VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN and girls has reached crisis levels. The UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, recently described it as a “national emergency.” This does not reflect a new phenomenon, but rather the growing impossibility of ignoring it. Women are stalked, assaulted, harassed, and killed with alarming regularity. Reporting abuse often yields little protection, conviction rates remain low, and institutional failures occur both before and after harm is inflicted.
Women face danger in public and private spaces alike. On the streets, harassment is normalised; being followed, groped, intimidated, or verbally abused, often in full view of others. Within the home, which should offer safety and tranquillity, many women experience domestic abuse, coercive control, and sexual violence. Disturbingly, the majority of this harm is perpetrated by men known to them: husbands, partners, relatives. According to Home Office figures, in just one year, one in eight women experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.
Despite the scale of the crisis, state responses remain largely reactive, dealing with symptoms rather than the causes. Increased policing, surveillance, awareness campaigns, and post-incident interventions address harm after it has occurred. Even initiatives aimed at educating boys and men struggle to succeed when wider society relentlessly promotes the opposite message. Media, advertising, and the pornography industry reduce women to objects, while feigning surprise when such dehumanisation manifests as violence. “Sex sells” is not merely a slogan; it is an admission of moral failure.
At its root, this crisis is not simply legal or logistical; it is ideological. A society that elevates individual desire, self-gratification, and consumption above responsibility, restraint, and accountability inevitably produces harm. No amount of enforcement can compensate for the absence of an ethical framework that governs behaviour before transgression occurs.
Islam offers precisely such a framework. As a comprehensive way of life, it addresses the safety and dignity of women proactively at both the individual and societal levels.
Islam cultivates taqwa, instilling self-restraint and ḥayā’ that regulate behaviour even in the absence of surveillance or law enforcement. Women are honoured explicitly in Islam, not symbolically, but practically, as daughters, wives, and mothers. The Messenger ﷺ taught that Paradise lies beneath the feet of mothers, affirming women’s moral and spiritual status. Allah defines what it means to be a man and having qawwam.
Islam establishes clear boundaries in interactions between men and women: lowering the gaze, modest dress, and the prohibition of seclusion (khalwah) serve as preventative safeguards, not punitive restrictions. Sexual intimacy is dignified and protected within marriage, rather than commodified and exploited in public culture.
Crucially, Islam upholds justice and accountability. Harassment, slander, exploitation, and sexual immorality are treated as serious violations, with legal consequences that serve both to protect honour and deter wrongdoing. Unlike liberal frameworks that prioritise personal freedom even at the expense of social harm, Islam aligns morality, law, and authority to safeguard society’s most vulnerable.
Perhaps because of this, the majority of reverts to Islam in Western countries are women who, having suffered in liberal societies, are finding a true alternative in Islam.
It is often argued that Muslim societies themselves fall short of these ideals. There is truth in this observation. However, this failure stems not from the application of Islam, but from its absence, replaced by imported liberal norms, colonial legacies, and moral contradictions that erode Islamic norms. In some cases, this produces reactionary measures that restrict women unjustly, further distorting Islam’s true vision.
The solution, therefore, is not superficial reform, nor selective religiosity, but a sincere return to Islam as a holistic system of life. When Islam is implemented with justice and wisdom, it honours women, restrains abuse, and establishes dignity in both public and private spheres.
The Muslim world must reclaim this responsibility, not only for its own societies, but as a living example to the world of what true justice and moral coherence look like.
Living For Islam 