Page 7 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 15 A: For Muslim prisoners the most difficult challenge is not while they are in the prison system, but after they get out. The question should be “What are they going to do with their Islamic life after they get out of the prison?” Generally speaking, they are not in prison because they areMuslim, but because their behavior was not Islamic. They are there because they were living wrong. While in prison Islam made sense to them and they became Muslim. They began to practice Islam. This gave them something to believe in. When they are returned to society the real challenge is, “So now you believe in Islam, how do you start to practice your beliefs?” Islam is not just saying you are Muslim, but in doing. Islam is both the words and the actions. Belief and practice. This is the challenge. Now you are out…fulfill your responsibility as a Muslim. It is not an easy thing to do. It is every Muslims individual responsibility to establish their Islamic life, to establish their commitment to Islamic values, Islamic practice and to being a part of Islamic community life. This is essential for the maintenance of Muslim character. Because we don’t have Muslim community life per se, we don’t eat together or study together as in many other places. This is difficult for manyMuslims. Due to the absence of community lifewe often lack the support many new Muslims need in order to enhance and strengthen their Islamic. It requires commitment and belief. They have to strive to avoid the pitfalls that may be waiting for them in society. They may have to avoid previous relationships and people they associated with. All these things must be re-evaluated in the light of new Islamic views. For many this poses a great challenge. They feel there should be a great reception for them as a Muslim. That there should be assistance for them from the Islamic community. There should be homes and jobs. They feel that is what Islam should offer them. It is not the reality. In most instances, efforts must be self-motivatedwith the help of the belief in Islam. Perhaps, in the future, there will be that kind of community support, but at this time it is not the reality. As Muslims, we are instructed to help the needy among us, but there is not an organized Islamic community from which to gain that kind of support. Q: How can the Muslim community reach out to Muslim prisoners to help them adjust to life outside? A: Books, Qur’an’s, literature. There is a huge demand for that. The demand currently is in greater proportion to what we are able to supply. Hundreds, even thousands of Qur’an’s are requested. Q: How is dawa (invitation to Islam) currently being practiced in the jails? What are the pitfalls we currently see? A: Many people incarcerated have accepted Islam and realized the spiritual benefits. They feel a sense of responsibility to pass on what they have learned. They want to give something back. That’s one of the motivations for many individuals, including myself. I came into Islam under those circumstances. It was a great blessing to have Islam as a source of relief and guidance. I was able to come out of that maze with my sanity, body, mind and health intact. I learned a lot from individuals that were there, some are still there. I feel a sense of indebtedness to them and also want to offer hope. It is possible for people to change and re-establish a life based on integrity. It comes from the blessing and favor of Allah. You have the freedom to study. You don’t have to worry about paying for rent, electricity, water, heat, and groceries. You don’t have the normal burdens of life that one encounters out here. In a way it’s almost like a “boarding school” if you can see it from that perspective as a Muslim. You can use the time to study. That’s one of the benefits I found from the nine years that I was incarcerated. I used the time to read. I was exposed to a great deal of good information about Islam. I began studying Arabic and reading the Qur’an in Arabic. It was difficult, but I had the desire. It became a time for preparation. In some ways it was easy because there was nowhere to go and nothing to do. There was no reason not to do five prayers a day. No one is telling you that you have appointments or meetings that are crucial can’t be interrupted. The demands are different than on the outside. Q:What kind of Islamic education is available toMuslims in prison? A: In some of the prisons there are Muslim chaplains who come in as employees of the State of California. They are able to provide education, Islamic teachings, counseling, and guidance. They also coordinate volunteers coming to the institution to provide other services to the Islamic community there. In most circumstances they are fortunate in that there are very knowledgeable people coming to instruct and support them. Many of them are helpful in overcoming and treating the mental and spiritual deficiencies in the individual that brought them to the point of incarceration. Q: Do you think that the current cutbacks on affirmative action will have a negative effect on Muslims in prison or on ex-cons or the community at large? A: Yes, it already has. Veterans in prison are prevented from using their veterans’ benefits for higher education while in prison. Pell grants are now being denied to individuals in prison. Q: Let’s goback to thequestionof howyour interest in Islamevolved. Were you raised Christian? Were you afraid of not being accepted byMuslims?Were you surprised to find the deepmessage in Islam? A: My mom & dad had nine children of which I was the second. My early childhood was in Danville, IL. My mother was a professed Christian and she raised me with a great respect for God and with a strong sense of accountability to God. She taught us that one day God would judge us for how we had lived our lives. This greatly impressed me as she had a strong commitment to those ideals. My father was of a different opinion. He didn’t believe in any organized religion that he had seen, which was predominantly Christian. He saw contradictions between “talk” and “action”. He considered himself an atheist for many years, but he changed before he died. He began to see things differently in later years but he was opposed to what he saw as ‘corrupt’ religion. I’m not sure what my grandmothers’ religion was, but I know she wanted to name me after one of the prophets, but my parents thought it was uncommon and rejected the idea. That had an influence on me later when I heard about Islamic names. My father had a sister with an Islamic name from birth. I don’t know how she got that name and there was no way for me to find out where that influence came from because by then most of those family members had passed. There seems to have been some kind of Islamic influence in my life. As I said earlier, my older brother began going to the temples of Islam under the teaching of Elijah Muhammad and bringing home literature. Those things gave me hope that there was something out there for my spiritual development. I was not finding that in Christianity or other forms of ideologies such as communism or socialism. In the sixties, the militant experience was not satisfying or appealing to me. I was looking for an answer from God. After I got in trouble, I began going to Islamic meetings and started calling myself “Muslim” while still in high school at 16-17 years old. I started identifying myself as Muslim. The only information I really had was that Allah was God and that Jesus was not “God” and that the Bible was a book full of contradictions. I didn’t know the Qur’an or how to pray, but I still identified myself as Muslim and I’ve never let go of that. As I became more knowledgeable I began to understand how Muslims were expected to behave. As I became more conscious of the actions involved with being a Muslim, I was no longer comfortable with just the label. I started to try to educate myself on how to be a Muslim in action, thought and deed. Q: When you got in trouble was it while you were learning about Islam or before? A: I got in trouble prior to learning about Islam. My first involvement with the criminal justice system was when I was in a group of friends on the way to school. One of the boys, unbeknownst to the rest of us, had a pellet gun. They put all 18 of us on probation. My family was naive about these things and in those days they thought it was something that would be good for us (probation) and keep us out of trouble. That was my first exposure to the criminal justice system. After that, at 15, I began to rebel against my father and his authority. I didn’t respect his telling me what to do, where to go, or what time to come home. Pretty normal 15-year-old rebellion. This led being put out of the house while I was on probation and no longer under “parental control”. I was sent to prison as a runaway and incorrigible. I still hadn’t done anything to break the law. But that is how I first went to jail. I went to a county camp for nine months. This was in
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