THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN MUSLIM INMATES

A few days ago I posted a letter that was written by a prisoner. Judging from the many inbox messages i received coupled with hundreds of comments online, the letter definitely got the community talking. Whilst many of the comments were constructive and critical there were some comments that were just downright disrespectful and demeaning. I know exactly where all of these comments and sentiments stem from as i was probably going to react and comment in the very same way that many of you have until one day i decided to see life from a different perspective. My entire perspective about life changed the day i received a letter from a prisoner a few years ago. Of course i was shocked and surprised but at the same time i was curious. I discussed the contents of the letter with my family. Alhamdulilla Allah has blessed me with amazing parents. I have parents who are kind and caring. They are compassionate when it comes to the plight of others and so my parents took me to visit the inmates in prison and they have subsequently encouraged me to visit as often as i can to be a pillar of strength for another human being. Whilst visiting over the years and reading case transcripts of many inmates, i have come to realise that there are so many inmates who are serving sentences for crimes they didnt really commit. Many have found themselves behind bars due to bribery and corruption. Of course reopening a case or appealing a case costs hundreds of thousands of rand that most prisoners can not afford and lets not forget the lengthy judicial process. It is only through my visits at the Johannesburg prison that i started researching and learning more about the rights of prisoners in Islam. There are so many books and articles on this subject matter and yet as a student in madressa years ago, this topic was never really discussed in depth. This article is not about ulema bashing but rather it is written to simply highlight the issues that Muslim prisoners are faced with on a daily basis. I am writing this article in the hope that the powers that be realise the importance of maintaining the rights of prisoners in Islam and of course fulfill their duties and responsibilities they have undertaken towards the prisoners.
Muslim inmates are assisted for their Islamic needs by the Muslim prisons board. Ulema of the past have been instrumental in structuring policies to cater for the needs of muslim prisoners. There is a general policy that is instated and implemented throughout the year and then there is a policy in place that applies specifically to the holy month of Ramadhaan. All of these documents and policies are in my possession should any one out there wish to view them.In theory, these policies are brilliant and provide revert Muslims an opportunity to have an easier, more comfortable Ramadhaan. However, in reality these policies are not being adhered to by the Muslims prison board. My question is, why not? The following is a detailed account by a Muslim inmate I visited over the weekend. I have also spoken to family members of other inmates and received feedback from the head of the Kitchen in Medium C Johannesburg prison.

" At the time of my sentencing many years ago, I was admitted to Johannesburg correctional centre at Medium B. At that time, an organization by the name of At- Tawheed (founded by Sheikh Bassioni) adopted all the male prisons. There were 5 full time ulema who rotated between the prisons. Madressa was held twice a week and juma prayers were conducted in congregation by a qualified aalim at all the male prison centres. Our every need was seen to with haste and urgency. In Ramadhaan as per the internal prison policy, hampers and food items were provided to all Muslim inmates and we had daily visits. The morale of the prisoners were positive and there was a feeling of brotherhood. We didnt feel alone or abandoned. Jamaats and guest ulema use to visit frequently. Dawah work progressed on a daily basis and many wardens became Muslim by simply observing the Juma prayers.

After some time i was transferred to Leeukop maximum centre. On my first day at the facility, i realised there was a huge problem there with regards to halaal food. Phone calls to the halaal co-ordination confirmed my concerns. I chose to abstain from the food as it was too doubtful. A few weeks later i met the spiritual care worker assigned to the prison by the board. His investigations shocked him as he confirmed my reservations. I kept on wondering, why wasnt this issue taken up by the prison board a long time ago considering that there were already other muslim inmates at the Leeukop facility prior to me arriving. The spiritual care worker and I met with management and promises were made. Sadly nothing changed. I waited for a few months in the hope that the board will assist but when nothing materialised i decided to take the matter to court. A lawyer volunteered to assist but as the board member was not willing to testify, i lost the case. My health suffered drastically and i needed to get medical help as I survived for 18 months on milk and bread. Up until i left, the situation at Leeukop did not change. Perhaps it has changed now and it would be great news if someone out there can verify if changes have taken place at that prison facility. By the way Halaal food was not the only issue. In the 18 months i was there, i only saw a Muslim prison board representative a few times. Juma prayers was never performed and there were many more issues during the month of ramadhaan. What surprised me the most was the fact that at Leeukop prison, there was a Shia Jamaat who visited twice a week and did a lot in terms of providing support to the muslim inmates.

