Ingrid Mattson – The Golden Ticket Q&A Session
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I would like to, welcome you all to
ICNA DAWA Conference 2020,
Islam, the the solution in times of confusion.
Inshallah, we have,
I will be your host for the session,
titled The Golden Ticket, and we have an
amazing lineup of speakers.
Inshallah, we will be moving on to,
the q and a session with, all 3
speakers of this session. Inshallah, I will dig
right into the the questions.
Imam Khalid, the first question is for you.
What are some ways individuals and institutions can
support
incarcerated Muslims? I know that you've been working
very
diligently on the Muslim Prisoner Support Project, so
if you want to shed some light on
that as well, Insha'Allah.
You're on mute, I think, Qaynaq Khaled.
Okay. You think after a few webinars, I
would start to get that.
Okay.
Yes. It it's it's very important that we
try to identify
ways in which we can concretely help those
who are incarcerated.
The Muslim prisoner support project is a is
a project of the ICNA Council For Social
Justice.
And this is a project where we solicit
funds and donations
from the general Muslim community.
And with those funds, we supply prayer rugs
and books.
We have a group of Katibs
who go to institutions,
and right now is mostly taking place in
the DMV area, which is district Maryland and
Virginia area,
and we hope to expand this,
across the country.
And it's been amazing to me,
some of the denials,
that,
Muslim inmates are getting in 2020.
A lot of these battles were fought back
in the seventies, but,
just having salatuljumah
or being able to pray in a group
or,
have meals at appropriate times in Ramadan. So
they need this kind of intervention.
But also like to just point out
an effort that I've just become, recently become
aware of, and it's called believers bail out.
And this is a project
where,
the group,
What Believers Bailout
provide funds
for cash bail, which is another very oppressive
system where people are sitting in jail, haven't
been convicted of anything,
and some of them very minor misdemeanors, but
they may not have money to get out.
So these are 2 projects. I mean, there
are many going on across the country,
but I'll just point these 2 out right
now.
Doctor Ingrid Matson,
I have a question for you. So as
we all know that, you know, COVID 19
posed a threat to many on campus events
that, you know, were usually the showcase for
MSAs, Islam Awareness Week, Dawah Abboud, Hijab Days.
With many universities transitioning to an online or
a hybrid model to model at least, what
are some ways
MSAs can still continue to engage with the
non Muslim student population?
Yeah.
This is one of the,
reasons I was talking about prayer as well.
And,
you know, whether whether it's now or at
other times, the question is,
what are people lacking in their life? You
know, my my view is that
and what I see is that many people
are very lonely. They're isolated.
They're disconnected.
They have a lot of anxiety.
I see students on campus just really
overwhelmed
with anxiety and fear, not only about the
less about this,
illness, at least when it affects them, but
it may affect their family,
But even their future, you know, what's gonna
happen? Are there gonna be any jobs when
they get out of university? I mean, there
are just a lot of unknowns.
And so I I believe that the best
thing that we can
share with others is
what gives us a sense of sikina?
What gives us a sense of
calm
and
comfort in times that are very difficult.
And this is really the best way to
share what we know about Allah
that Allah
is the the creator who is has all
of this creation,
under Allah's command,
that we
are not we never have. You know, we
there's an illusion of control in our life.
And so we should never feel like, oh,
I used to be in control of things,
and now now I don't have control. No.
We we never truly have control.
And so
rather
than having a loss in that, we simply
have become aware now. So what does it
mean? This is why we turn to the
one who who does control the universe, the
one who does give life
and then takes life.
So I think the, the more through our,
you know, online programming,
we can
share those narratives. I I believe that
when we share
our
our stories, when we share our strengths, when
we share,
and demonstrate our resilience in times like this,
this is the thing that that
will
attract people. They will see that that this
religion really does
does affect people in a positive way and
gives them the strength, no matter what the
circumstances
are,
to collectively
go go forward. Of course, some of us
are weak in times, but that's why we
have this community.
So to show the benefit of community,
I was listening to a there was a
radio program. Some of you many of you
prob at least in North America have heard
the program radio lab.
And they they had a program on the
other night where they did an experiment. They
just sent out a tweet
and said, hey. If anyone's awake, can't sleep,
here's a number to call.
And it was amazing. Like, within 1 hour,
all of these people were talking about, you
know, call them and said, I can't sleep.
I'm worried about this, this, this, this.
It shows you the concern. People are really
worried.
So what if
Muslims on campus opened up,
you know, just for those on campus? You
have to do it in a secure way
so you don't get random, like, people crashing
it, but said, you know, hey. Tonight,
for those who are are gonna be sleepless,
we have this time where you can come
and, like, ask for
ask for a prayer, ask for you know,
just share your concerns, and we're here to
support you. That is what Islam is. Islam
is the embodiment of compassion. So I wanna
see a lot more creativity
in really focusing on what Islam gives us
in terms of our our spiritual
resilience and our ability to live through these
difficult times.
Doctor Matson.
I have a question in the next for,
Imam Shabir Ally.
You know, Alhamdulillah, and, you know, I pray
that a lot of Muslim professionals,
they already do Dawah by character,
by action at their at their jobs,
but sometimes they hesitate to actively engage in
a direct conversation
pertaining to Islam. So what would you recommend,
you know, professional Muslims address? How did how
did they address this in terms of time,
place, language, relationship?
Yeah. Yeah. I think place is an important
component of this, and, in the lecture itself,
I gave the impression that you can give
Darwin your workplace. Now in light of this
question, and I'm thinking about it more more
closely,
you might be very much limited in what
you can do at your workplace. And, of
course, you don't wanna spoil the work workplace
atmosphere
by introducing religious,
discussions,
in in a time when, you know, religious
discussions really
are put on the back burner. So you
don't want everyone looking at you funny and
gossiping in the office about this Muslim who's
trying to convert everybody in the workplace.
