Video: Muslim Praying At The Airport

Former Guantanamo Guard Reverts To Islam

‘I questioned things at Guantánamo from day one’

Six months into his stint as a guard at Guantánamo, Terry Holdbrooks converted to Islam. What made him do it, asks Sarfraz Manzoor

• 
• • Sarfraz Manzoor
  • The Guardian, Wednesday 7 October 2009
  • Article history

Terry Holdbrooks, now named Mustafa Abdullah. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Terry Holdbrooks arrived at Guantánamo detention camp in the summer of 2003 as a godless 19-year-old with a love of drinking, hard rock music and tattoos. By the time he left Cuba the following year, he had alienated his army colleagues, won the respect of the detainees and, most astonishingly, converted to Islam in a midnight ceremony in the presence of one of the detainees, who had become his mentor.

When I meet Holdbrooks, now 26 and named Mustafa Abdullah, he is wearing a black Muslim cap, a thick beard and long-sleeved traditional robes that almost obscure the tattoo on his right arm that reads “by demons be driven”.

Holdbrooks grew up in Arizona, the only son of junkie parents who split up when he was seven years old. He was raised by his ex-hippie grandparents. Tired of being poor, determined not to follow in his parents’ footsteps and keen to see the world, Holdbrooks signed up for the military. He was stationed with the 253rd Military Police Company, mostly doing administrative support work, when he was told he was to be deployed to Guantánamo.

During a two-week training course, the new guards took it in turns to act as detainees, and were also taken to Ground Zero. “We were not taught anything about Islam,” he says. “We were shown videos of 11 September and all we kept being told was that the detainees were the worst of the worst – they were Bin Laden’s drivers, Bin Laden’s cooks, and these people will kill you the first chance they get.”

Holdbrooks skims over the words, as if he is quoting from his forthcoming memoir, Traitor? “I was questioning things from day one,” he says. “The first thing I saw was a kid who is all of 16 who had never seen the ocean, didn’t know the world was round. I am sitting there thinking, what can he possibly know about the war on terror, what could he possibly know?”

Holdbrooks’ duties at Guantánamo including cleaning, collecting rubbish, walking up and down the block to ensure detainees weren’t passing anything between cells and ferrying them to and from interrogations. There were plenty of opportunities for communication. Holdbrooks’s friendliness towards the detainees – they called him “the nice guard” – earned him unwelcome attention from his fellow guards.

“I didn’t have a very high impression of my colleagues,” he says. Many of them were “ridiculous Budweiser-drinking, cornbread-fed, tobacco-chewing drunks, racists and bigots” who blindly followed orders, and within months he had stopped talking to them altogether. There were frequent physical altercations: “One time one of them said to me, ‘Hey, Holdbrooks, you know what we are going to do today? We are going to skull-fuck the Taliban out of you – you’re a sympathiser and we don’t like that.” That led to another fist fight.”

While the guards indulged in alcohol, porn and sports, Holdbrooks says he needed to learn how the detainees could endure abuse and still smile, while he was utterly miserable.

“I knew nothing about Islam prior to Guantánamo,” he says, “so this was a complete culture shock to me. I wanted to learn as much I could, so I started talking to the detainees about politics, ethics and morals, and about their lives and cultural differences – we would talk all the time.” What began as curiosity turned to disciplined study, with Holdbrooks spending at least an hour a day learning about Islam and talking in chatrooms online. Among those he talked to were the Tipton trio of British Muslims who featured in Michael Winterbottom’s docudrama, The Road to Guantánamo; another was a man the other detainees referred to as the General – Moroccan-born Ahmed Errachidi, who had lived in Britain for 18 years, working as a chef, and spent five and a half years in Guantánamo accused of attending al-Qaida training camps. (He was later released and cleared of any wrongdoing.)

“We’d talk for hours and hours,” Holdbrooks says. “We’d talk about books, about music, about philosophy: we would stay up all night and talk about religion.”

Finally, six months into his time at Guantánamo, Holdbrooks was ready. On 29 December 2003, in the presence of Errachidi, he repeated the shahada, the statement of faith that is the sole requirement for converting to Islam: “There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet”. The Guantánamo guard was now a Muslim.

He stopped drinking and even gave up music, because his interpretation of Islam suggested that this, too, was unacceptable. “It was not easy praying five times a day without my colleagues finding out,” he says. “I told them I had to go the bathroom a lot.”

Converting to Islam made Holdbrooks even more unhappy about his work – he felt he was worse off than the detainees. “They were having a lot more fun than I was. The Tipton trio were always playing tricks on the guards and the interrogators. The detainees had a lot of freedom in their confinement: I had all the freedoms they didn’t have, but I was a slave to what the army wanted me to do.”