I was transferred back to Johannesburg correctional facility to the Medium C centre. At that time At Tawheed were still doing a sterling job and their hard work and dedication impacted positively on both Muslim and non Muslim prisoners. The situation however changed. For reasons unknown and unclear but possibly due to a power struggle between the muslim prison board and the At Tawheed organisation, the muslim prison board terminated the services of At Tawheed and hence the good work that their ulema were doing came to an abrupt end. For 3 years no one came to the prison. With a lack of support and guidance many reverts became born again Christians. Shortly after Ramdhaan in 2018, Sheikh Salaamah started visiting us once a week for an hour as a volunteer and we are immensely greatful that at least he does care. During the 3 years of no official support, we learnt to make means for ourselves. For example, as per the policy, during the fasting month,the policy states that all Muslim prisoners must be provided with a hot meal at the appropriate time of iftaar. In the past Muslim prison board members stated that this was impossible or impractical. There response in essence was one of disinterest. Alhamdulilla one brother took on the authorities with the assistance of the human rights commission and now shukr at the time of iftaar the prison provides us with a hot plate of food. Other prisons and ulema at those facilities need to be aware that it can be done to ensure that muslim inmates benefit from the policies that are in place.

As only appointed people by the board can bring in food and hampers for the prisoners, we obtain donations from family to help the majority of inmates who dont get visits by purchasing items such as tea and coffee from the prison shop. This year however, has been tough as the prison shop did not open at all during the month of may."

So what i gathered during my chats and conversations with family members of inmates is that the issue is not that the muslim community do not want to help prisoners. Their efforts are being blocked by disinterested lax muslim prison board members. According to the head of the kitchen at medium C (pls feel free to call her to verify this info), a muslim prison board member dropped off one box of dates at the facility this year. She literally pleaded with him for more boxes of dates as it would not be sufficient for all the prisoners residing at that facility for the entire month. Reluctantly he gave her 4 boxes in total. She then asked him about the list of other food items that the muslim inmates are allowed during the fasting month. He responded by telling that he will drop it off the next day. Till today she is still waiting. She also mentioned to me that this individual( i have his name) lied to her last year as well. A few days before eid, he promised to drop off a pot of biryani for the inmates at the Medium C facility on eid day. As it was her off day, the head of the kitchen at medium c changed her plans and went to work on eid day to receive the pot of food. She waited until 3pm the man didnt pitch. She thought to herself, maybe muslims are like this. They dont care for their people. I have been told by family members of inmates that when they asked prison board members to take in hampers for the prisoners during ramadhaan and eid, their request has been refused point blank. One gentleman made a pot of biryani on the day of eid. After making prior arrangements with a muslim prison board member to take the food in, the man did not pitch up at the prison. He then contacted another board member who told him that he must take the food and dump it as he can not assist. ( Again these are proper factual accounts and people can be contacted for verification)

On the topic of juma prayers, occasionally an aalim performs juma at the Medium B prison. In actual fact juma needs to be performed every friday at all male prison facilities within Johannesburg prison as per a ruling passed by Mufti Ridha ul haq Sahab who visited the prison facility years ago. Hence, when At Tawheed adopted the male prisons juma was performed by a qualified aalim every week at all prison facilities and this prayer had a huge impact on many wardens who eventually entered into the fold of Islam. When the muslim prison board took over, inmates were told that "For those incarcerated Jummah is not a requirement and should perform Thuhar." I have this on record as well. Juma will only be performed at some facilities if possible.

