Jeffrey Epstein’s file is again in the news, so thought of sharing few reflections on it.
Who Was Jeffrey Epstein, Really?
Jeffrey Epstein was more than just a financier, he was a predator hiding in plain sight. Armed with wealth, connections, Epstein ran a vast sex trafficking network that lured vulnerable underage girls into a cycle of abuse, grooming, and blackmail.
But what made Epstein so dangerous wasn’t just his crimes, it was his proximity to power. It is said that he hosted presidents, royalty, billionaires, and media on his private jet and in his homes.
For years, Epstein operated freely, shielded by enablers, institutions, and a legal system that looked the other way. When his crimes finally caught up with him in 2019, he was arrested only to die mysteriously in a high-security prison before trial.
Recently! Elon Musk throws a sharp jab at President Donald Trump, drawing attention to Trump’s ties to Epstein, and citing that Trump’s name is also in Epstein’s files.
We need to understand, this jab isn’t about justice or morality. Let’s not forget, Elon and Trump have been on the same page ideologically and politically.
Question arises what happened now between them?
In simple language, interests diverged. The capitalist’s bromance broke. We all know the capitalist code
protect, profit, then destruct!
This isn’t unique to Musk and Trump. It’s how it functions- Protect each other while the benefits flow. Ignore moral failures, so long as they’re profitable. Turn against each other when the interests get different!
It’s not personal. It’s systematic. The ultra-rich operate in a network of unspoken mutual protection, where real whistleblowers are punished, and “accountability” is a performance.
And Epstein? He was both a tool and threat. A man who enabled the worst behaviors of the world’s most powerful men, and who potentially held the receipts.
True accountability doesn’t come from one elite calling out another. It comes when we demand the whole system answer for its crimes.
Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t just a predator. He was a product of a system that let men like him rise, thrive, and get away with it again and again based on capital.
His crimes were horrifying. But what made them possible? A toxic cocktail of capitalism, elitism, and moral collapse. The system which fails the children (the most vulnerable of all beings) is already a failed system!
Islam doesn’t just judge Epstein’s actions. It critiques the worldview that allowed him to flourish.
Yeah! I know you must be thinking about the statistics of the unprecedented rise of child abuse cases, and exploitation of the most vulnerable even in so called muslim countries, well it is also due to this same very capitalist system which is established upon them in the name of so called Islam.
Capitalism makes everything hyper individualistic, it reduces everything to mere transactions.
In that world, Epstein was a high-functioning capitalist, a man who built his wealth off shady financial dealings, collected powerful clients like trophies, exploited vulnerable little girls the way others exploit workers or resources.
*Epstein life was capitalism’s dark mirror, profit without purpose, power without accountability, having pleasure even if it is oppression.*
In Islam, power and wealth is a Divine trust with accountability.
“It is He who made you successors upon the ardh and raised some of you above others in rank so that He may test you through what He has given you.”
(Holy Qur’an 6:165)
Islamic economics stands on pillars that clash directly with how Epstein operated,
Wealth must serve the public.
Hoarding, monopolization of wealth, exploitation, or deception is forbidden, haram. If a deal causes harm, it’s forbidden, no matter how lucrative.Power increases responsibility, those with privilege must uplift the vulnerable, not prey on them.
In capitalism’s framework, people stay silent because, speaking up is risky. Because power protects its own.
That’s why Epstein got away with abuse for decades. He bought silence. He traded in influence. He was “too connected to fall.”
Islam doesn’t work like that.
“O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives. Be they rich or poor, Allah is best to ensure their interests. So do not let your desires cause you to deviate ˹from justice˺….”
(Holy Qur’an 4:135)
In Islam, silence in the face of oppression is complicity. Cowardice is not neutrality, it’s sin.
The most horrible aspect of Epstein’s story is the sheer number of very young girls, many of them poor, vulnerable, and ignored by the very institutions that should have protected them at the first place.
*Capitalism tends to view people through economic value. If you’re not profitable, you’re disposable*
We need to ask ourselves, do we define success by profit OR by purpose?
Where capitalism often sees vulnerability as weakness, Islam commands to see vulnerable as a sacred trust.
Epstein’s story is a failure of morality, yes but also a fruit of capitalism, which too often rewards the corrupt, and crushes the vulnerable.
Islam doesn’t just tell us to punish Epstein.
It tells us to check the system that made him possible.
The takeaway isn’t just “Epstein was evil.” That’s too easy. The real question is, What kind of system produces predators like him, and shields them from justice be it in non muslim or in so called muslim lands?
Imagine a world where wealth is not monopolized or hoarded, institutions prioritize dignity, the powerful are afraid to harm the weak not the other way around.
Hard to imagine?
Yeah!
Because such a system based on Islam as a complete way of living life is nowhere present in today’s world in order to represent as a model.
(I am attaching the link of the news related to the above topic).