 Being once an inmate myself is something that It's no words really to describe that experience especially When you find Islam in that type of environment a lot of people don't realize that many of the inmates are the Muslims inmates inside Embrace Islam while they was there. So many just like myself Had really no contact with Islam or Muslims before incarceration So like myself being originally from South Central, Los Angeles Where on the side of LA that I live on what we call the East side We really didn't have much presence of the Muslims Whereas on the West side, that's where you have a lot of the known messages that you hear about like Masjid Ibn Omar Ibn Qatab, you know big masjid there you have several other masjids on that side of town So for myself coming in contact with Islam and the Muslims and then finally reaching free society it's been like something that's undescribable because Being in one world versus another world, you know only knowing one way to live Prior to incarceration then get it out and you're in a totally different world It's like it's not like you're getting out after 20-something years and you're going back to your old family and the same Situation that you was once in but you're actually coming out as a Muslim and there's a totally different set of circumstances That you would face Versus before so I just wanted to say that briefly about myself that I'm here before you as an ex gang member ex-immate the whole the whole line, you know, so Hamdiri law that I'm you know a lot bless me to be a Muslim today So Hamdiri law I just want to take something from this story of Prophet Yusuf. I lay salam and one of the things about it is I Think about is when Allah SWT raises people up as he raised the abuse of alaihi salam after being thrown in a well after being thrown in a well and forgotten and essentially purchased for a low price by people in the marketplace and sold and During that time In that process of being disattempted to be a seduce by the women The Kings wife all of these different things that follow One of the things about the story though, you know, just throwing into the well and being forgotten It's something that I think about because I Look at myself in that situation where I was on a bus being transported to prison and I was just sharing this story recently with someone and I didn't think about it into just the other day that When I was being transported to prison Out of all the times that I had been in and out of the courts and things like that They would take a certain route so that you're not near the neighborhoods, you know And no possible break breakouts and things like that But this particular day I told myself I said this would be the last time That I probably want to see my family again. I knew it. I you know, I was sentenced to life So I said I've never seen my family again But this particular day for some reason strange reason the bus drove right down my block And I it's never happened. It was for some reason that they was You know for whatever reason they saw about law, but they drove down my block And I was able to look down the street that I was raised on and that's the last time I've seen that street in 23 years 23 years and I never knew what would happen and and I'm sure with Prophet Yusuf a.a. salam when he was thrown into the well He never knew where he would end up I never knew where I would end up and One of the things I told myself even though my lifestyle was definitely Jahaliyah You know my lifestyle was totally against Islam I Told myself that God I said God is not gonna leave me in this place. I said that to myself I said for some strange reason even though I know I was sentenced to life I feel like at some point at some time that maybe I will be released and As I went through my prison sentence and And The Islam came into my life. I knew soon as the moment that I knew that I was going to accept Islam I Said to myself that this is what I thought years ago That Allah would not leave me in this place So when we relate the story people will plot against you even your own kin Your own can would even plot against you your friends the people that you thought will be your friends And in the case of Yusuf alaihi salam it was his own brothers That plotted against him to throw him away and That's what happens to many of us Because so many of us are embracing Islam inside the prison system. It's the fastest growing religion in prison and It's many of the African Americans and Latino Americans are bracing Islam and We're people that don't know anything about Islam when we embrace it So it's like we're in a isolated bubble just trying to figure out what's Islam what's Islam and When we write letters trying to get some type of response from the outside Usually it falls on deaf ears because there's a disconnect between ourselves and the people in the free world So Yusuf only trusted in the last panel with that lot which for for us You that's all you have is a loss panel with a lot, but it's actually a strength. It actually raises us up and in the population the prison population and Amongst the guards the prison guards the employees when they see that taking place when they see an Inmate becoming Muslim and they see his state Being raised up by a loss panel with a lot. They don't understand it because now Him coming through the regular child lining take a meal. He's saying I don't want to eat this food because it's not halal They don't understand. What's this transformation? That's taking place They really don't understand it then they see that we're not involved in any of the legal activity That's taking place in the prison. They see people being called away from Gangs and and gambling and all of the things that take place inside the prison It's more of that inside than you see sometimes out here