Through my constant visits at Johannesburg prison i was quite impressed in the manner in which Christian organizations work within the facility. They have pastors visiting the prison everyday and apart from doing group sessions following a proper syllabus, they also provide one on one counselling for inmates. Inmates can access the services of a psychologist or social worker. Over the weekend they have in depth sessions from 9am until 13h00. On the other hand the muslim prison board has no proper plan of action in place. You can not just have aalims on the board. You need to have educators, psychologist, social workers and lawyers on the board. I was chatting to my dad telling him that when aalim graduates here in South africa they all go for jamaat to countries like india and pakistan spreading the principles of Islam to people who are already born muslim in most cases. How ridiculous and idiotic. It should become mandatory for these aalims to do a one year internship program within a prison facility. This is real dawah on a ground level.Not flying from one country to another on a joy ride.One Christian organisation offers a 3 day retreat inside the prison. They put up tents and serve meals whilst they teach and preach. Every month they visit for follow up sessions again with food, motivational speakers and volunteers. More than 10 volunteers visit at a time. It is quite an impressive program that they have implemented and hats off to them. On the other hand our muslim prison board members do a visit in haste. Its more a case of let me just show my face, sign in and leave with the exception of Sheikh salaamah who visits for an hour or two on a weekly basis. Some board members have not visited the prison facility in years from what i was told.

Another big issue facing inmates is the reversion process. This issue shocked me and im so surprised that the Muslim prison board has not addrssed this issue as yet. So if you wish to follow judaism inside the prison all a prisoner needs to do is write an affidavit that he or she is reverting to Judaism and sign it. For Christians there is no affidavit. It is simply locked on the prison computer system that the prisoner is now Christian. If a prisoner wishes to become a Muslim, he or she must first request a form that must be completed by the inmates family members. Here's the irony. This ridiculous form was structured by the muslim prisons board. Grown up individuals need to get permission from their family members in order to become Muslim. In the majority of cases these prisoners do not get any family visits at all. There were cases where the inmate reverted but the family did not sign off the form. I am not a lawyer but im thinking that from a constitutional point of view if i want to become a muslim as a grown up adult person, why do i need permission from family members who in most instances will refuse to sign the letter of consent. Now if a prisoner practices islam inside the prison but the consent form is not signed off by the family this effectively means that the prisoner is not considered to be a muslim. Hence a muslim burial will not be allowed and all other policies that apply to muslim inmates will not apply to the prisoner.

Prisoners are sent to prison to undergo a full rehabilitation process. In order to be eligible for parole one day, prisoners need to complete mandatory courses that have been structured by the department of correctional services. Some courses are put together by the Christian organizations as the DCS can not afford to run all the courses themselves due to a shortage of resources. These courses are fully accredited and counts towards a prisoners advantage at the time of parole. The Muslim prison board does not have a single course for muslim inmates as confirmed by personnel inside the prison and hence in order for Muslim inmates to acquire credits for parole, they are forced to attend the courses put together by Christian organizations run by pastors. I personally have absolutely no issues with this. I personally am a huge advocate of cross cultural and cross religious dialogue. I love learning about other faiths and religions but i have a problem with the muslim prison board being lax in their duties and responsibilities towards the prisoners. If you as a board member can not be pro active in fulfilling the rights of prisoners then maybe you should consider stepping down and rather appoint a person who wants to be pro active. Many family members of inmates approached the muslim prison board asking them if they could join the organisation and volunteer their services but no one ever gets back to them. They are promised to be invited at the meetings but again they are never told when and where the meetings are held. Why has the situation at Johannesburg prison regressed after At Tawheed pulled out?
I was told by prison personnel that the department of correctional services allocates a budget for all volunteer organisations including the muslim prison board to cover some of their expenses like transport etc. They were unable to disclose the exact figure and hence im not sure if this statement is correct or not.

