Letter from a prisoner - Ramadhaan behind bars

The New York Times

I have spent 9 Ramadhaans behind bars at 3 different prisons. Every Ramadhaan was different for different reasons and due to different circumstances but one thing was the same in all; no matter how many walls and gates confine my physical self, the barakah that the month brings transcends it all and brings with it sakeenah that sets my soul free. Ramadhaan has always been my favourite time of the year, despite the worst day of my life also being in this month.

The prison system allows for religious practices and for Muslims there are specific concessions made for this blessed month. The main change in the prison is that Muslim inmates are housed together in 1 cell. This helps Muslims to be able to not only pray together but to experience some semblance of quiet and respect for prayer; as well as being able to be in an environment where everyone has the same intentions. Prison policies dictate many other concessions but these are merely on paper as no Muslim authorities ever assist in their complete implementation. 

Naturally, the prison environment presents a new dynamic to the month. My first Ramadhaans were in communal cells. A communal cell generally accommodates 40 men but for Ramadhaan they squeeze around 70 into 1 cell. We did not mind this, if anything it helped to create a better atmosphere. Double bunks were transformed into quadruple bunks in order to create a permanent space for salaah, with the guys on the top literally brushing the roof as they turned in bed; whilst others preferred to rather sleep on the floor. 

The spirit of the brothers for the month meant that even staying in such conditions did not bother them. This was even true when it came time for whudu and the toilet. 70 men sharing 1 toilet and 2 basins is quite a logistical nightmare when it comes to getting ready for salaah, and especially for fajr. Some would take it upon themselves to play the role of bathroom manager in efforts to streamline the process, while others volunteered themselves to clean the bathroom continuously. 

Ramadhaan is supposed to be a time of giving up food but the reality in the world is that food becomes more of a priority in Ramadhaan than out of it. In prison, the same is true to an extent. One Ramadhaan, I was able to eat home food almost everyday for iftaar. One Ramadhaan I lived largely on bread and milk. Allah always made a way though for me to be able to break every fast with dates, and sometimes even with zamzam. The prison gives the guys 5 slices of bread, powder milk, sugar and either jam or peanut butter for sehri. For iftaar, guys keep their prison lunch. Breaking fast hours after being given the food means that the food is cold, so guys come up with ingenious ways to warm up food. Anything from a bucket of boiling water, placing packets inside a kettle, wedging food between hot water bottles and clothing irons are used, to great effect! 

The brotherhood that is shown at meal times is remarkable. I have had the fortune of making iftaar in Madinah Munawwarah where one is literally pulled to join the host in iftaar. In prison, I have witnessed a similar spirit. Even though most have only the essentials, they vie with one another in sharing and in providing for each other; sometimes even becoming physical in efforts to be the ones to serve others. 

All prisons have a shop inside the prison that sells basic groceries. These are a huge help especially during Ramadhaan. Items such as tea, coffee, margarine, instant porridge and the like make sehri and iftaar much more pleasant. Regardless of what we have to eat, joy still abounds at iftaar. 

The past few Ramadhaans have been in the midst of winter. This brings great challenges to us. For instance, making whudu with icy water at sehri, or worse still having to make a fardh ghusl, tests one in ways one cannot imagine. It also does not help that prisons have constant power outages, owing to defunct infrastructure or simply because of load shedding. One Ramadhaan, for almost 2 weeks there was no electricity. This meant no hot meals for that time, no hot water to bath or make whudu and no lights to do anything in. 

These conditions prove really difficult at times for someone like me who grew up as a Muslim and has been fasting since the age of 6. It is infinitely more difficult for men in prison as 99% of them became Muslim in prison. Imagine spending your first Ramadhaan, as a middle aged man, in these type of conditions? It really tests the faith of everyone. 

Seeing as most inmates have never seen the inside of a masjid, most never heard of taraweeh. It is natural then that many find the idea of 20 rakaats rather daunting. In all my years though, I have never had a single person complain about  the length of taraweeh; instead everyone remains committed and is up for the challenge. Some issues however do creep in, but nothing that is not faced in masjids too; like issues over whether the lights should be on or off, or whether the windows should be open or not. 

