Many people who enter prison in America emerge as Muslims once they have served their sentences. Bilgin Erdogan, who has spent 5 years as an imam serving prisoners at SCI Huntingdon in the state of Pennsylvania and has been instrumental in 59 people converting to Islam during that time, summarizes this by saying, ‘One in four people in a prison housing 2400 inmates are Muslim.’ Erdogan has described how after converting to Islam, prisoners completely change their lives and are also instrumental in their families’ converting to Islam once they are released.
Bilgin Erdogan reveals there are some 600 Muslims in the institution in which he works, 400 of whom fast during Ramadan. And that he made the prisoners perform Friday prayers and gave khutba. He goes on to describe what he communicates in prison:
“We study the Qur’an and the hadith. I try to restore them to society. I try to instill compassion in their hearts. I speak of the faith as a reference point in order for them not to re-offend. There was one elderly prisoner who became a Muslim after entering prison. He had a wife and seven children. First his wife converted to Islam, and then his children and grandchildren. He was thus instrumental, in prison, in 49 people becoming Muslims.”
Asked why Americans are choosing Islam, Erdogan replies:
“Islam is the religion of human nature. The message of Islam is highly attractive, and people left face to face with their consciences on the inside have the opportunity to hear that message. Even if they are prisoners, they still enjoy a greater freedom of soul compared to the social dungeon on the outside. Convicts read the Qur’an and study Arabic. Tens of people perform the night prayer. Some even recite the Qur’an every 10 days.”
The Qur’an, the word of God, protects people against the deceits and snares of satan. As is revealed in the verses of the Qur’an, sent down by God as a path to salvation for all mankind:
News has come to them which contains a threat: consummate wisdom – but warnings are profitless. (Surat al-Qamar, 4-5)
Since Muslims spend every moment of their lives seeking to earn God’s approval, compassion and paradise, they never do anything unlawful. A community made up of true believers who genuinely fear God will be the most trustworthy society on Earth. Because these people always act in the light of the conception of love, affection, compassion and brotherhood that lies at the essence of Islam. They submit themselves to God as being good people until the last moment of their lives. This superior moral virtue of believers is revealed as follows in the Qur’an:
You who believe! Enter Islam totally. Do not follow in the footsteps of satan. He is an outright enemy to you. (Surat al-Baqara, 208)
