Short answer
No. Islam forbids every part of what these gangs did. Official inquiries and court cases in Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford have set out the facts, and no Muslim should dispute them. The girls were given drink and drugs, and the Qur'an forbids intoxicants. They were raped and abused, and the Qur'an forbids all sex outside marriage. They were forced and passed between men, and the Qur'an forbids forcing even a slave woman into prostitution. They were children, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said that whoever is not merciful to others will not be shown mercy. Islamic law punishes the man who forces, never the one who is forced. It forbids shielding a wrongdoer because he is one of your own. And it was a Muslim prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, whose decision to prosecute brought the Rochdale gang to court.
Full explanation
What the inquiries found
The facts come first, and they are not in dispute. The Rotherham inquiry of 2014 found that about 1,400 children were sexually exploited there between 1997 and 2013, and called that a cautious estimate. It also found that some staff were nervous of naming the ethnic origins of the men who did it, for fear of being thought racist. Nine men were convicted in Rochdale in 2012. The Telford inquiry of 2022 estimated that more than a thousand children were exploited there over several decades. In 2025, Baroness Casey's national audit found that the ethnicity of two-thirds of the offenders was still not recorded in the national figures. But local police figures in three areas showed more men from Asian backgrounds among the suspects than their share of the population. The audit also said that men of Asian and Pakistani ethnicity appeared to be over-represented in some areas. A religion, though, is judged by its sources, not by those who break its law.
The independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. It found that, by a conservative estimate, about 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the town between 1997 and 2013. In just over a third of cases the children were already known to services, and council and police leaders repeatedly failed them. It also found that some staff were nervous of identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist.
The independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford. It estimated that more than a thousand children in the town had been sexually exploited over several decades.
The national audit of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. It found that in the national data the ethnicity of perpetrators was still not recorded for two-thirds of them. Local police data from Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire showed disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds among suspects, and the audit said that men of Asian and Pakistani ethnicity appeared to be disproportionately represented in some areas.
The memoir of the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England, appointed in 2011. He describes reversing the earlier decision not to prosecute the Rochdale grooming case, which led to the conviction of nine men in 2012.
Drink, drugs and sex outside marriage
The girls were given drink and drugs. The Qur'an calls intoxicants an abomination of Satan's handiwork and commands believers to avoid them. They were then raped and abused. The Qur'an forbids all sex outside marriage and sets a punishment for it, for a lawful court to apply. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that a man is not a believer at the moment he commits it.
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
“Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?”
“Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).”
“The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: a man who commits zina (sex outside marriage) is not a believer while he is doing it, nor is a man who drinks wine while he is drinking it, nor a thief while he is stealing.
Forced and passed between men
The Qur'an forbids forcing a woman into prostitution for gain. The verse adds the words "when they desire chastity". Some read these words as allowing force otherwise. Ibn Kathir, a Qur'an commentator of the fourteenth century, explains that these words describe the usual case. They never make forcing lawful. If it was forbidden even for a slave woman in the seventh century, it is forbidden for any girl today. The Qur'an also ended the old Arab custom of taking a widow as part of an inheritance. A woman is not property to be handed on.
“But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),”
“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may Take away part of the dower ye have given them,-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.”
Cruelty to children
Many of the victims were among the most vulnerable children in the country, some of them in care. The Qur'an commands that the orphan must not be treated harshly. It threatens with fire those who wrong orphans even in their property. A man once told the Prophet (ﷺ) that he had ten children and had never kissed one. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that whoever is not merciful to others will not be shown mercy. That was said to a man who was merely cold to children. What is left for the man who preys on them? Some critics point to the Prophet's (ﷺ) marriage to Aisha or to the law on captives. Neither has anything to do with what these men did. They raped and abused children, using drink, drugs and threats. Islam forbids that at any age, and so does the law of every country Muslims live in, which they are bound to keep (17:34). The pages on Aisha's age at marriage and on captives answer those questions in full.
The independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. It found that, by a conservative estimate, about 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the town between 1997 and 2013. In just over a third of cases the children were already known to services, and council and police leaders repeatedly failed them. It also found that some staff were nervous of identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist.
“Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness,”
“Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire!”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) kissed his grandson al-Hasan ibn Ali while al-Aqra ibn Habis was sitting with him. Al-Aqra said he had ten children and had never kissed any of them. The Prophet looked at him and said that whoever is not merciful to others will not be shown mercy.
“Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).”
“Come not nigh to the orphan's property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; and fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).”