For some, fasting proves to be a bit too much. It is not uncommon to have someone being caught sneaking into a quiet cell during the day to have a quick bite or more often than not a quick cigarette. Others will feign sickness to get a few days off. The general attitude towards this is compassion and empathy as opposed to aggression or ridicule. 

As someone who is always the imaam and looked up to by the revert Muslims, I cannot help but feel for them and all I can do is to encourage them. It does not sadden me that some of my fellow brothers cannot fast properly, pray properly or read the Quran. Rather it saddens me that in a city like Johannesburg which is full of darul-ulooms and ulema that there is hardly any support at all for Muslim inmates. Yes, some have done terrible unspeakable crimes, but the day they became Muslim, Allah says He forgave all of their past transgressions, so it is time the community and in particular the ulema changed their attitude and assisted.

Don't judge a book by its cover says the old adage. I have learnt and continue to learn that lesson in prison. I spent one Ramadhaan in a single cell with a revert who was extremely passionate about learning. He reminded me of the stories of the sahabah (RA), for they implemented everything they were taught immediately. I taught him about tahajjud and for the year that he was with me, he never missed it for a single night. Another brother learnt how to read arabic, last Ramadhaan he completed the Quraan. It took him on average 4 hours to complete one juz, but he persevered and achieved what so many do not despite their abilities. Last Ramadhaan, I spent with a 50 year old ex-Hindu pundit. By the end of the month he could read Arabic and knew a few surahs by memory.   Another image that will always be etched in my memory is one of 4 or 5 men sharing 1 candle in order to read Quraan.

Inspiration is all around us, no matter where we are. The blessing of this blessed month are also all around us, no matter where we are. 

Letter from a prisoner - Days of our lives, Prison edition!

                                                     https://goodmenproject.com

As an inmate, I only have access to watch the National broadcasters’ 3 television channels and 1 free to air channel. The choice of programs to watch is very limited. I am unfortunately one of the millions of people globally, who watch soapies; for now. It is only out of absolute boredom and because of a lack of choice that I endure a daily dose of escapism. Soapies on the television screen are not the only source of mad behaviour, deception and affairs; the prison is also a source of entertaining events.
Many men in prison have cellular phones, through which they try to win the affection of ladies in the free world. Most of the time, all they seek is a sugar mommy, someone to spend freely on their needs. Their rate of success is very high, all things considered.Interaction with ladies also happens at the visit area. This provides the opportunity for a hug and kiss. It is also common to see inmates eyeing ladies coming to visit another, fellow inmate. These interactions often result in events worthy of a place on any of the popular soapies on television. I will share a few incidents to substantiate this.

A few weeks ago there was a terrible fight in a cell one night. The 2 occupants of the cell ended up in hospital, naturally because of a woman. Thabo had a girlfriend in the real world. A woman he had known for many years. Thabo and his cellmate, Martin decided to put their money together and buy a cellular phone. As they shared everything and were good friends, Thabo did not mind that his lady spoke to Martin when he was busy or sleeping. This carried on for over a year. When Martin thought Thabo was sleeping, he did not realise that Thabo often listened to his conversations, which were often what can only be described as phone sex. Little did Thabo know that Martin was getting his highs from Thabo’s lady.A few weeks ago, Thabo’s lady sent a picture of herself in a compromised position. Thabo was chuffed, thinking the raunchy picture was for him, but on closer inspection noticed that the lady had a new tattoo on a very intimate
body part. All hell broke loose when he realised that the tattoo was Martin’s name enclosed in a heart.
Thabo broke the cell’s window and started stabbing Martin, getting him to confess everything. Martin then somehow overpowered Thabo and a full on fight with broken glass ensued. Both men had time to talk it through as partners in the same hospital room for a few days thereafter.

