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Treatment of orphans and destitute children: grooming gangs condemned

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 25 April 2025

“And they ask you concerning the orphans. Say: To set right their affairs is good; and if you mix with them, they are your brethren. And Allah knows him who makes mischief from him who sets (affairs) right. And if Allah pleased, He would have made matters difficult for you. Surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.” — ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 220.	وَ یَسۡـَٔلُوۡنَکَ عَنِ الۡیَتٰمٰی ؕ قُلۡ اِصۡلَاحٌ لَّہُمۡ خَیۡرٌ ؕ وَ اِنۡ تُخَالِطُوۡہُمۡ فَاِخۡوَانُکُمۡ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ یَعۡلَمُ الۡمُفۡسِدَ مِنَ الۡمُصۡلِحِ ؕ وَ لَوۡ شَآءَ اللّٰہُ لَاَعۡنَتَکُمۡ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ عَزِیۡزٌ حَکِیۡمٌ ﴿۲۲۰﴾
“And give to orphans their property, and do not substitute worthless (things) for (their) good (ones), nor devour their property (adding) to your own property. This is surely a great sin.” — ch. 4, An-Nisā’, v. 2.	وَ اٰتُوا الۡیَتٰمٰۤی اَمۡوَالَہُمۡ وَ لَا تَتَبَدَّلُوا الۡخَبِیۡثَ بِالطَّیِّبِ ۪ وَ لَا تَاۡکُلُوۡۤا اَمۡوَالَہُمۡ اِلٰۤی اَمۡوَالِکُمۡ ؕ اِنَّہٗ کَانَ حُوۡبًا کَبِیۡرًا ﴿۲﴾

These are only two of the twenty or so verses of the Holy Quran which lay upon Muslims the duty of looking after orphans and prohibit Muslims in the strongest terms from exploiting them. Two more statements from the Quran may be mentioned here:

“Those who swallow the property of the orphans unjustly, they swallow only fire into their bellies. And they will burn in blazing fire” (4:10)

and:

“And do not approach the property of the orphan except in the best manner, until he attains his maturity”,

which occurs twice (6:152 and 17:34). The second one means that when you manage the property of orphans, you must do it with the best intention for their benefit, not for your benefit, and do so until they are able to look after their own interests.

An orphan is not only a child who has lost his parents through their death, but includes those whose parents might be alive but, for various reasons, were unable to look after them at home, so that they have to be brought up and cared for by others. Those who are in children’s homes or in care of some authority come in this category. In past times, orphanhood may generally have been caused by death of parents who left dependent children behind. The parents died early due to the higher mortality rates of those times even for those who were not old. Such deaths are much rarer in our modern times, yet the number of dispossessed children is still as substantial as ever. They are in the category of what the Quran has called orphans and the same rules for their care apply to them as are mentioned for orphans in the Quran.

The reason I have made this point, that being an orphan doesn’t mean that the parents are dead, and they may be well and alive, relates to the many reported incidents abuse of such children in the UK, in particular girls, in which it is distressing to note that men of Pakistani Muslim origin have been implicated. It is of course true that males among all ethnic groups and religions, including the indigenous British population, have been convicted of such dastardly offences. Institutions run by the government as well as religious institutions have been involved, and also some public figures have been convicted of such offences. But in case of Muslims, if their misbehaviour is being attributed to the teachings of Islam, then Muslims must refute this false impression and allegation for the sake of the honour of their religion. Also, their reply would show that any Muslim who was aware of the teachings of Islam would not only be utterly refraining from crimes of this kind but would be doing completely the opposite by looking after the welfare of such victims instead of indulging in their exploitation.

The first verse I recited advises Muslims in regard to orphans that “To set right their affairs is good”. In other translations of the Quran these words have been translated as: “To improve their condition is best”, “improving their lot in life is good”, “promotion of their welfare is an act of great goodness” and “Acting in their best interests is good”. The Quran then adds: “and if you mix with them, they are your brethren”. Maulana Muhammad Ali comments on this as follows: “So orphans are not to be treated as a separate class, and they should not be treated as living on the charity of others, which would develop an inferiority complex in them; they must be treated as brethren, as plainly stated here”. He also adds that the words, “if you mix with them”, have also another meaning, not only social mixing, that in property matters you can become their partners. As the Quran says elsewhere, you can help them to manage their property, or manage it for them, because they are unable to do it for themselves, and you can take reasonable recompense for doing it. Some Muslims had reservations about handling the property of orphans in case they fell to the temptation of taking undue advantage from it. But Allah says here that you can form a partnership with them just as you form partnerships with one another. Then the verse says:

“And Allah knows him who makes mischief from him who sets (affairs) right. And if Allah pleased, He would have made matters difficult for you.”

