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June 27-July 3, 2002
cover story
 Photo By: Jon Rossi |
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Local Nation of Islam Minister Rodney Muhammad says that most Muslim inmates are converts to peace, but that the Department of Justice is singling them out as soldiers of jihad.
A man is arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in May, and weeks later the Department of Justice informs us of a foiled plot to unleash a nuclear-equipped “dirty bomb” on innocent Americans. As the stories unfold about the suspect, Abdullah al Muhajir, so do the fears and suspicions fueled by the aftershocks of Sept. 11.
With Philadelphia and the rest of the country on high alert for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, many folks are getting more than a little nervous. Last week in New York, the police issued a warning that terrorists might try to use police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles as high-speed weapons of mass destruction, after a couple of suspicious characters tried to buy a used ambulance with cash but bolted from the shop when the owner asked for ID. Locally, Police Inspector Bill Colarulo says officers will be on alert when tourists descend on Philly for the independence celebration.
"Without going into specifics, we'll take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our citizens," Colarulo says. "We'll be vigilant."
 Photo By: Jon Rossi |
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Hardly, says Minister Rodney Muhammad.
Muhammad contends that of the tens of thousands of cons and ex-cons who’ve converted to Islam, the overwhelming majority lead exemplary crime-free lives once released, and some rise to leadership roles in the communities they once preyed upon. As leader of the Nation of Islam for the Philadelphia area, he oversees a substantial prison ministry, and he claims Islam is responsible for changing young toughs into leaders and thinkers, not terrorists. He cites the story of a personal hero, Malcolm X, as a prime example. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Neb., Malcolm was a pimp, petty thief and drug dealer who converted to Islam while in prison for his crimes. The rest is history.
"Malcolm, through the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, educated himself while incarcerated," says Rodney Muhammad. "He literally read every book in the prison library, including the dictionary. It was this education and subsequent self-awareness that turned a common thug into a great leader. You'll see the same thing going on every day in prisons all over this nation."
There are solid statistics to back up his claims. An exhaustive 1997 study on recidivism was funded by the John Templeton Foundation, a charity that underwrites projects studying matters of morality and spirituality, and published in Justice Quarterly. The study puts the nationwide recidivism rate for Muslims at just 8.21 percent, compared to 41.54 percent for all Protestants and 39.30 percent for Catholics.
The same study notes that the recidivism rate for blacks in general is 47.26 percent, with Hispanics at 39.8 percent and whites at 12.44 percent. In Pennsylvania in 2000, the last year for which the state Department of Corrections has statistics, the recidivism rate for all prisoners after one year was 24.2 percent. The state corrections department doesn't keep stats by religion, and officials there say there's no directive to do any additional monitoring of any groups, according to spokeswoman Sue MacNaughton.
"The official word I got is, we're not considering anything more than we're doing now," MacNaughton says. And what are they doing now?
"We monitor gang members' activity, as a security precaution," she explains, "but I have no knowledge of monitoring religious groups."
Well, maybe not officially, says one Muslim minister, but unofficially … that’s another story.
"We're already being closely monitored, because the government has felt for years that Islam is a dangerous influence in prison," says Muhammad. "That is a faulty analysis. Prisoners are angry about their condition, yes, but when has that not been the case? Islam is not a threat to America or the American way of life."
Muhammad, who is 49 but looks at least 10 years younger, is a tall and handsome man with broad, square shoulders and a military bearing. His grip is warm and firm and he looks you straight in the eye when he speaks. Wearing an immaculately tailored tan suit, crisp white shirt and gold silk tie, he sits at his desk in his small office in the back room of Mosque No. 12 near Broad and Cumberland in North Philly. The office is decorated with simple but elegant furniture and several large, framed photos of both Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan. He has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of history and current affairs, rattling off long-ago dates and today's news events with the smooth ease of someone who is a very old hand at giving newspaper interviews, pausing periodically until he sees that the furiously scribbling writer has caught up.
Muhammad, a Chicago native, was raised in the Baptist tradition but converted to Islam at age 28 after hearing Farrakhan speak at a rally. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a trusted lieutenant, then he was tapped by Farrakhan to head the Philadelphia-area mosque in 1991. He says he's been reading between the lines since Sept. 11 and sees a nefarious covert plan at work in the treatment of Muslims since that day.
