Finding Islam in Prison: Student Stories of Conversion

Why are there so many Muslims in the US prison system? More specifically, why do so many people convert to Islam while incarcerated?

According a 2021 report by the US Department of Justice, Muslims are the second largest faith group in federal prisons after Christians, making up 9.4 percent of the inmate population – despite making up less than 1% of the US population overall.

Does Islam appeal to people in prison more than other religions? Is there a strong push to convert by Muslims behind bars? The reality is, many different things bring people to Islam. While patterns may emerge, each person’s journey is unique. 

So we thought we’d introduce you to a few of our students who found their deen behind bars.

In their owns words

Sure, numbers and studies can help us to understand the complete picture of the Muslim prison population, but the best way to truly understand someone is to get to know them. 

Here are the personal stories of four of our students who found – or reconnected with – their Islamic faith while imprisoned in the US.

Jason: Born seeking

Jason was raised well, but struggled as a teen. He desperately wanted to be accepted by his peers, and fell in with the wrong crowd. Following the group, he participated in carjacking and even a bank robbery. By 20 years old, he’d been sentenced to 93 years in prison – in effect, a life behind bars. 

While he regrets his actions, he believes now that hitting this low point led him to his freedom.

In prison, he went to visit a friend’s cell and found the man doing what Jason thought was singing in a foreign language. He was struck by the music and its beauty. What he heard was that friend, a Muslim, reciting the Qur’an. Jason was moved and spent the next hour listening. The friend kindly gave him his Qur’an and Jason devoured its pages and message.

“It was like a light switch turned on inside of me and there was no doubt. My heart was convinced and covered with this sense of peace and tranquility. The answers I have longed for were there.

When I bowed down on my face in sujud for the first time I was overcome. For the first time in my life I felt accepted, not by the Muslims, but by Allah (swt). As a Muslim, I have discovered who I am and am comfortable in the skin I am in. I was once a follower of men, of vain whims and desires, now I am a servant of my Creator and leader amongst men. Al-Hamduillah.”

Jason is emblematic of so many of the people who come to Islam in prison and, by extension, to our door at Tayba Foundation, looking for more information and support.

His experience follows what so many of our students say – that they found themselves drawn to Islam from behind bars because it spoke to their heart and minds in a way no other religion had. For Jason, as for so many, the Qur’an was able to answer questions that had weighed on him throughout his life about the nature of the world, God, and religion. 

Allen: From darkness into the light

Allen had a tough start. Born to a Christian family in rural America, he was sexually abused as a child and acted out from a young age, getting his GED through night school and getting kicked out of the military after a few years for distributing drugs. 

For over a decade, he has been in and out of prison for various alcohol- and drug-related offenses. He struggled with addiction and joined a white supremacist gang. At the beginning of his most recent incarceration, he had lost hope for himself and tried to take his own life. Fortunately, he was saved by the prison staff.

Today, he says that this incarceration was the best gift he could have been given.

The truth is, he didn’t set out to become a Muslim.

“I started going to juma'a [before I became Muslim], mainly because I wanted to know more about Islam, as I knew basically nothing. I thought Muslims were all terrorists, and I wanted to see why they hated America. I wanted to know more, I always wanted to know things I didn't know, and thought there's no better place to start than where I was.

After a few weeks of Juma’a, and having a peer mentor who is also a Sunni Muslim, I knew this was right. I felt at home and was happy regardless of the circumstances. I took my shahada and have read and read and read since. I feel great.

I really want to learn as much as I can. I want to study regularly and hopefully, InshaAllah, am able to have a positive influence on my family, my children, and my community as well.”

Allen’s story is not uncommon for our students. He was a lost soul in need of a change, and Islam awoke him to that need. When he started seeking, whether he meant to or not, he found what he was missing in Islam.

Though he often was without a Muslim community as he moved housing units, he continued to read and learn because his newfound religion gave him what he’d needed – support and guidance toward a better future, regardless of his troubled past.

Salihah: Learning to stand on her own

Sister Salihah made a big mistake. She was 24. She was pregnant. And she was in a relationship with an older Muslim man who included her in the planning and execution of an armed robbery that ended in a murder. Though she herself never held a weapon, she ended up behind bars for 50 years, while he remains on the run.

Salihah had been born and raised a Christian, but spending time with that man and his brothers awakened something in her, even in the face of his haram actions. His Muslim brothers had asked her if she knew everything about Jesus (pbuh). In her own words –

I said “yes”. Then one said, “So you know he was born talking?” With disbelief I answered “What? Where does it say that?'' They told me “The Quran” and closed the topic by saying it was a book, giving no response about who the author was.

I ended up reading the Qur’an, looking for the story they mentioned in Surah Maryam. I was so enveloped and worried that I was going to hell that I accepted Islam on my own.

Throughout my incarceration I have steadfastly studied, practiced, and taught Islam. This, my faith, is what has given me the strength to bear my burden, to face, confront, and overcome my trials and the desire to appreciate life as it is.

In the time leading up to this, I was in search of God, raised Catholic and fearful of His punishment, yet ignorant of his mercy.

By the time she got to prison, Salihah had already started her journey with Islam, but it was behind bars that she was able to grow and deepen her knowledge, despite the odds. She began reading everything she could get her hands on, then teaching others and helping to lead her unit’s Muslimah community.

Though she has often had only a few sisters to pray with her and began her journey with only sparse resources for learning, she found ways to learn. With help from Tayba Foundation, she has been able to act as a leader in her community, filling the gaps left by too few Muslim chaplains in the federal prison system, even acting as the unit’s chaplain with Tayba’s support.

The reality is that Muslim women in prison are particularly underserved and face unique challenges. Tayba Foundation is working to provide more resources, so more female converts get the guidance they want and need. 

Ali: Coming home

Lastly, we look at Brother Ali. Ali was raised Muslim, but had no idea what that meant. He did not eat pork and he believed God’s name was Allah and his prophet was Muhammad ﷺ,  but he never visited a mosque and did not know how to pray. 

His parents both struggled with addiction, so the streets were where he felt safest, away from home. He had dropped out of school before the end of 7th grade and went to jail for the first time at the age of 15. In many ways, he never had a shot at a normal life.

He saw a Muslim praying and asked him what he was doing.

I was born in a Muslim family, but I didn't begin to learn about Al-Islam until I got locked up. I didn’t even know what salah was. I remember I saw a guy making salah and asked what he was doing. He told me he was Muslim and I told him I was too but didn't know anything about Islam. He taught me salah and about Allah and prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

I finally began to practice because something felt wrong in my life. I compared what I learned about the Muslim family and my own. I always wanted a good family. All I had was me & I saw the brotherhood of Islam. The sense of brotherhood fulfilled what I was lacking. Whereas I had no brothers I now had millions. The brotherhood was safety. Safety because I now had people who were actually concerned about me and my welfare.

Not all of our students are encountering Islam for the first time during their incarceration. Once given a chance, Ali flourished as a Muslim. He learned how to pray and dedicated himself to his deen. He needed a home and found it in his Muslim community and his new knowledge of God.

There are many reasons incarcerated individuals convert to Islam 

What they are looking for, where they come from, and what guidance they need may differ, but what they find is the same – a way to a better life through Islam. 

At Tayba Foundation, we work with incarcerated Muslims from all walks of life to help them learn their deen, build their knowledge, and acquire the life skills they need to help them lead more productive, fruitful lives for their Muslim communities, big and small, inside prison and out.