Islam Inside Prison News Today

>> allahu akbar thank you for what i gained. wait a minute. slow down. slow down. remember me. lets give god his glory. [ chanting ] >> clearly having a shared faith has helped bind this family together. now, back at home, kareem is trying to rebuild his own bonds with his mother, a christian who may never accept his commitment to islam. >> thats when you took me to the christmas party. >> i remember that. >> do you feel disappointed at all? i mean, you say that jesus is your rock. >> yeah. >> y...

[ chanting ] its friday afternoon and prayers are just beginning at the local mosque. kareem, fresh out of prison, is attending his very first service on the outside. his former prison chaplain ismael leads services here. >> islam asked you to examine what is in you, to know who you are. look into your own heart. why is your heart filled with hate and anger? >> kareem is now surrounded by a new community, one that follows the very same principles hes worked so hard to learn and live by. >> we ...

>> when its fitness, i got a partner. >> thats what i mean. i need that. >> it seems the new brotherhood is forming fast. >> when you turn your life and heart around, the skys the limit. the brother is next. its his time to shine. were more than confident its going to be beautiful. brother kareem, and its no dream. >> islam gives their life meaning and their life meaning is that mission to uplift others. its about raising people up, making them better, making them better people. >> so this was t...

Faces more discrimination than just about any other demographic. and yet african american women are one of the largest groups in america converting to islam. in todays conflicted world, what would propel a woman to make that choice? >> when i got my call to islam, it was not a hard call to answer. more renewable and clean energy resources because there are limits to the amount of fossil fuels that we can burn. since 1925, we have depended on diesel generators, burning approximately a million gal...

>> when elijah mohammed died in 1975, his son redirected the movement. instead of black supremacy, he embraced the more inclusive ideas of mainstream islam, and hundreds of thousands of followed him. >> we thank all mighty god for allowing us to be here amongst one another again and to give praise and glorification unto him. >> 47-year-old mahaj is an imman, a religious leader who presides over worship. >> dont fall into the negative ideas. be industrial. be a productive and enlightened part of ...

>> reporter: its a bittersweet reunion, full of hope that kareem can finally get his life back on track. hes entering the world for the first time as a true muslim. but while kareem has been locked up, many have grown less and less tolerant of his new faith and its followers. >> growing outrage over the shooting deaths of three muslim students -- >> theres been a 67% increase in hate crimes against muslim americans. >> reporter: im about to meet a woman who knows just how difficult this current ...

Dear lord, return us all safely. amen. >> its a moment that catches me by surprise. these men have just bowed their heads to a prayer led by the only muslim in the unit. do you always do a prayer? >> yes, maam. every roll call since ive been on the job someone has prayed. >> all the guys are cool with a muslim leading the prayer? >> yeah, because these are my brothers. these are my guys. were going to eat together, pray together, fight crime together. i dont care if youre muslim, jewish, catholi...

The original, and its transforming. >> reporter: when elijah homed died in 1975, his son redirected the movement. instead of black supremacy, he embraced the more inclusive ideas of mainstream islam, and hundreds of thousands of followed him. >> we thank all mighty good for allowing us to be here amongst one another again and to give praise and glorification unto him. >> reporter: 47-year-old ma hajj is an image, a religious leader who presides over worship. >> dont fall into the negative ideas....

Years, ismael has counselled hundreds of men like kareem, many with violent pasts. what was it about islam that resonated with these men? >> a lot of our problems in this african american community is that men feel emasculated by history and a lot of times, people overcompensate for that emasculation through what i call hypermasculinity. and hypermasculinity is violence. but islam showed us this man who was a prophet who was an excellent example for you to live by and he was a mans man, but he w...

Disciplined and anchored. raised by a single mom, he was the oldest child and expected to be the man of the house, a role he struggled with as a teenager. >> i feel like i wasnt the man i was supposed to be for my family. as the leader. i always had an anger problem, i liked to fight. so thats how it started, me getting in trouble in school, suspended from school, fighting. i wanted to hang out on the corner and trying to keep up with the crowd, and thats how i started selling drugs. >> over the...