Beneath the yellow lights of the Victoria Line carriage, a woman with a resolute yet distraught face clasped her hands around the metal rail.
Stella Creasy, British Labour Party MP, had once again fallen victim to vile behavior in the heart of the city—a brazen man standing behind her shattered her safe space with lewd words and violating stares. But that night, the story was different: weary post-work passengers instantly formed a human ring around her. One shouted, “Get your hands off her!” Another pressed the emergency button. Stella, who had tasted harassment many times before, wiped her tears. The next day, she posted on X:
“If you were one of those anonymous heroes on the Victoria Line who intervened during my harassment yesterday, please accept my deepest gratitude… Come forward as witnesses. Maybe this time, the police will hear our cry.”
This event is but a drop in the ocean of suffering endured by London’s women. In the darkness of the underground tunnels, bitter tales repeat daily:
A young woman fleeing carriage-to-carriage from a man on the East London line at midnight, leaping from the train at Wapping station with seconds to spare. Later, with tear-filled eyes, she said: “No officer to report to… I just wanted to get home alive.”
Another woman, her voice catching in her throat each morning amid the Central Line rush: “I can’t even count the times… as if my body is public property.”
And the terrified student at quiet Catford station, pursued on foot to her doorstep—forced to run through the rain.
The Victoria Line passengers’ reaction is living proof of the efficacy of an Islamic teaching revealed fourteen centuries ago:
“Let there arise from you a nation inviting to goodness, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong” (Qur’an 3:104). This divine command treats women’s safety not as a marginal issue, but as a collective duty. In the Qur’an’s vision, every citizen is a guardian of society’s dignity:
- Prevention Through Collective Vigilance: In Islam, timely intervention (even via verbal warning or physically blocking an aggressor) is deemed civil jihad—not meddling. Just as London passengers acted with awareness before harassment escalated to assault.
- Breaking the Chain of Silence: Public reporting of suspicious behavior shatters criminals’ boldness.
That pivotal night, Londoners demonstrated two vital effects of “forbidding evil” (nahy ‘an al-munkar):
- Reducing Victims’ Fear: Stella was not alone.
- Increasing Psychological Cost of Crime: The aggressor was shamed before the crowd.
If London—with all its material progress—still writhes in the nightmare of insecurity, perhaps it is time to heed the ancient wisdom of the East: True security arrives when every passenger sees themselves as a guardian of human dignity, not a passive bystander. This is the true meaning of civilisation.
Analytical Translation by Jahan-Banoo News Agency
