I had to go to jail during my last visit to Houston. Yes, jail, where criminals are locked up. Once during my college years, I was locked up for a few hours, but was released soon when fellow students resisted. It happened that a number of students from former East Pakistan were protesting in the central part of Karachi, because they were denied admission into medical colleges.
I had gone to see the Health Minister with other student leaders like Shafi NaqiJamaee, Hussain Haqqani, and Hamid Zaki. After successful negotiations, I went out to tell the protesting students to stop their demonstration. Police were baton-charging and arresting the students. I tried to convince the police that the matter had been resolved, but they did not listen. They arrested me with others and locked me up. However, they released me in a few hours after the Minister of Health called.
Anyways, I was talking about the jail in Houston, one of America’s main cities. My college friend Hafiz Abdul Waheed is a religious scholar and lives in Houston. He visits Houston jail every Friday to give sermon and lead the Friday prayer. Since I had reached Houston on a Friday, he could not take me to the jail that day, but looking at my intense interest, got permission from the jail authorities and took me as a special volunteer on Sunday.
Security was tight. I couldn’t take anything inside including my wallet. I was allowed to take only my driver’s license as a photo ID. We had to pass through several iron doors to go inside. We were asked to fill in registers at all entrances. A guard always escorted us from one door to another. Finally, we reached the entrance of a hall, which was a place of worship.
About 25 to 30 prisoners, dressed in white clothes, were waiting for us. Each shook our hands and stated his name. All of them were Muslims. Except two or three, all had converted to Islam while in custody, a couple of years back. All the prisoners were greeting Waheed with great respect. They were all young men. Except three or four, all were African Americans. The sermon was to be given from 12:30 to 1:30 pm and the Zuhr (mid-day) prayer would follow. I sat on a chair with the prisoners to listen to Waheed’s Khutbah (sermon). A prisoner recited a verse from the Holy Qur’an and invited Waheed at the podium. Waheed announced that I would lecture them instead of him. He introduced me as a banker, a columnist, and a journalist. I was not ready for this, but had to accept the invitation anyway. I thought for a moment then addressed the prisoners as a common Muslim. I talked to them with the thought that these new converts have accepted Islam in jail and haven’t met the Muslims out there yet. At the back of my mind I was worried that when these prisoners would be released, they would meet the Muslims in the outer world, and if they do not find the correct Islamic environment and proper guidance, they might revert to their previous religion. If this happens, who would be responsible? I also thought that when they would go out of jail and would see unorganized Muslims fighting each other, not offering their obligatory prayers, lying, backbiting, and cheating, won’t they be sorry they accepted Islam? I told the prisoners that Islam teaches compassion, tolerance, brotherhood, kindness, love, co-existence, and to pursue knowledge. But are the Muslims practicing these virtues today? No! And that’s why they are troubled and scattered.
I cited Waheed and myself as an example of Muslim brotherhood. We came from different lands, spoke different languages, but we were close friends and enjoyed a relationship as Muslim brothers. During my lecture, a prisoner asked if I had visited any jail before that day. When I replied in the negative, he asked how I felt. I said that I was feeling like I have come back home to meet my brothers after being away for years. At my reply, I could see tears in the eyes of some.
Each prisoner carried a copy of the Qur’an and a few journals. During question/answer session, they asked about politics and economy, some asked about my writings and others about American policy towards Muslim countries. They also asked about the value of Euro and the Chinese currency compared to the Dollar, and about the US government shutdown. From the nature of their questions, I gathered that they read quite a bit in jail and they had complete freedom of religion. They are allotted time to read, watch TV and exercise. Later Waheed told me that approved institutions provide Islamic literature to the prisoners for their religious education. Those who convert, preach to others. When someone accepts Islam he is given the Qur’an and listens to lectures.
After my rendezvous with American Muslims in jail, I was thinking that this is an American prison, where inmates are treated in a humane way and they enjoy all religious freedom. Compare this to a Pakistani prison, where prisoners are treated horribly. I know that in Pakistani jails, those prisoners who cannot bribe the authorities are subjected to cruelty. After suffering such harshness, when a Pakistani prisoner comes out of jail, he becomes a criminal even worse than he was before going to jail.
When I was coming out of Houston jail after the Zuhr prayer, every prisoner was hugging me. I was overwhelmed when one of them brought my shoes to put on. I can never forget their love and brotherhood. I pray that when they come out of jail, they may never go back to the world of crimes and may live their lives as true Muslims. Aameen!