Imams are still actively promoting grooming rings, Dr Taj Hargey from the Oxford Institute for British Islam has said on GB News.
The group’s founder made a series of staggering claims 11 years after he first raised concerns about race and religion being inextricably linked to grooming rings in Britain.
Speaking to Martin Daubney in an interview you can watch above, Hargey said his warnings are yet to be heeded amid renewed calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
After a spate of grooming rings in Oxford where Muslim men targeted under-age white girls, Hargey told the Daily Mail in 2013 that the activities of the sex ring were “bound up with religion and race” because all the men – though of different nationalities – were Muslim.
Dr Taj Hargey issued a grim warning about the activities of imams in Britain
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He said they “deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as ‘easy meat’, to use one of their revealing, racist phrases”.
Speaking 11 years on, Hargey was asked by Daubney if imams are actively encouraging the attitude, to which he claimed “absolutely”.
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GB News’s Charlie Peters has been exposing some of the harrowing stories that have emerged from the grooming gangs scandal
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“There’s a perpetuation of ‘them and us’”, he told GB News.
“The theology from the Mosque and the elders is to perpetuate this idea of ‘them and us’.
“The criminality is fuelled by the ideology of the Islamic fundamentalism which has no basis in the Qu’ran.
“These fundamentalist Muslims believe If the Prophet Muhammad can sleep with a nine-year-old, what’s wrong with me sleeping with a 12-year-old?’, even though the story is not true.
Dr Taj Hargey spoke on GB News
GB NEWS
“The idea is, when you can delegitimise these youngsters as being less than human and being less than equal and for you to do whatever you please, that is the basis for these men to act like that.
“There is this ideology, this interpretation of Islam which makes this possible.
“Why is virtually every single person in these grooming gangs Muslim? It seems like 95 per cent of them are. We need to look at the interconnection between Islam, promoted by the clergy and the establishment in the UK, because Islam is not promoting this reprehensible behaviour.”
Dr Hargey’s remarks come amid a blistering political fallout in the UK over Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips’ decision not to launch an inquiry.
Keir Starmer is under intense pressure to launch an inquiry
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The Labour Government insist a new inquiry would slow down measures in the pipeline designed to support vulnerable youngsters.
But pressure has been mounted by the likes of Elon Musk, who has posted hundreds of messages about the issue on his X platform since New Year’s Day.
Labour has accused the Conservatives of “political opportunism”, with Education Minister Bridget Phillipson warning the intervention risks sacrificing crucial child safeguarding legislation.
Professor Alexis Jay, who led the 2014 Rotherham investigation and chaired the national inquiry that reported in 2022, has strongly rejected calls for further inquiries.
“I think that the time has passed for more inquiries. We’ve had enough of inquiries, consultations and discussions,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
She emphasised that action is needed instead of more investigations, particularly for victims who have come forward.
“We have set out what action is required and people should just get on with it. Locally and nationally,” Prof Jay said.
She noted that while recent attention to the issue was welcome, the focus should be on implementing existing recommendations.