"The so-called 'war on terrorism' is really a war on Islam," he says. "America has yet to see the full impact of President Bush's 'war' here on our shores. Ultimately, the administration's actions are designed to incrementally, step-by-step, decrease the perceived 'Muslim influence' and eventually erase Islam from the Americas altogether. Bush called it a crusade, the same word that's been used to marshal forces against Islam for 1,000 years."
To emphasize his point, Muhammad quotes Attorney General John Ashcroft, the country's chief law enforcement official and the administration's point man on terrorism.
"Just recently Ashcroft said, 'Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for Him, and Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you.' Does that sound like a man who's interested in the fair, impartial treatment of Muslims?" he asks, eyebrows arching.
The Ashcroft quote was from an interview in February with conservative columnist Cal Thomas, and it was widely disseminated in the media and on the Internet. Ashcroft was subsequently taken to task by 17 members of Congress who sent him a scathing letter sternly chiding him for the remarks. The explanation provided by the attorney general’s office that the comment was directed at terrorists and not at Islam in general was unsatisfactory, according to the letter, and it called upon Ashcroft to apologize immediately to the Muslim community. The attorney general has yet to repudiate the remark, although a Justice Department spokesman says it was taken out of context.
"Attorney General Ashcroft respects the peace-loving majority of Muslims, and that statement was only meant to apply to terrorists who, as President Bush has said, have hijacked Islam," says department spokesman Mark Corallo. "Our Civil Rights division has prosecuted dozens of cases of anti-Muslim backlash since September 11, where people have taken it upon themselves to blame all Muslims for the tragedy. We won't stand for that. The Justice Department knows that Islam is a religion of peace, and our track record backs that up."
Corallo says that, while Muslim fears may be justified in today's climate, there is no Islam-specific directive from the department.
"We want to assure the Muslim community that there is no policy of closer scrutiny of Muslims and Muslim clerics in prison," he continues. "If law enforcement has reason to believe that an individual is involved in terrorist activity, they're handled on a case-by-case basis. That, of course, applies across the board, regardless of religion."
Prisoners and their visitors, Corallo says, are closely monitored by virtue of the nature of imprisonment. That goes double for anyone law enforcement considers a threat behind bars, but Corallo is quick to point out that those determinations are not made on the basis of religion, but of past and present activity.
"There is no Muslim 'crackdown,'" he says. "We want Muslims and all law-abiding citizens to know that we're here to protect them, not single them out in a search for scapegoats."
Raeed Tayeh of American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice says that despite Justice Department protestations to the contrary, he's heard the rumors of some sort of close watch on Islam inside prison walls, and he says he will keep a close eye for violations of the rights of Muslim prisoners. He also has a few choice words for the attorney general.
"John Ashcroft is the new J. Edgar Hoover, only more dangerous because of his Christian fundamentalist fervor," Tayeh says. "After 9/11, Muslim prisoners were put in solitary confinement and told it was for their own good or given no explanation at all. They can't seem to outlaw gangs in prison but they can crack down on a religion? A convict is a convict, as far as society is concerned. There should be no religious distinction."
Tayeh says that the idea of a crackdown on Islam should be especially troubling to blacks, who constitute more than half of all the Muslims in the United States.
"As we all know, America has a long history of ignoring the rights of minorities in favor of 'the common good,'" he says. "Fortunately, there are still many who are willing to speak out against ignorance. And there is so much ignorance out there. Since I appeared on TV talking about this, I've been getting tons of hate mail telling me to go back to my own country. I'm from Chicago."
Others, citing security concerns, characterize the idea of tracking Islamic clerics much differently.
Barry Morrison of the Anti-Defamation League says it's his organization's position that it's unacceptable to single out one religion, but the government has to do something.
"I haven't heard anything specific about Muslim inmates being mistreated or singled out for harassment, but our position is that government agencies need to do what they need to do to protect our citizens while preserving civil rights," says Morrison. "We feel it's inappropriate to target all Muslims, certainly. That said, it is the government's obligation to track violence-prone groups and citizens inside and outside prisons. Right-wing extremists, as we all know, have also been guilty of terrorist attacks in the United States, and we favor monitoring these groups, too."