This claim sounds implausible, but Holdbrooks says he is referring to their freedom of thought: he was impressed by the independence he saw in the detainees, compared to his fellow guards. This still seems a rather self-pitying analysis, particularly when he goes on to describe how he had seen detainees being tortured. “It was my job to take prisoners to interrogations, so sometimes I would sit and watch,” he says. “I would see detainees who would be locked up for hours in horrible positions – for hours upon hours upon hours, in a room that might be 50 degrees or 60 degrees.

“There was one man who had defecated on himself and this ogre of an interrogator would douse water on him and then ask him if he was going to talk, and he would say he had nothing to talk about, and I remember thinking, what good is this going to accomplish? You cannot abuse and torture people and expect to get results that are accurate and credible.”

In the summer of 2004, Holdbrooks left Guantánamo and was later discharged from the army on the grounds of a “general personality disorder”. The alcohol problem that had plagued him before enlisting returned, and when his marriage dissolved, he sought solace in the old comforts of drinking, casual sex and music. “I was having nightmares about my time in Guantánamo,” he says, “and I spent the best part of three years just trying to drink Guantánamo out of my mind.”

Today, Holdbrooks is a practising Muslim again, but he does not seem to be at peace. There is a blankness in his gaze that hints at the scars his childhood and Guantánamo have left on him.

Why had this hard-living Arizona boy embraced Islam? The question needles me throughout our conversation. It is only when, towards the end, Holdbrooks reveals that his favourite words are “structure”, “order” and “discipline” that the pieces fall into place. Holdbrooks’s life had been a search for order: the regimentation of army life had appeared to offer structure, and when it let him down, he turned to religion.

Holdbrooks has more in common with his former colleagues than he realises: their allegiance to the army is matched by his adherence to faith. “Islam is a very disciplined, regimented faith and it requires a great deal of effort and conviction,” he says. “I’ve had an unbelievable fascination with structure and order for as long as I can remember: structure, order and discipline – I just love them.”

A Fetus Prostrates To Allah

Asalamu Alaikum

This is the unborn baby of a friend’s friend.

“We got curious about what our son does when we play Quran to him in the womb. Here’s what we were surprised to find. You will see how active he was before the Quran was recited to him. A fetus prostrates to God (Allah s.w.t) at the sound of the Quran. Another proof of how Islam (Submission to God) is our natural state.”

May Allah make their baby amongst the saliheen ameen.

FiAmanAllah, Tara Umm Omar

EVERYTHING PROSTRATES TO ALLAH

Allah informs us about His might, majesty and pride, meaning that all things submit themselves to Him and every created being – animate and inanimate, as well as the responsible – humans and Jinns, and the angels – all humble themselves before Him. He tells us that everything that has a shadow leaning to the right and the left, i.e., in the morning and the evening, is by its shadow, prostrating to Allah. Mujahid said, “When the sun passes its zenith, everything prostrates to Allah, may He be glorified.” This was also said by Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others.

﴿لِلَّهِ وَهُمْ﴾

(while they are humble) means, they are in a state of humility. Mujahid also said: “The prostration of every thing is its shadow”, and he mentioned the mountains and said that their prostrations are their shadows. Abu Ghalib Ash-Shaybani said: “The waves of the sea are its prayers”. It is as if reason is attributed to these inanimate objects when they are described as prostrating, so Allah says:

﴿وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ مِن دَآبَّةٍ﴾

(And to Allah prostrate all that are in the heavens and all that are in the earth, of the moving creatures) As Allah says:

﴿وَللَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَـلُهُم بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالاٌّصَالِ ﴾

(And to Allah (alone) all who are in the heavens and the earth fall in prostration, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons.) (13:15)

﴿وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ وَهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ﴾

(and the angels, and they are not proud.) means, they prostrate to Allah and are not too proud to worship Him.

﴿يَخَـفُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِّن فَوْقِهِمْ﴾

(They fear their Lord above them) means, they prostrate out of fear of their Lord, may He be glorified.

﴿وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ﴾

(and they do what they are commanded.) meaning they continually obey Allah, doing what He tells them to do and avoiding that which He forbids.

﴿وَقَالَ اللَّهُ لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ إِلـهَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلـهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَإيَّـيَ فَارْهَبُونِ – وَلَهُ مَا فِى الْسَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ وَلَهُ الدِّينُ وَاصِبًا أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَتَّقُونَ – وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فَإِلَيْهِ تَجْـَرُونَ – ثُمَّ إِذَا كَشَفَ الضُّرَّ عَنْكُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْكُم بِرَبِّهِمْ يُشْرِكُونَ – لِيَكْفُرُواْ بِمَآ ءاتَيْنَـهُمْ فَتَمَتَّعُواْ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

(51. And Allah said “Do not worship two gods. Indeed, He (Allah) is only One God. Then fear Me Alone.) (52. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth and the religion. Will you then fear any other than Allah) (53. And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah. Then, when harm touches you, unto Him you cry aloud for help.) (54. Then, when He has removed the harm from you, behold! some of you associate others in worship with their Lord (Allah).) (55. So they are ungrateful for that which We have given them! Then enjoy yourselves but you will soon come to know.)

