Epstein Island Is Not a Passing Scandal But the Reality of an Ideology
(Translated)

Al-Rayah Newspaper - Issue 587 - 18/02/2026

By: Ustaadh Ahmad Zakariya al-Dal’

It is not surprising that the West commits crimes, but instead people are surprised. It is as if the West has never been a criminal. It is as if its history is not a continuous series of killing, looting, occupation, and political subjugation and human rape, from Iraq to Afghanistan, and from Syria to Gaza, millions of dead, displaced, and broken psychologically and physically, whilst the feelings of the “free world” have not been shaken. However, when a small island exposes those in power who secretly committed their crimes, the media uproar ensues, even though the crime is not new to this capitalist system, but instead it is deeply rooted within it. Epstein Island is not an exception but a miniature model of the world governed by the savage West.

The mistake is not in the place, nor in Epstein alone, nor even in the crime itself. The mistake and the abnormality are in the ideology and in the international order that sees man as a commodity to be exploited; a child for pleasure, a woman for advertising, a people for plunder, a state for occupation. When life is run with this mentality, the existence of Epstein’s island becomes a natural outcome, even inevitable. The problem is not Epstein alone but those standing behind him. Focusing solely on Epstein is deliberate deception, for he is nothing but a front, a broker, or a link in a long chain of influence, the people with him were political elites, businessmen, media figures, influential personalities, protection networks, soldiers, guards, and intellectuals. These are not outside the filthy system but constitute the system itself, the very ones who led wars, justified bombardments, marketed occupation, and legitimized killing in the name of democracy, who spoke of human rights while burying the children of the Middle East under rubble. So what rational person imagines that those who orchestrated massacres would hesitate to violate a child on an isolated island?!

The West speaks of children’s rights, women’s rights, media ethics, and human freedom, yet reality shows these are not values but political instruments, empty media noise and slogans coated with honey while concealing deadly poison inside. These values are raised to deceive peoples, deployed when they serve Western interests, and trampled when they obstruct their projects. If children’s rights were a genuine value to them, Gaza’s schools would not have burned. If women’s rights were a moral principle, Iraqi women would not have been raped in prisons. If human dignity were sacred, facilities like Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib would never have been established. However, the plain truth today is that wealth combined with politics, media, and influence equals immunity above the law. When these elements converge, silence is purchased, charges are directed, criminals are whitewashed, and the innocent are demonized, making transgression of law and morality not only possible but easy. Theories about timing and linking leaks to international or regional events are all secondary details. Most importantly, the fig leaf has fallen in front of the Western peoples themselves, in front of those who believe in the doctrine of separating Deen from life, and in front of our own people who are deceived by the glitter of Western civilization.

The truth has been exposed of an order not governed by values but by interests, not restrained by ethics but by power, that does not protect the human being but exploits him.

The crimes are not the result of individual deviations but of a doctrine that separates Deen from life, isolates revelation from politics, excludes the Creator’s legislation from governance, and makes man a legislator for himself. When man legislates for himself, he legislates to the measure of his desires, permitting what benefits him, and prohibiting what harms his interests. So how can we expect such a system to protect the human being?

In conclusion, Epstein Island is not a scandal but a frank admission that this system is morally bankrupt, humanly flawed, value-bankrupt, historically criminal, and existentially dangerous to humanity. Anyone who fails to see this today is either blinded by deafening propaganda, benefiting from the crime, or fearful of the truth. From this it follows that this system, this corrupt ruling order, and this innately deviant civilization, cannot be reformed from within, but must be replaced root and branch in a comprehensive, radical transformation that uproots the origin of corruption, eradicates the basis of deviation, and leaves no room for its survival or patching. Indeed, falsehood cannot be rectified by falsehood, corruption cannot be treated with the tools of corruption. Instead it is treated by truth, and injustice is removed by justice, in order to eliminate jahiliyyah (ignorance of non-Islam) and establish the rule of Islam.

Here the Islamic Ummah turns to its true role and its historical mission, long neglected: carrying the message of change to the entire world, not as mere abstract moral slogans but as a complete system for life, politics, economy, society, and international relations. Muslims are not merely an isolated religious group, but Dawah carriers of a universal Risaalah message sent through the master of humanity, Muhammad (saw), to bring people out of darknesses into light, from the worship of servants to the worship of the Lord of servants, from the tyranny of false religions to the justice of Islam, and from the constriction of this world to the expanse of this world and the Hereafter. This change will neither come through partial reform, nor political patchwork, nor bargaining with corrupt regimes, but through ideological, organized intellectual and political work that restores Islam’s status as the sole reference for life, returns the Ummah to its leadership role in the world, and restores to humanity its robbed dignity under a civilization of materialism, pleasure, and influence. This is the battle of awareness, the battle of destiny, and the Ummah’s battle against a corrupt global order that is unfit and undeserving of survival.