Another crazy story involves one of the inmates I associate with regularly. James is a young man who is very conscious of his appearance, even when wearing a prison uniform. He gets visits regularly. One day, he was seated a fair distance from an attractive young girl. He could not help but notice that her eyes seemed to not be focusing on the boyfriend she was visiting, but on him. As the lady left, she slipped him a piece of paper with her name and phone number scribbled on it.
James started talking to the young lady and they found a liking for each other. The problem was that the ladies boyfriend is a notorious gangster in the prison. James came up with a rather ingenious way to get rid of his problem. He got the lady to bring pictures of the gangster as well as records of conversations with the gangster. This resulted in the gangster being transferred to the highest security facility in the country, quite literally in the middle of nowhere, where he only gets to make 1 phone call a month.
The deceitful way that this ‘relationship’ started in, did not prevent the couple from getting “engaged.” Only time will tell if this story has a happy ending.

Many men in prison have multiple ladies or “girlfriends” as they like to call them. It seems they like to not only keep their options open but also want to have financial support from more than one avenue. This “cheating” sometimes results in the guilty party being caught out in rather dramatic fashion.
I have witnessed on one occasion a literal cat fight between 2 ladies at a family day. Sipho, like most men enjoyed the attention of ladies. He had planned for 2 ladies to visit him on a particular family day. A family day is basically an extended visit which takes place on the sports field. Sipho arranged for one lady to visit him when the gates opened at 8am and for another to arrive at 11am; with the plan in mind to get rid of the first lady by then.The plan seemed to be going very well. By 9am, Sipho was locking lips and cuddling with his first lady of the day. During one of his kisses, he was abruptly disturbed by the sensation of wetness, only wetness where he did not expect it. Lady number two had come early and had seen her man being very intimate with another lady. She proceeded to empty her bottle of cold drink all over Sipho and his first lady.
Sipho did not know what to do or say, in fact all he and all the spectators did was watch in awe as the 2 women had an epic bitch fight. Sipho lost more than just 2 ladies, the fact that he had a cellular phone and was engaged in other illegal activities also came to light, resulting in him being punished.

These kinds of stories happen quite regularly with varying degrees of intensity and absurdity. They are however not only confined to interactions with ladies.A while back, at my previous prison there was a number of serious gangs fights. It resulted in many spending time in hospital with serious injuries and even with one man loosing an eye.The reason behind the mayhem was a young white boy. As 90% of the populous is black men, white meat is a sought after commodity. The leader of one of the prisons gangs had eyed the boy for himself. The young boy was very insecure and loved smoking weed. As he could not afford to maintain his habit, he became the gang leaders’ toy, offering his bum when it was desired.
Things got out of hand when a rival gang leader decided that he wanted a piece of the white bum. He proceeded to pay more for the services and went on to demand that the boy only serviced him. This then became the starting point for much bloodshed. Unfortunately for the man whore, he lost his eye amidst one of the many fights and subsequently lost his ability to lure clients.

Infidelity is not the only practice of soapies that is found in prisons. There is revenge, betrayal, backstabbing, fraud, stealing, cheating and every other vice known to man in some form or other. Such are the days of our lives...

Rey's yummylicious Phirni recipe just in time for Ramadhaan

1 Add 3 cups milk to a medium sized pot

2. Add 1 teaspoon elachi

3. Add 3.5 tablespoons sugar for taste

4. Add 2 tablespoons semolina

5. Add a few drops of rose essence

6. Add a few drops of either red or green colouring

7. Stir the contents of the pot and bring to boil.

Stir continuously to prevent scorching

8. Once boiled, pour the milk mixture into dessert bowls. Allow to cool

9. Sprinkle dessicated coconut on the top and then refrigerate

Free speech verses religion

Picture taken from vimeo.com

April 17th, 2017

And now this, "You should be ashamed to be taking pictures with Sonu Nigam after his anti Muslim tweets. As a Muslim woman you are a disgrace to society for being associated with him considering that you are from a family that has many aalims and haafith."

I wanted to refrain from commenting on this issue. But I think I now need to voice my opinion as I am now being attacked on a personal level. First and foremost it is absolutely cowardice to message someone from a fake profile. If you wish to tell me something have the guts to say it without hiding your damn identity.

