Brisbane: A jail is a punishment for a person committing crimes, but for Robbie it had turned out to be a place where he got Hidayah and accept Islam.
Deep into the story, 5 years ago Robbie converted to Islam in jail while he had friendship with Imam Uzair – who runs Brisbane’s Holland Park Mosque.
Unlike a typical muslim, Robbie’s external appearance shows his tattoos designs on his body and on shaven head. Robbie says that, one can find good practicing muslims in a mosque.
On SBS’s The Mosque Next Door Program, Robbie said that ‘I’ve got criminal history, I’ve been locked up,’ but ‘I’m very blessed that I’ve got a job working with our community here, but if our community wasn’t open to me, where would I work?’
After leaving jail, he became a youth worker of Islamic council and founded a support program for muslims in jail.
Along with Robbie, another man 21-year-old Jesse, who also converted to Islam behind bars and more recently changed his name to Jihad. He says that “I stopped using drugs the day I became Muslim.’
Two years after Robbie converted to Islam, he was arrested in anti-terror raids but released later due to lack of evidence.
An October study shows that more than half of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration. A survey of more than 2000 people by Australian Population Research Institute found 54 percent wanted a reduction in the annual migrant intake.
The documentary series about Brisbane’s Holland Park Mosque, which opened in 1908, shines a light on the lives of Muslims, educating Australians they are the second largest religion in the world and is one not to be feared.