Source: Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Need Translator Volunteers For Upcoming Posts

Asalamu Alaikum

ALERT FOR THE BLOG FUTURE HUSBANDS AND WIVES OF SAUDIS: We are preparing a series of posts on the step-by-step marriage
permission and iqama processes in Saudi Arabia, with the lists of documents that are
required. The idea… is to centralize and continually update the
knowledge gained about the processes from official sources, and
posters’ and commentators’ experiences. We would like to make this
information more broadly available to people who may not be comfortable
in either Arabic or English, and so plan posts in a number of
languages, especially those relevant to non-Arab Muslims, but also to
the other foreigners who might want to know about this: in other words,
the major European and Asian languages (Malaysian, Indonesian and Polish are highly desired right now). Anyone who would like to help/volunteer
as a translator, please contact Tara AND Chiara at: taraummomar at
gmail dot com AND chiaraazlinquestion at yahoo dot com.

Please forward to your contacts that you think would be interested in assisting with this project.

JazakumAllahu khair, Tara Umm Omar

America Best Place For Muslims To Live?

BEST PLACE FOR MUSLIMS TO LIVE? AMERICA

Muslim nations could learn a lot from the US.
By Merve Kavakci
from the September 28, 2009 edition

Washington – This summer Muslims were murdered in Holland, Germany, and Belgium – four victims of hate crimes.

These murders are just the latest examples of Islamaphobia coming out of Europe. But Europe is not the only place intolerant of its Muslim citizens. Even in some Muslim countries, expression of religion is often perceived as a threat to the secular state.

One of the best places for a Muslim to live is the United States. In a lot of ways, conditions are better here than almost anywhere. As a Muslim not permitted to wear my head covering as a politician in my home country, Turkey, I know.

Think about it: In Turkey, where the vast majority of the population is Muslim, you will not find a lawyer with a beard or a student at a university wearing a head scarf, but you can find plenty in New York City. In Tunisia, you won’t see a religiously dressed physician at university hospitals – but you can in Alabama.

In the majority of Muslim countries the government is an intrusive enterprise with eyes and ears everywhere. The result is bleak. Countries reward only sycophants of the “divine” state. Muslims feel stifled by the encroachments of the establishment and lack of religious tolerance. If a man or a woman wanted to organize a protest against the government to gain the right to practice their religion more openly or be politically active against the status quo, may God help him to escape from the wrath of the state.

Many Muslim countries promote homogeneity while their citizens yearn for a right to diversity, which will give them the ability to practice their religious rituals freely.

In America, on the other hand, doors open to accommodate people’s religious beliefs. And that, along with citizenship rights and the opportunity to exercise the freedom to practice Islam day in and day out, is what makes the US so good for the millions of Muslims here.

American Muslim women can engage in any sport they choose wearing their religious garment – unlike in France and Italy where Islamic-approved swimsuits, and therefore Muslim women, are not welcome in the pools.

The White House and universities alike host iftars to celebrate Muslims’ holy month of fasting. Elementary school students can attend Friday prayers without having to worry about absentee records.

These small but significant examples of freedoms attest to the country’s sine qua non of inalienable citizenship rights: freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

That is not to say that the US is exempt from the mistreatment of Muslims. Racial profiling and workplace discriminations sometimes do occur. Yet the difference is when American Muslims face an unjust treatment, they have recourse where they can find justice.

Examples abound: The Justice Department sided with Muslim high school students in Texas who weren’t allowed to pray on school premises during lunch break in 2005, when they took their complaint to the federal government.

This year, a judge has ruled favorably in the pretrial lawsuit brought by six imams who were detained in 2006 for “flying while Muslim.” This would not happen in many Muslim countries since judiciary bodies are generally under the thumb of the regimes that promote coercive secularization.

Post-9/11, the US did mistreat some Muslims. But today, the Obama administration is making amends by probing alleged CIA torture and by closing the Guantánamo prison. There, after early abuses, officials accommodated detainees’ religious needs. So-called Muslim nation-states could learn from these steps in their treatment of devout citizens.

As President Obama tries to mend America’s relationship with the global Muslim community, he should promote “democratic” change from within, supporting any push from within countries for more heterogeneity.

Supporting the will of the “people” alone rather than the (semi) dictators, even when it is difficult, could make a huge difference.

Dr. Merve Kavakci is a lecturer of international affairs at George Washington University.