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ABOUT AMILA
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IN THE NAME OF GOD, MOST BENEFICIENT, MOST MERCIFUL |
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Helping prisoners turn their lives around
God, the Exalted has said: "And Worship God [alone] and do not ascribe divinity, in any way, to aught beside Him. And do good unto your parents, and near of kin, and unto orphans, and the needy and the neighbor from among your people and the neighbor whos is a stranger, and the friend by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom you rightfully posess." [4:36]
"Continue to be kindly gracious towards the believers." [15:89]
"Continue thy companionship with those who call on their Lord, morning and evening, seeking His pleasure, and look not beyond the, for if thou dost that thou wouldst be seeking the values of this life." [18:29]
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has said: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. " (Bukhari & Muslim)
"Whosoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the griefs of the Day of Judgment. Whosoever alleviates [the lot of] of a needy person, Allah will alleviate [his lot] in this world and the next. Whosoever shields a Muslim, Allah will shield him in this world and the next. Allah will aid a servant [of His] so long as the servant aids his brother. Whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the book of Allah and studying it among themselves, without tranquillity descending upon them, mercy enveloping them, and Allah making mention of them amongst those who are with Him. Whosoever is slowed down by his actions will not be hastened by his lineage."(It was related by Imam Muslim in these words.)
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(Note: AMILA's prison program is on hiatus until further notice.) In the past year, members from American Muslims Intent on Learning & Activism (AMILA) started to visit inmates in the Soledad State Prison. Insha'Allah, this sort of endeavor has the possibility of many benefits. It provides the inmates with a sense of belonging to a larger Muslim ummah and strengthens their connection to Islam. The Prophet (PBUH) did something similar after the hijrah to Medina when he paired up the Emigrants (Muhajjireen) with the Supporters (Ansar) to build close social & economic ties between them.
In one of our visits, we observed firsthand the benefits of giving the brothers a connection with the larger ummah when we saw the excitement on an inmate's face when he received a letter from a brother in AMILA. This endeavor also provides what sociologists describe as a pattern interrupt for the ones who visit. It disrupts our normal pattern of existence causing us to be more reflective on our own lives. Often we hear slogans about how Islam is the solution to society's ills, yet we do not put Islam into action. This prison project offers an opportunity to do so.
We in AMILA believe that the transformation Islam has had on these inmates will be more long lasting and more productive than any of the current methods of corrective action that exist in the American criminal justice system. Yvonne Haddad, an academic who studies Muslims in America, noted in a lecture at Stanford University that the two loci of Islamic awakening in the United States are the university and the prison. It makes sense to connect these two centers of Islamic activity for sake of establishing Islam in the United States.
The Soledad State prison has over 4500 inmates with at least 150 Muslims. Currently, brothers from AMILA visit once a month. We are in the process of making contact with sisters who visit women inmates. It would be good for both brothers & sisters to make arrangements to visit the prison with us.
To visit, you must obtain clearance from the California Department of Corrections by filling out a form that you can get from us. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us. We are looking forward to your participation in this noble endeavor.
Report on AMILA Prison Visit
On Sunday, November 2, 1997, Shahed Amanullah, Murad Khan, and I visited the Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, California. This visit was the first time AMILA members have been the facility since Murad and Athar Siddiqee originally went more than four months ago.
We took with us 5 prayer rugs, 1 Quran, and a typewriter.
Salinas Valley is a Maximum Security Level 4 facility. Most of the inmates there are serving life sentences. Of approximately 6,000 prisoners, 400 are Muslim "under shahada." This distinction is made to differentiate the Muslim community from The Nation of Islam prisoners.
The prison is divided into four separate yards and the Muslim Chaplain is allowed to see members of the Muslim community while they are let out of their cells during their recreation period. We spent two hours in Yard A and two hours in Yard B meeting with members of the community and asking them what they would like to see us doing. It was very much of a brain storming session where ideas were exchanged and put on the table. Here is what was discussed:
- The Salinas Valley community would like AMILA members to write letters to the warden, with copies going to the officials in the California Department of Corrections (CDC), encouraging the CDC to respect the religious rights of inmates. Specifically (a) Many community members are forced to miss Friday prayers because they cannot use their Earned Time Off (ETO) to temporarily absent themselves from work and educational programs. (b) Provisions need to be made for halaal food to be procured. CDC regulations do specify that the State must reasonably accommodate the religious dietary needs of inmates, so long as the cost of doing so is comparable to the regular food being ordered. (c) A new regulation barring the wearing of beards, both by inmates and prison employees (ie. guards, chaplains etc.), is being proposed and will be up for public comment. Since shaving a beard is makruh (according to "Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi page 96), the Muslim community at Salinas Valley is very concerned about how this will affect them.
- The Muslim Community very much wants access to Islamic literature and educational material. Primarily this would eventually entail each Muslim in the community having his own Quran with English translation. Additionally. AMILA could supplement this effort by giving the community lending privileges to the material in the AMILA library. A list of our collection could be given to the Muslim Chaplain and requests could be made by the community as they would want to access the material.
- Since many of the materials that the Muslim community receives needs to be distributed among its population a request was made if there are printing services available through which the necessary quantity of religious literature can be produced for free. This will need to be investigated.
- The Salinas Valley community is trying to raise money for itself through a pie sale. We didn't ask about the logistics of this sale and to whom the pies would be sold, however the community did ask whether we would be able to hold the money in trust for them and administer it in a similar fashion to the way that we administer the money for the Eid Toy Drive.
- Many of the community member are interested in writing and publishing their work. One avenue that they have to accomplish this is the Internet. Many of them expressed an interest in setting up their own web site in order to house this information and to disseminate news about topics that are of interest to them. The logistics for this would require the physical material (writings pictures, etc.) to be compiled and then taken off site to be scanned and entered into a computer.
- The issue was raised about post-release services for the Muslim Community. While most of the inmates are serving life sentences from time to time some releases to occur from both Salinas Valley and other prisons around the Bay Area. The members of the community that are released do not want to revert back to their former lifestyle and thus feel that support mechanisms need to be in place. Since this issue is beyond the scope of AMILA, I have referred it to Shagufta Ahmed who is the chairperson of a new Bay Area task force that is conducting a needs assessment of the social services for the wider Northern California community.
To serve the needs of the Salinas Valley community AMILA will need to combine activism work on the issues outlined above as well as visits with the community. For the latter 6 individuals have signed up, and I plan to divide them into 2 groups of 3 with one group visiting the first weekend of the month and the second group visiting the third weekend of the month. I am hoping to recruit a third group to visit the last weekend of each month.
Also the Imam has asked for some help in co-ordinating a speakers program, and these individuals can visit on the second weekend of every month. |
