Letter from Prison - Shaykh Omar Abdur-Rahman

Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman (may Allah hasten his release-Ameen ya Rab), the blind Alim, incarcerated in the Springfield Centre (Missouri), sent out the following letter from Prison. Its contents are shocking and humiliating. We reproduce most of it below so that the world would know what the Americans are doing to a respected Muslim Alim.

'In the name of Allah most Gracious most Merciful'

'All praise be to Allah Ta'ala, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the master of the messengers, prophet Muhammad (SAW). Blessings and peace be upon his family, his companions and those who follow him faithfully until the day of  Judgement.

'The conditions in the prison (where I am kept) are very bad and extremely poor.

This can be seen from the following:

• What they claim about freedom of religion and freedom of worship is all false. I have not been allowed to pray the Jumuah prayers, or even pray in congregation since I arrived at the prison in October, 1995.

• There is prejudice and discrimination in their treatment in prison. When other prisoners call for the guards, they hurry to respond. I keep knocking on my Cell door for hours but nobody responds to my needs

• I go for months without my hair and nails cut.

• I am kept in solitary confinement, in my situation (Sheikh is blind and suffers from diabetes and is advanced in age) without anyone to help me arrange my belongings. I have no one to converse with day or night, nor am I allowed to socialize with others since there is no one close to my cell, neither Muslim nor anyone else who can speak Arabic. I stay like that day and night. What loneliness, what cruelty? By doing this they want to make me terminally ill to exact revenge because I am a Muslim. Are these the human rights they boasts about so much and fill the air waves and news media, while persecuting us so that we are unable to speak or raise our voice? 

• Have you heard of the strip searches and exposure of private parts, and stripping people of all their outer and inner garments so that they are as naked as the day they were born? By Allah,this occurs to me everytime a friend or family member visits me (Although I have no relatives in America, all Muslims are my family). Every visit means I have to strip twice. They order me to remove all my clothes, and I wish this was the end of it. Instead, the chief prison guard, named Curling, with another man named Day and several other guards, order me to open my thighs and bend forward. And then, like beasts - I cannot really say it out of shyness and shame, but I will say it to relieve the pressure on myself and to let the Muslim Ummah live up to its duties and responsibilities towards its religion - they search my private parts intimately while they stand around watching and laughing. Groups of guards race around...... The one who spends the longest time looking and inspecting is considered to have done the best job. They humiliate and degrade me in this manner because I am a Muslim and what they do is expressly forbidden by Allah.

And why should they do this? They have found their prey and achieved their goal. What are they looking for in my private parts? Are they looking for weapons, explosives or drugs which I have taken from the prison cell to my visitor or from my visitor to the cell? They do this twice to me on each visit so that I melt from shame and embarrassment and wish that the earth would open up and swallow me rather than they do this to me. Does this please those who protect their religion and honour?

O People of manliness and brotherhood. O People of sacrifice and dignity. O Men of Allah! Rise up from your deep slumber. Rise up with your resounding voices. Set out, O Men of Allah, and let your voices be heard in every place, and say it with all your strength and loudly, without fear. Rise up, O Men of Allah and like one body, show the truth and negate the evil. 'And don't give in to those who aggress, lest the fire take hold of you.'

Prisons are for scholars or criminals to sleep in? Death has surrounded my Ummah. Say Allaahu Akbar and tell death to live!.

'Who will wake up the nation that builds its nests on the winds, its feelings numbed and shows no reaction to plots? It is lost if its scholars fill up the cells like sheep. Aren't there courageous men who fear Allah? Aren't there strong words to throw the evil and shrink it? Rise up as one! Do not fear loss of income!.'