The halaal food saga will always be an ongoing Issue that needs to be monitored at all times. At tawheed provided the muslim inmates with their own freezer to store halaal meat. They were fully aware at that time that it is incorrect for the same oven to be used to cook pork and halaal meat. At that time they didnt have the necessary funds to put in a separate oven for muslim inmates but they were going to escalate the issue to the muslim prison board who is aware of this issue. Again fast forward 2019, still nothing has been done about this issue. According to inmates working in the kitchen, the oven is not cleaned perfectly and hence the chances of cross contamination between halaal meat and pork does exist. Prior to Bosasa pulling out from all prison facilities, all halaal meat was sent cut, packed and sealed. After Bosasa left, the meat no longer comes cut. Whole carcasses are delivered to the prison. Now heres the issue, the same machine that cuts pork is also cutting the halaal meat. According to the prison policy halaal meat must be cut first followed by the pork or non halaal meat items. The care worker who visits the Johannesburg prison has been aware of this for the last month and he has reported this to the prison board. Thus far no action has been taken and hence many inmates are abstaining from consuming the beef. An inspection was done prior to Bossasa leaving and so at that time everything was fine. Well, with the exception of the oven. Now that Bossasa has left the cutting process etc needs to be inspected. It is quite interesting to note that whilst Muslim inmates do not have their own separate oven, a tiny minority group of Buddhists have their own kitchen utensils and catering equipment. The Muslim community in this country pledge millions of rand towards relief aid for other countries yet there are people here who need help. Let us strive towards fixing our own country one step at a time. Being a Muslim is not about wearing an Islamic dress code. Being a Muslim means humanity first. Whilst it is easy to sit behind a computer in the comfort of your home bad mouthing the sentiments expressed by the prisoner in my previous post,you will never truly understand what prison life is all about until you visit and understand the dynamics of prison life yourself. The Prophet Muhammed (saw) fondly spoke about the rights of prisoners and the importance of those rights to be upheld with sincerity. I trust and hope that this post will enable those who are in power to reflect on their actions and bring about positive changes with regards to the rights of Muslim inmates in all prisons across the country. Remember that being on a board comes with responsibility and one day you will be answerable to your Creator for not carrying out your duties with love and dedication.

LETTER FROM A PRISONER - INDIAN MUSLIM RACISM

22 MAY 2019

                                                                       DAILY VOX 

As a Muslim Indian South African, I am truly proud of my religion, culture and country. These three are indispensable constituents of what makes me, me. The South African Muslim Indian diaspora is truly unique. The diaspora has some remarkable qualities and has achieved much success, amplified when viewed numerically. Sadly, there are numerous negative qualities too. I am neither a pessimist nor one to dwell on negatives but my incarceration has opened my eyes in many ways and I cannot simply remain silent when my voice has the potential to, at minimum, cause some to reflect, if not to act. 

I was brought up in 2 Muslim Indian communities in Johannesburg and spent just over a year between the 2 in a coloured area. I attended multi-racial schools for most of my school days, attended a multi-cultural dojo for over a decade, attended a public university and worked in a few environments with people of multiple ethnicities and religions. As much as I was exposed to people of different backgrounds to mine, my interaction with them was primarily confined to the said schools, dojo, university and work places. My social interactions were with Muslim Indians. This is typical of most Muslim Indians in South Africa.
Despite this exposure and having been brought up by parents who both tried to make a positive difference to the indigenous of the country, it was only in the prison environment that I truly became a part of the rainbow nation that is South Africa. In prison, I have had to share living space with the overwhelmingly black populous as well as predominantly black authorities. At first it was, and still after a decade it continues in some ways, to be a culture shock. The way we live, the values we have and the way that we think is different in many respects. Aside from the obvious language barriers, things like; the type of food, the amount of noise made, the lack of emotion and empathy, differences in cleanliness priorities and the like took a long time to get used to. It was only once I put my prejudices aside and interacted on a personal basis with black men that I began to understand their ways and even some of their crimes.
Through studying Islamic studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology and comparative religious studies; I have learnt so much more about my religion, culture and country. Upon reflection, one glaring conclusion is that Muslim Indian South Africans are, in general, racist. Muslim Indians who read this, may naturally be furious at the accusation; that will be no surprise to me. Whilst Muslim Indians of this country may, for the most part, not be overtly racist; racism is deeply ingrained within through decades of stereotyping, prejudice and attitudes of superiority.
The notion of attitudes of superiority requires some elaboration. Simply put, Muslim Indians think that they are better than others. I have witnessed this terrible logic in various ways.
My first exposure to this was learning how Indian Muslims made Malay Muslims feel belittled and secondary. I witnessed this first-hand due to the fact that my 100% Kholvad nana had married a 100% malay woman. In my interactions with nani’s family, it was clear to see that there was underlying animosity between Indians and Malays due to the superiority complex of Indians. I was also privy to numerous instances when kids in school would remark about my Malay family.
In later years, I would come to see even worse manifestations of this. The worst to me was probably my exposure as a Hifz student. In the late nineties, I was but a boy learning to memorise the Quran. For two years, a couple of my friends along with our dads went to lead the taraweeh prayers in Soweto. Even though there are thousands of Huffaaz in South Africa, nobody wanted to lead taraweeh in a black township. I could not and still cannot fathom how the Indian Muslim community, with its plethora of organisations, could fail so disgracefully in serving an indigenous community in need of something so important, that too in the month of Mercy!