This recognises that there will always be those who will seek to exploit the property and rights of orphans, and Allah knows them. They cannot escape His punishment. From the verses that I quoted earlier, we can see Allah has called it “a great sin” to cheat orphans out of their property in any way, either by substituting worthless things for their valuable ones, or by taking their property altogether, and that those who do so “will burn in blazing fire” of hell in the Hereafter (4:10).

However, despite this risk, Allah allowed those who take care of orphans to use their property as a trust for their benefit, because otherwise it would become difficult to look after them if you were barred from accessing their property. Regarding the proper management of their property, the Quran begins by saying:

“And do not make over your property, which Allah has made a (means of) support for you, to the weak of understanding, and maintain them out of it, and clothe them and give them a good education” (4:5).

“Your property” here means their property which is under your control in your position as their guardians. The “weak of understanding” covers both those who permanently lack mental capacity or capability and orphans who lack understanding only because of being minors in age. Property belonging to them must not be handed over to them to control; instead they must be given maintenance from it.

The words that Maulana Muhammad Ali has translated here as “and give them a good education” literally mean: speak to them good words, or words of kindness. Every other translator of the Quran into English, as far as I have checked, has translated these words in this literal way. But the subject here is about an organised system of guardianship, more than the personal behaviour of the guardian, so Maulana Muhammad Ali’s rendering as “give them a good education” suits the context. And if we look at the next verse, it supports his interpretation. That verse is as follows:

“And test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. Then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property, and do not consume it extravagantly and hastily against their growing up. And whoever is rich, let him abstain, and whoever is poor, let him consume reasonably. And when you make over to them their property, call witnesses in their presence” (4:6).

This testing of the orphans to see if they have attained mental maturity supports the interpretation that the guardians are required to educate and train the orphans in their charge. When someone is given a test or exam to pass, it implies that they have received training and education for it. This clearly shows that the caretakers of the orphans should not only provide the means for their physical maintenance but also for their mental and emotional development through education.

The verse then cautions the guardians from using up all the property of the orphans, even for their welfare, but they must leave something for them at the start of their adult lives. And it further advises the guardians to take the minimum for their own work of guardianship and its expenses, preferably nothing if they can afford to do the work free. Finally, when the property is handed over to the orphans, as they are now independent adults, it must be witnessed, just as any property transfer is witnessed in law. You can see the great precautions the Quran requires to be taken so that the guardianship is clear and above board, and nothing is under-handed.

More generally, even when not acting as a guardians of orphans, Muslims are required by numerous verses in the Quran to spend money on them. That spending is not only by giving them money as a private act of charity, but also spending on orphans from public funds is mentioned in the Quran (8:41 and 59:7). The Quran also requires Muslims to feed orphans, to treat them well, even to honour them, and to refrain from the slightest mistreatment or denigration. When the Quran condemns those people who mistreat orphans, such as those who are rough to orphans, or who do not honour orphans, it is usually referring to the behaviour among pre-Islamic Arabs towards orphans in their own non-Muslim society. This shows that the Quran is sympathetic to the suffering of orphans of any society, belonging to any religion, equally. It nowhere says that it is only concerned about orphans in Muslim society, and not any other orphans.

The exploited young girls that I mentioned at the beginning of this khutba had no money or property to be taken advantage of and desired by others. What they only had was their bodies to be hankered after by men. In the first place, those men had no business to interfere in their lives and bring them under their influence and control. They did so for an highly immoral and illegal purpose, using deplorable methods to entice them to act at their behest and calling.

If Islam ever required them to do anything, it would be that these men should guard and protect the bodies of these girls from exploitation and abuse, as this is the equivalent of guarding their property. They should have looked after the girls and kept them safe in body and mind, until the girls attained maturity to make their own decisions. They should have been treated just as Islam requires the guardians of orphans to treat those under their charge, as instructed in the verses that I have been quoting. As diametrically opposed to this, what these men perpetrated is well described in a verse I quoted at the beginning:

“Those who swallow the property of the orphans unjustly, they swallow only fire into their bellies. And they will burn in blazing fire (of hell)” (4:10).

So may Allah prevent Muslims from bringing shame on their religion by their misbehaviour and enable them to learn and to present the actual teachings of Islam — Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk