4 Years in Prison

Abu Hannah

Slave of Allah
Babar Ahmad is a 34 year old British Muslim and the longest
detained-without-charge British detainee held as part of the global
‘war on terror’. In December 2003 Babar was arrested at his London home
under anti-terror legislation. By the time he reached the police
station Babar had sustained at least 73 forensically recorded injuries,
including bleeding in his ears and urine. Six days later he was
released without charge.


Babar then filed a formal complaint that he had been subjected to
horrific physical, sexual and religious abuse by the arresting police
officers. An IPCC supervised investigation later dismissed his
complaint and even “commended” one of these officers for his “great
bravery” in arresting him. Babar is currently suing the Metropolitan
Police for assault.


In August 2004 Babar was re-arrested in London and taken to prison
pursuant to an extradition request from the US under the controversial,
no-evidence-required, Extradition Act 2003. The US has alleged that in
the 1990s Babar was a supporter of “terrorism”. Babar denies any
involvement in terrorism. He has now been in prison for four years even
though he has not been charged in the UK.


Babar’s family, friends and campaigners have mounted a high profile
campaign for his release. He recently appeared in the news when it was
revealed that the police had bugged his prison visits with his MP,
Sadiq Khan (Labour-Tooting). His final appeal against extradition is at
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which is due to
decide on it shortly. If extradited he faces the rest of his natural
life in solitary confinement in a maximum security US ‘Supermax’
prison. Further details on his case are at www.freebabarahmad.com. He
reflects on his four years in captivity.


I have now spent nearly an eighth of my life in prison. Life in
prison is a journey into the unknown. Unlike other journeys it is one
of those things that you can never plan ahead for. You don’t plan to
have a car accident. You don’t plan to get cancer. You don’t plan to
die. And you don’t plan to go to prison. Prison is just one of the many
tests that you must pass in order to succeed in life.


The Prophet (saw) said, “There is some magic in words.” Tyrants use
the magic in words to control people’s thoughts and deeds by making
evil appear acceptable to them. So kidnap is known as “arrest”,
brutality becomes “reasonable force” and torture is nothing more than
“enhanced interrogation.” When an innocent man is kidnapped from his
home by bearded Arab gunmen and locked indefinitely in a room he is a
“hostage.” But when an innocent man is kidnapped from his home by
uniformed white gunmen and locked indefinitely in a room he is a
“terrorist.” The world causes uproar over the former but is silent over
the latter. “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends,” observed Martin Luther King.


Fear is a disease that consumes the soul of the one who embraces
it. Man’s total capacity to fear is fixed: the more he fears one thing
the less he fears another. People fear standing up to a tyrant because
they are afraid of some harm that he ‘may’ cause them, even though that
harm is limited to the life of this world. Such people have little or
no fear for any harm that Allah will cause them in the Hereafter.
However, if these same people were to fear the Day when they shall
return to stand before the Lord of the Worlds, they would not fear any
tyrant on the face of the Earth. “Do they fear them? Allah is more
worthy for you to fear if you are indeed believers.” (Quran 9:13)


We survive in life by wearing a variety of faces that disguise our
true inner selves. We have one face for our families, a face for our
friends, a face for our colleagues, and a face for strangers. Since we
are always switching between faces others hardly get to see who we
really are. Sometimes we ourselves forget who we are. The harsh reality
of prison life relentlessly files away at your external faces and
personae to reveal the true you. There are no secrets in prison.
Sincerity, hypocrisy, bravery, cowardice, good, evil – all are laid
bare. Prison brings out the best, and worst, in people.


Prisoners undergo such a concentrated experience that they develop
intensely deep personalities. We interact with each other
heart-to-heart, not face-to-face. Our conversations frequently revolve
around hope. No man, let alone a prisoner, can live without hope: hope
that there is indeed a dawn at the end of this long, dark night. What
else do you say to a man facing life in prison?


People are like “metals”, according to one narration of the Prophet
Muhammad (saw). Some people are like a cheap bracelet plated in gold:
the smallest crisis files away the fake gold to reveal the cheap metal
underneath. Others are like a gold bracelet covered in rust: hardship
rubs away the rust to bring out the gold below to the surface. And a
third type are solid gold, inside and out: calamity just polishes the
gold so it sparkles from near and far.


During the last four years I have personally witnessed the worst of
men turn into the best of men. I have seen gangsters, drug barons,
armed robbers and murderers, of all faiths and races, convert to Islam
in prison. I have always been inspired by converts since every
conversion is a miracle, but seeing a hardened criminal accept Islam is
something else. Only the true religion is able to cause genuine,
lasting change in an individual in a short space of time.

