living conditions, some entertainment and activities to divert their minds away from sexual needs, it will help them greatly. They need education, and not only worldly education but religious education too to build the fear of “Allah’s Watching you” in them. And most importantly, it’s the law that needs to be super active and effective to grab the criminal in its DESPERATION stage before the CRIME BECOMES FUN.

Our religion suggests strict punishments like lashes or stoning, but then liberals have problem with that too. Strict punishments held publicly are a mean to intimidate people to refrain from such acts.

And as an individual, we should keep watch around to see if someone needs help and affection, and most importantly, make Dua for everyone.

And lastly, we don’t have to defame our own people and country; any place in the world where needs of the people are not met and rule of law is corrupt, crime prevails. Be it thieves, drug dealers, murderers, sex crimes etc; you will find all these crimes in most part of the world; some are violent street crimes and some are high level organized crimes.