Islam and Indians came to South Africa in a similar period in history. Both have been part of the landscape for over 3 centuries. Indian Muslims constitute the majority of Muslims in the country, followed by Malay Muslims. If you did not see the problem in the preceding statements, then my point is made! Muslims in South Africa have not made an impact on the indigenous population in over 3 centuries! Despite boasting infrastructure that rivals some Muslim states, we have failed miserably. This notion raises many further questions and thoughts. Why is it that indigenous black people constitute a tiny proportion of the Muslims of this country? When the Arabs traded with East Africa, their business ethics won the hearts of the locals and within decades Islam became the majority religion in vast areas; yet we who live with the locals for decades cannot make a positive impression. With much fanfare, Islam was officially presented to the Zulu king a couple of years ago; why did it take 300 odd years for that to happen? We have world renowned dar-ul-ulooms which make a habit of publicising the nationalities of their students, it is truly remarkable and commendable, but it is more remarkable that the percentage of local black students is negligible. We have tablighi jamaats that admirably traverse the world calling to Allah, yet we have local blacks who have never been exposed to Islam. Indian Muslim areas boast magnificent masjids whereas other communities struggle to construct and then maintain simple masjids. South African Muslim organisations donate so generously to causes all over the world; why then is it that local black Muslims are overlooked?
The situation in prison is the same. A national Muslim Prison Board exists which is supposed to see to the needs of Muslim prisoners. In all three prisons that I have been in, their assistance has been minimal. Halaal food issues, lack of spiritual care workers, lack of education for reverts, issues with reversion, death and burial issues and the complete lack of Islamic rehabilitative courses are some of the issues faced by Muslim prisoners. Within the prisons, other faiths are involved with prisoners on an almost daily basis; whilst we go for months on end without a single visitor. I have approached many ulema over the years and they have all responded to me by coming to see me or to kindly offer assistance to me, but my cries have not been for me but for my brothers inside.
Most of the Muslims in prison, reverted in prison. Islam is the fastest growing religion in prison and surpasses the national growth rate. Reverts require much assistance in terms of education, guidance and motivation which is almost entirely absent. One may feel that there are so many other people to help in this world, so why help a prisoner. Aside from the humane aspects, reverts have their past indiscretions wiped clean by Allah upon reverting to Islam. In that way, they are far better off than “born” Muslims who have their entire adult lives to account for. If Allah has guided them to Islam, then they belong to the same ummah as every other Muslim out there. Why then are they overlooked? Indian Muslims also need to be aware that statistically, Indian Muslims are represented in prisons proportionate to those outside, crime does not discriminate!
Internationally, Muslim communities do so much for their fellow Muslims behind bars. In my experience, it has only been foreign volunteers who have displayed any dedication or willingness to be of assistance. A similar occurrence happens within the black townships of South Africa, where it is mainly foreign Muslims who assist the locals.
Amongst these questions and thoughts is the simple, albeit harsh, conclusion that Indian Muslims are generally racist. As Ramadhaan dawns upon us, it is high time that we do some introspection. Muslims are proud and all know that there is no racism in Islam, it is high time we act upon it and change our attitudes so that Islam flourishes in our beautiful country. Whilst there is merit and our hearts bleed for those distressed abroad, we need to practice upon charity beginning at home, some amazing efforts are being made but so much more can and needs to be done.