But, naturally, you will have opportunities to, you
know, have maybe a coffee with your workmate,
or, you know, some people socialize with their
workmates,
outside of the work environment. You you may
have a barbecue together or something like this.
So, that will present opportunities for you to,
continue or or develop a conversation along religious
lines. So we need to recognize,
not only place, but also time and persons.
We wanna say,
the right thing,
at the right time
to the right person
in the right way. So so all of
these have to be born in mind. Just
because we have a correct idea in our
minds and the true belief,
does not mean we're going to,
say it in every occasion.
And,
it
and doesn't mean we're gonna say the same
thing to the same to every person. We're
going to say what is most appropriate to
each individual. For example,
I just mentioned in
excuse me. So I mentioned in the lecture
the verse of the Quran
about,
Jesus and his mother.
I should've had some water nearby. Sorry about
that.
So,
you you're not gonna speak, about,
the mother so much to Protestants, because Protestants
do not give that much,
credence to Mary. Unless you wanted to introduce
the logical point that,
if the mother had
died before giving birth to Jesus, alaihis salam,
what would that mean logically for the existence
of the human,
Jesus of of Nazareth?
The Christ would have,
taken some other the form of some other
human being with a different
identity. So you get people to think about
things like that. But the idea is that
you don't say the same thing to to
everyone, because not everyone shares the same
background presuppositions.
And, in any case, not everyone will be
equally receptive to this kind of, discussion.
So you you you introduce a philosophical discussion
with somebody who is educated, but you speak
more in common terms,
with a person who is not so well
educated and so on. And may Allah guide
us to,
do it in the right way. There's definitely
wisdom in the time, place, and even the
relationship you have with the, with the other
person.
Imam, Imam Khaled,
another question for you,
and this one might be a loaded question.
So those you know that have completed their
sentencing.
They face several hurdles hurdles transitioning back into
the society, whether that's getting jobs, whether that's,
you know, reinstitution of their voting rights. How
can Muslim Islamic centers assist in this transition
rather than completely
disenfranchising them from the community due to the
stigma,
you know, incarceration carries, and especially in the
eastern cultures?
Yep. That's a very good question. You know,
actually,
I I honestly believe that before we take
on the responsibility,
of trying to help those who are returning
to our communities,
that we kinda educate ourselves a little bit
before.
Because I've worked with a number of returning
citizens
over the years, and they talk about how
the they refer and make reference to that
stigma that you're talking about, that they are
so stigmatized
that they,
sense that people are almost and this slight
exaggeration,
but some of the brothers are holding their
wallets to make sure their pants pocket to
make sure that the person's not gonna take
something from them, and they're not really,
they feel that they're not incorporated into the
life of the community. So I think that,
before,
embrace
reaching out and trying to bring someone in,
we need to,
have some sessions,
in our masajid, in our Islamic centers,
to point out certain things because the the
worst thing we could possibly do, in my
humble opinion, is to
turn someone away
from the Muslim community on the outside. Because
on the inside, they're very for the most
part, they're very,
tight
communities, and the relationships are very tight and
good.
And many of the brothers and sisters come
out and find that,
on the outside, it's it's not the same
way. So I think that first, we should
try to,
make sure that we're not the ones who
are guilty of almost not sending them back
into the streets, but we're not turning them
away
as they return to the communities.
And then I think that,
we should
identify,
individuals
within our community
who have that inclination, they have that interest
in working
with returning citizens.
And around that interest,
I think we should start developing,
transitional
housing
in our communities, that this should be a
part of
our work,
our community
outreach that we're doing, but this is
outreach, you know, intra community outreach where we
are providing,
to the best of our ability in an
organized fashion,
job referrals and making sure that the business
owners in our community
know that introduce them,
to some of our returning citizens so they
can find jobs and other things like that,
and understand
that the,
the strain
that returning citizens are under is is really
if you haven't
engaged with these individuals before,
it's, it's amazing. It's it's it's disheartening,
to know the kind of callousness,
that some of these
parole officers and others who are responsible for
the supervision once returning citizens get out. It's
kind
of just crazy stuff. It seems like they
are intent
on trying to,
force,
not force, but create scenarios
where those returning citizens find themselves violating
some random
act or something that they may not have
even been,
knowledgeable of before. So I think we do
need to create
a welcoming
environment. We need to create,
transitional
programs because,
depending on the amount of time that someone
has been incarcerated.
You know, I joke with some of our
our brothers who come out for long periods
of time, and it's it's many of them,
things that we just take for granted, like
cell phones and,
you know, other developments. I mean, they they
don't have a clue. And so there are
a lot of basic needs,
for community reentry that that
individually or programmatically,
I think that we need to be a
part of.
Zechullah Haier, that was, again, a very, deep
loaded question. So Zechullah,
I would love to sit here and, you
know, I have a lot of questions for
all the speakers, but, unfortunately, the time doesn't
allow me to. So, Zekala,
all of you, ma'am, Khaled Greggs, doctor Matson,
doctor Shabir Ali, for your precious time to
spending with us.
So, with that,
you know, I just wanted to point out
another,
brilliant effort that,
ICNA
Gain Peace has been, has been doing in
in putting up billboards,
mailing postcards,
running social media campaigns on the topic of
justice and racism. Alhamdulillah, we've had billboards up
in cities like Bay Area, Sacramento, Houston, all
over the nation, and, you know, with the
with the message that really pertains to the
time and needs of this current society and
the the social issues. So I would really
encourage,
everyone to take some time and donate,
financially and your time in terms of volunteering.
So with that, I will pass, this on
to the next moderator for the next session.