The first word revealed in the Quran was “Read!” There is no life
without reading. Reading beneficial writing is one of those pleasures
that makes you forget you are in prison. During the last four years in
prison I have travelled back in time and all over the world. I have
visited Jerusalem during the Crusades. I have lived in Muslim Spain. I
have accompanied African slaves as they were kidnapped by European
slavemasters. I have shared in the suffering of the Native Indians in
North America. And I have lived with leaders, hostages, death row
inmates and journalists as their writings narrated to me their stories.


Yet all of these writings amount to nothing compared to the one
book that has helped me through my ordeal the most: the Glorious Quran.
It is my breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I do not read my daily portion
at dawn, my heart feels heavy by mid-morning. The Quran is not just a
book that mentions stories which are centuries old: it is a book that
mentions the present. “We have certainly sent down to you a Book in
which is your mention. Will you then not reason?” (Quran 21:10)
Whosoever reads the Quran and reflects on it will find himself and his
situation mentioned therein. This is only one of its many miracles.


Prison teaches you not to be judgemental of others, but to treat
everyone at face value. When you deal with fellow prisoners you must
deal with their present, not their past. That is the only way you will
get through prison. Prison hardens you in some aspects, and softens you
in others. It humbles you: laying bare your shortcomings. Since much of
prison time is spent reflecting on your own past, all of your life’s
wrongs come to the surface. Man cannot progress in life until he
acknowledges his weaknesses and mistakes. Acknowledging that a problem
exists is half of its solution.


Prison has taught me that there is a part of you that no-one can
ever take from you, and that is your heart. For the heart is where true
happiness resides. When you reach the stage where you are content with
your destiny you have defeated your captors and become the most
powerful prisoner in the world. This is what belief in Divine Destiny
is all about. It is to be happy with whatever Allah has decreed for
you: to be happy with your life, to be happy whether you are rich,
poor, tall, short, dark or fair. When you are satisfied with your lot
in life, you have won.


Every hardship is like being in prison. People feel imprisoned by
ill-health, marital discord, financial insecurity, family disputes and
other problems. To anyone who feels imprisoned by life’s problems I
would say: be content with what you already have and never lose hope of
things getting better. Be happy with your share because this is a
quality of someone who truly loves Allah. When the Companion Muadh ibn
Jabal (ra) was undergoing the pangs and agonies of death, he cried out,
“O Allah! Bear witness that I love You, so do with me whatsoever You
wish!”


I would never have wanted to come to prison, but, looking back at
these four years, I am glad that I did. I have ventured close to
breaking point but due to Allah’s Grace and the support of some
wonderful people I have not yet crossed it. My ordeal has been harsh,
difficult and exhausting, but it has also been an adventure. Some of
the happiest days of my life have been in prison. I have had
experiences in prison and met people that I will never forget.

The writer Mustapha Sadiq Ar-Rafei wrote, “When I looked into history I
found a small number of individuals whose lives mirrored the lifecycle
of a grain of wheat. They were torn from their roots, then crushed,
then ground in mills, then kneaded with fists, then rolled out and
baked in ovens at high temperatures… just so they could provide food
for others.”


Patiently persevere in the face of hardship hoping for a good
outcome because you never know how many dead hearts you will bring to
life in the process. No hardship lasts forever. There is always an end.
 

canab1973

Junior Member
Whenever I read or see something like this, I feel so bad. I make du,a for my brother Babar and allour brothers that held in prison with no reason but they just believe in Allah and follow his commandment. I always remember them in my duas. O Allah free my brothers where ever they are, and give them patient and reward them in good here and after.
 

rightpath_357

Junior Member
:astag:
This is horrible. May Allah reward all those like him for their great pateince, and may Allah punish those who do he wrong. Ameen.
 

hana*

Junior Member
that is extremely touching, i had goosebumps all over. this is one of the best posts i have read in a long time.

I would just like to add that when Babar Ahmad was attacked by the police in his home, the bruising on his body made him unrecognisable, I will leave that to your imagination.

what a great man he is, may he be among the companions and Prophets in jannah.
 

azeabd

New Member
all i have to say is tht i feel so srry for brother babar and wow when hitler killed all those jews it was considered a holocaust, when the eauropeans killed most of the native it was considered genocide now when the american are killing inocent muslims it's considered war on terrorism

i just find tht so stupid
 
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