If all that makes some Muslims worried, Morrison says he understands. And while he says the ADL abhors the violence of religious extremists, they will not idly stand by while innocent Muslims are mistreated.
"We have seen Muslims and Arabs suffer attacks, vandalism and threats since 9/11," he says. "There may be reason for apprehension in the Muslim community, but we feel that abuses or the trading on the rights of people should be challenged, and the ADL will join in those challenges."
Noted criminologist Robert Fosen contends that although a closer scrutiny of certain facets of Islam may seem discriminatory on the surface, desperate times call for desperate measures. Fosen, a professor of criminal justice at American University in Washington, D.C., is a former New York state assistant commissioner of prisons who was inside Attica at the time of the famous uprising in 1971. Forty-two people were killed in the two-week siege, including 11 guards and civilian employees of the prison. Fosen says violent prisoners are predisposed to continue violent behaviors while incarcerated, and some of the more radical factions of Islam could be used to fan the flames of their discontent.
"The reason prisoners join any group, whether it be a gang, Alcoholics Anonymous or a religious group, is for companionship and a sense of belonging," Fosen says. "Some, of course, are looking for protection, and some have the need to feel important. This is a unique situation, though. There is an undeniable dichotomy here."
That dichotomy, Fosen says, is that the vast majority of Muslim groups in prison are not only model prisoners themselves, but also make a positive contribution to the quality of life for their fellow inmates. They teach literacy classes, act as mentors and tutors, and excel at conflict resolution. He cites the example of Muslim prisoners during the riot at Attica who formed a human shield around the guards who were taken as hostages, protecting them from the wrath of the mob of inmates who would have gladly kicked their heads in and cut them to pieces. Contrast that, he says, with Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently serving a life sentence in New York state for masterminding a plot to blow up the United Nations and New York's commuter tunnels. Rahman and his followers, the Islamic Group, were also planning the assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a sworn enemy of the extremists. Rahman has most recently been accused of directing terrorist activities from prison by sending secret messages to followers through his attorneys, and of actively recruiting new disciples behind bars.
"Across-the-board monitoring of clerics of any faith would be offensive to me and most Americans, and probably unnecessary," Fosen says. "But who would argue that a man like Rahman deserves close monitoring? Criteria need to be established, perhaps modifying the rules on attorney-client communications in prison, telephone calls, etc. It seems to me not unreasonable for the country to take some drastic measures to ensure our safety."
Fosen says that once dangerous elements inside the prison are identified, steps should be taken to isolate the prisoner and limit his or her access to outside materials and visitors. And outside clerics who would incite violence among their flock should be banned from the facility and reported to authorities. That goes for everyone, regardless of affiliation. He says that once, back when he was a prison official, he oversaw a case where a Protestant minister brought a weapon into Sing Sing by hiding it in a tape recorder.
"If we do nothing," he opines, "we'll pay for it dearly. People like Rahman could propagate hatred and violence against Americans unabated."
Since prisoners are essentially without constituencies, he says, not many people other than terrorist sympathizers would object to a reasonable degree of scrutiny for people in prison who believe in the slaughter of innocents.
"In times of national emergency, there will be some surrender of civil liberties, but there are checks and balances, and civil libertarians can be consulted and compromises reached."
Momentarily distracted by the harsh ring of the replica WWII-era military field phone on his desk, Minister Rodney Muhammad politely excuses himself and picks up the receiver. After a brief conversation, he seamlessly returns to the subject of the history of Islam in America’s prisons and why the religion appeals so strongly to young African-American prisoners. He is also quick to point out that, like Padilla, there are some 30,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States, and their numbers are growing.
"It is the Muslim tenet of self-knowledge that appeals to incarcerated brothers," he says. "When a person is standing in the creator's knowledge of self, he stands in the creator's power. Black men have had our minds, bodies and spirits poisoned by our society. Submission to God is the antidote for that poison."
After the acceptance of Islam, he says, people's lives are turned overnight from drugs, prostitution and warped appetites. They shun tobacco and alcohol, change their eating habits and become healthy in mind, body and spirit. They are also encouraged to educate themselves in not only the Quran and other religious teachings, but history, world events and politics.