The victim carries no guilt
The victims were too often treated as if they had chosen what was done to them. Islamic law does the opposite. The verse that forbids forcing women into prostitution ends by saying that God (﷾) forgives the woman who was compelled. Al-Bukhari, the ninth-century collector of reports about the Prophet (ﷺ), records how Umar, the second Caliph (leader of the Muslims), applied this. He punished the man who forced a slave girl, and did not punish her. This is Umar's judgement, not a saying of the Prophet (ﷺ). Al-Bukhari placed it under the heading that a woman who is forced receives no punishment.
“But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),”
Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd reports that a slave in the state's service forced himself on a slave girl against her will. Umar, the second Caliph, had him flogged and exiled, but did not punish the girl, because she had been forced. Al-Bukhari places the report under the chapter heading that a woman forced into unlawful sex receives no punishment. It records Umar's judgement, not a saying of the Prophet (ﷺ). Al-Bukhari cites it through al-Layth from Nafi, without giving his own full chain, as supporting evidence under the chapter heading.
No cover for one of your own
Islam gives no protection to a Muslim who does wrong. The Prophet (ﷺ) told Muslims to help a brother who is an oppressor by stopping him. The Qur'an commands justice even against yourselves, your parents and your kin. It also forbids letting hatred of others turn anyone from justice. A Muslim who hid such a crime to protect his community's name would break these commands too.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) told Muslims to help their brother whether he is the oppressor or the oppressed. When they asked how to help an oppressor, he said: by stopping him from oppressing others.
“O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.”
“O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.”
Among the gravest crimes in the law
The Qur'an sets its heaviest penalties for those who wage war against God (﷾) and His Messenger (ﷺ) and spread corruption in the land. This crime is called hirabah. It usually means armed robbery on the road. Some Maliki jurists (scholars of one school of Islamic law) counted the violent seizure of women within it. Ibn al-'Arabi, a Maliki judge of Seville in the twelfth century, ruled that men who took a woman by force were guilty of hirabah. He held that an attack on a woman's honour is worse than an attack on property. On that view, the organised rape of children is among the gravest crimes the law knows. Those penalties were for a lawful court alone. In Britain these crimes are for its own courts, which have convicted many of these men.
“The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;”
In his legal commentary on the verse of hirabah (waging war on God and His Messenger), the Maliki judge of Seville reports that, as a judge, he ruled that men who had seized a woman by force were guilty of hirabah. When others objected that hirabah concerns property, he answered that an attack on a woman's honour is worse than an attack on property.
The prosecutor who brought the case
In 2008 a girl in Rochdale went to the police. The Crown Prosecution Service, which decides whether to bring charges, then decided not to prosecute two of the men. In 2011 Nazir Afzal, a British Muslim of Pakistani heritage, became Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England. He reversed that decision. The men were convicted in 2012. This takes no credit from the police who led the inquiry, or from the girls who gave evidence. His part shows what the Qur'an's command to stand for justice, even against your own kin, looks like when it is obeyed.
The memoir of the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England, appointed in 2011. He describes reversing the earlier decision not to prosecute the Rochdale grooming case, which led to the conviction of nine men in 2012.
“O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.”
Perspectives
What the inquiries established
Over many years, organised groups of men sexually exploited children in several English towns. And the authorities failed the victims.
The Rotherham inquiry found that about 1,400 children were sexually exploited there between 1997 and 2013. It called that a cautious estimate.
The Telford inquiry estimated that more than a thousand children there were sexually exploited over several decades.
Nine men were convicted of the sexual exploitation of girls in Rochdale in 2012.
The Casey audit found that across the country, the ethnicity of two-thirds of the offenders was not recorded. In local figures from three police areas, it found more men from Asian backgrounds among the suspects than their share of the population. And it said that men of Asian and Pakistani ethnicity appeared to be over-represented in some areas.
The Islamic perspective
The men who did this broke the law of God (﷾) at every step. The Prophet (ﷺ) warned that whoever is not merciful to others will not be shown mercy. Islam blames the criminal, never the victim, and forbids shielding a wrongdoer because he is one of your own.
The Qur'an forbids intoxicants as the work of Satan.
The Qur'an forbids sex outside marriage and sets a penalty for it.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said a man is not a believer at the moment he commits zina (sex outside marriage).
The Qur'an forbids forcing women into prostitution and forbids inheriting women against their will.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that whoever is not merciful to others will not be shown mercy.
The Qur'an commands justice even against your own family. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said you help an oppressor by stopping him.
Islamic law places no guilt on a woman who was forced; Umar punished the man and not the girl.
Some Maliki jurists, among them Ibn al-'Arabi, counted the violent seizing of women as hirabah. Hirabah is one of the gravest crimes in Islamic law.