So I woke up this morning with twitter going crazy with regards to Sonu Nigam's controversial comments on a public platform. Whilst I was initially taken aback by his bold choice of words, would we as Muslims have reacted in the same way, if he complained about the sound of Church bells ringing or if he was irritated with the sound of early morning bhajans at a mandhir. Would we have made a noise with equal enthusiasm calling for religious tolerance or would we have not reacted at all. Why do we as Muslims have to react about every comment or statement that is made about our religion or religious practices. He resides in a democratic country where he has a right to voice his own opinion in the same way that I have a right to voice my opinion by stating that I was livid hearing the sound of horns emanating from a mandhir adjacent to our hotel in Mumbai a few years ago in the early parts of the morning as it was disturbing my sleep. Does it make me anti Hindu. Hell no. So why does his comment suddenly make him anti Muslim? A close friend of mine residing in India text me this morning about this issue and this is what he said, " As a Muslim, I fully support Sonu's stance. The high court in Mumbai has passed a law stating that there should be no athaan and bhajans from 10pm until 6am, yet there are masjids in our locality and temples that continue with their prayers on a loud speaker illegally defying the court ruling. I am surrounded by many masjids and sometimes the muazzins in these masjids literally have a competition with each other as to who makes the longest athaan or the loudest athaan or the best sounding athaan. This is not Islam. Islam and our beloved Prophet Muhammed (saw) does not condone the practice of disturbing others. We are encouraged to always follow the laws of a country and abide by them. We are not residing in a Muslim country. We need to accept this. I think he should have condemned noise pollution across the board targeting all religious groups rather than just signalling the athaan only. I do however fully understand his sentiments totally"

Why the bloody hypocrisy. For decades scholars have been debating the use of loudspeakers in Islamic countries. There are many suburbs in the Middle East where the athaan is not said over loudspeakers or it is said over a loudspeaker that is governed and regulated in terms of decibel levels. Even in Morocco whilst I was there, there was constant debate with regards to the calls to prayer via a loudspeaker. If there are many masjids in close proximity should all of them recite the athaan over the loudspeaker or will one athaan suffice for the entire neighbourhood? How loud should the athaan be in terms of decibel levels etc etc etc Why then have the Muslim community not come out guns blazing. There are many Muslim scholars in the Middle East who have suggested that the calls to prayer be regulated so as not to disturb the elderly or people following other religious faiths. I know of a Muslim family residing in Bahrain who complained to the authorities with regards to the call to prayer at fajr time as their home was right next to the mosque and their dad was a cancer patient who disliked noise. The sound was way over the recommended decibel levels. The authorities took their complaint into consideration and action was taken.Nowadays we have technology at our fingertips. We can listen to the athaan on our mobile phones and also through Athaan receivers in our homes without disturbing our neigbours. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and hence instead of displaying a mentality of tit for tat, we should be the one's accommodating to the needs of others. Is Mr. Nigam anti Muslim, NO he isn't. If he was he would not have learned music from a Muslim ustaath who he has revered and looked up to all his life, Muhammed Rafi Sahab would not have been his hero and idol and neither would he have maintained a 17 year long friendship with me. If he was anti-Muslim he would not choose to have a Muslim personal trainer, his drivers would not be Muslim and neither would his barber be Muslim. An anti Muslim person would not allow Muslims to pray salaah in their home either.Just to set the record straight, if I hail from a family that has many haafith and aalims that's great. All praises are due to the Almighty. But at the same time I was brought up in a home where we were allowed to explore other peoples cultures and faiths. I am proud to have friends from all over the world hailing from different socio- economic and religious backgrounds. We Muslims are a nation filled with hypocrisy. We are unable to tolerate practices of our fellow Muslims. We have created sectarianism and allowed religious intolerance to rear its ugly head within the banner of Islam. Yet we expect other nations and religious groups to adopt and have religious tolerance towards us. Knowing the person that he is, I am of the opinion that he returned home really exhausted and when he was woken up by the sound of the athaan he suddenly went on a rant in a fit of anger or frustration. Whilst he is a superstar, at the end of it all he is a human being and like any other human being he has a side that gets upset and angry etc. I have seen the human side of him on many occasions and it has only led to constructive criticism and dialogue between us. Whilst Mr. Nigam has certainly got thousands of knickers in a twist, I would like to thank him for sparking debate and dialogue on a global scale. To the coward who inboxed me, the only person who is shameless here is YOU, not only for judging me but for assuming that I am less of a Muslim for taking pictures with a person who has been my friend for almost 2 decades. Your idiotic comment means squat to me dearest for only Allah alone is the the supreme Judge and only to Him do I answer to. Always remember whilst you quick at pointing a finger at me, there are four fingers pointing right back at you!