"When there is war," he says with an ironic smile, "it is the black, Latino and poor white who will go to fight that war. Will Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Cheney or Mr. Bush's children be on the front lines? Once a man gains knowledge of self and his world, he can begin to change that world."
Muhammad says that it was the U.S. government that put Islam in American prisons in the first place, when Elijah Muhammad was jailed in 1942 for refusing to be conscripted into the Army. The Nation of Islam's founder started a prison ministry that grew and continues in penal institutions nationwide to this day.
Ben Lieu of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service says that he hasn’t heard of any specific policies or complaints concerning the practice of Islam in prison, but he doesn’t discount the fact that Muslims are uneasy these days, and he says the Justice Department is here to help.
"We have heard complaints from some in the Muslim community that there have been roundups of Muslim and Middle Eastern men by law enforcement," Lieu says. "But when we ask for specifics, they get vague. We tell people, and we want everyone to know, that the office of the inspector general investigates complaints about abuses concerning government agencies. We encourage people in those communities to contact the inspector general's office if they see abuses of power by any government official, federal, state or local."
The inspector general's office has already gotten calls from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. CAIR has been tracking incidents of anti-Muslim backlash since Sept. 11 and reporting those incidents to authorities and the media.
CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper says that if Muslims were viewed askance since last September, the arrest of Abdullah al Muhajir intensified the glare of the spotlight.
"We're talking about one guy who found Islam in prison who turns out to be a bad guy, and that's supposed to indict an entire faith?" Hooper questions. "It's the hysteria of the day. Islam is supposed to be looked at suspiciously, and if you point out differences in philosophy between Islamic sects and factions, you're a terrorist sympathizer. If you speak out at all against government policy concerning Muslims, you're a traitor to America. This country was founded by men who spoke out against unfair government policies, and putting the blame on Islam then acting on that assumption is terribly unfair."
The ideals and principles of the founding fathers come up a lot when speaking with Muslims about what they perceive as a blow to the free practice of their religion.
"Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine and John Adams were willing to speak truth to power," says Muhammad. "Our aim is to do the same thing, to bring the truth to the public and have the public become strong in that truth. That is real patriotism. All we seek to do is ensure that America's practice corresponds with her stated principles."
Muhammad says those stated principles, that all people are created equal and are endowed with the God-given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, can be quoted by any American grade-schooler, but our government falls far short of honoring these in the real world.
On the premise that there are extremists spreading anti-American views in the nation's prisons, Muhammad admits that there may be a few, but certainly not enough to merit a general alarm.
"Prison itself is extreme," he says. "The conditions of incarceration are harsh and stringent. This breeds extreme attitudes and people seek extreme solutions, but this is not the way of true Islam. Americans should know that bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman are not teaching true Islam, and their followers are not true servants of Allah. We try to minister to prisoners who seek direction, and we show them how to 'use the time,' instead of just 'doing the time.'"
Muhammad says that true Islam does not permit suicide, for instance, so the Sept. 11 terrorists and suicide bombers in Israel are not Muslim. Suicide, he explains, is directly contradictory to the belief that faith in Allah can change one's condition, no matter how desperate, and no servant of Allah has the right to take his own life. He says that he does understand the conditions that would cause some to kill themselves and others.
"It is hopelessness and despair that have driven some Muslims, particularly our Palestinian brothers and sisters, to kamikazelike actions," he says. "No living creature wants to die, but prolonged persecution with no forms of redress fuel acts of desperation."
Muhammad, though, is quick to emphasize that Muslims worldwide, including Louis Farrakhan, strongly condemn last September's acts of terrorism and feel no kinship with the perpetrators.
"Whoever is ultimately responsible for the 9/11 tragedy should feel the full weight of our government's prosecution and scorn on the world stage," he says. "Any government has the absolute right to protect itself from criminal acts from without and from within. But we can't look at the criminal act itself without searching out the motivations for that act. Our foreign policies produce an attitude and spirit in other nations that most Americans just don't understand."
Even more important, Muhammad says, is that non-Islamic Americans understand why they should care what happens to Muslims, especially in a time of national emergency.
"Every religion should have their radar up when one religion is targeted," he says. "If it's as easy as a few administration officials saying that this religion or that religion is incompatible with American values, what happens on the day they have a problem with your religion?"
