London, January 07: Religious lectures given by imams to Muslim inmates in British jails are seen by many as the best means to tackle prisoners’ vulnerability to extremism and radicalization.
“I’ve changed a lot since I started coming here,” Abu Ahtsham (not his real name), 21, told.
The British Muslim, who serves his sentence in Aylesbury Young Offender Institution (YOI) in Buckinghamshire, is one of many inmates who attend religious lectures by prison Imam Abdul Dayan twice a week.
Imam Abdul Dayan has been conducting sessions in the prison for eight years, believes Islam can safeguard prisoners from falling to extreme views.
“Islam is your guiding force. But, without understanding, a book can confuse you,” he says.
“If people aren’t contained by their religion, they go to extremes, and that can become destructive.”
Kimmett Edgar, head of research at the Prison Reform Trust, agrees.
“When new inmates reach the prison gates, they are vulnerable to extremist influences – be that Islamic extremism or British nationalism,” he notes.
“If you give them what they need to practice their faith in a mainstream way, they will be less vulnerable to extreme forms.”
In a recent report, the Prisons Inspectorate found that 70 percent of Muslim prisoners at Aylesbury felt that their beliefs were respected, compared to just 54 percent from other religions.
There are currently almost 10,000 Muslim prisoners in Britain, which is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2 million.
Changing Lives
Imam Dayan believes that religion sessions are making a real difference in prisoners’ lives.
“It’s admirable that people labeled as convicts and gangsters come here and spend their time sitting and reading,” he says.
“It humbles me when they memorize the Qur’an and emulate its goodness.”
Ahtsham, who was sentenced for drug dealing, is a case in point.
He sits in the sessions with other inmates to study the Qura’n and discuss how they might draw upon its verses in their daily lives.
“The imam always finds a way of doing things right. If I had a problem with someone on the wing, I used to end up in a fight,” he recalls.
“Now I come to the imam and he tells me how to do things differently.”
Ahtsham is focusing more on understanding his religion as a source of reformation.
“I didn’t think I was hurting people by dealing drugs, but now I’ve come to think differently.
“You only realize how important faith is when everything else is taken away.”
-Agencies