For those of you who are not aware of the ruling:

If the majority of the residents are non-Muslims who are objecting to
the Athaan over the loudspeaker, then the Athaan should be given
without a microphone. It is not a Shar’i requirement for the Athaan
to be recited on the loudspeaker.

Was-salaam

A.S.Desai

Mujlisul Ulama of S.A.

Perhaps the best comments I read with regards to the above topic is as follows:

"As a revert to the Islamic faith I am appalled and disgusted by the hate speech displayed by Muslims with regards to the Bollywood singer. Rather pray for the gentleman for the worst of people have been guided by God Almighty. A lot of Muslims are hypocrites. They will feel hurt and jump up in arms if something is mentioned about them yet when their own clerics spew hate speech against Jews and Christians no one stands up to condemn these actions. With regards to the athaan I lived in a neighbourhood where there were many masjids. Being a Muslim myself I use to be irritated with the fact that over 30 minutes there use to be 5 athaans and once again one masjid wanted to compete with the next in terms of loudness, not very courteous considering there was an old age home nearby... I felt that one athaan sufficed for the entire suburb.Correct me if I'm wrong but it's not compulsory for the athaan to be said on a loudspeaker..we should be encouraging good relationships with our neighbors..I believe his tweet was written in haste or anger straight after being woken up and has possibly been misinterpreted. Trust me if you are an insomniac like me the fight for sleep is real.
Remember I use to be Christian, so when I resided for a brief period of time in the Middle East I felt that forced religiousness was being imposed on me in terms of not being able to consume alcohol or eat pork for example. India has imposed forced religiousness to its citizens with regards to consuming beef. But that is the law of the country and you abide by it.. India is unique in a sense that its made up of a diversity of cultures and religions and whilst one needs to be extra careful with regards to your choice of words in order to prevent a religious war from igniting, you need to remember that due to corruption laws are never adhered to in India. In small localities you will find numerous masjids or mandhirs depending if it is a predominantly Muslim or Hindu locality and yes it becomes irritating when mandhirs and masjids compete with each other over a loudspeaker. The law is clear, no Hindu hymns, no church bells and no athaan from 9pm until 6am. Reading up more about the man at he centre of the controversy, why haven't Muslims come out in praise of his good deeds and charity work that he does not only for Hindu children but for thousands of Muslims kids in rural India. Why hasn't Muslims praised him for funding hundreds of kids with disabilities in India and in the Middle East many of whom are Muslims. Why hasn't anyone spoke about the love and respect he has for his Muslim teacher who is a fatherly figure in his life. There are hundreds of Muslims who listen to the athaan day in and day out and yet they do not pray. Their lives are empty without God in it but on social media they are quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticize a person who God can guide towards goodness one day. Islam has taught me to never ever look down upon anyone else or speak ill of them even if they are perceived as being wrong. To the Muslims who used vulgar language to defend their faith, two wrongs dont make a right. Would you be pleased to wake up at 4am everyday to the sound of blaring church bells and Sanskrit hymns in your bedroom in praise of a deity that does not fit in with your religious beliefs. If you alright with it that's great. But if not, I rest my case."

"I was Christian and I hated the sound of church bells blaring ding dong in my home. That however does not make me anti Christian. does it? Here's a video that I viewed sometime back. To all those Muslims who commented on the Bollywood singer fiasco, why haven't you as Muslims stood up in arms about such practices of spreading hate among other nations by brainwashing students which is a more serious issue than a silly tweet. Does Islam teach us to run down people of other faiths." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95GxhqjHZ3E"