The Forgotten Believers behind Bars: Our Social Responsibility within Berkshires (Community Iftar)
Fri, March 7th, 2025
5:30 am - 7:30 pm
- This event has passed.
Panel Discussion and Iftar with Amin Anderson Abdul Muhaymin Al-Salim, Tayba Foundation, and Patrick Bensen, Muslim Chaplain at Berkshire County Jail
Moderated by Muslim Chaplain Sidra Mahmood and MSU and Pathways to Positive Partnership (P3) Student Leaders
Please RSVP at bit.ly/WilliamsRamadan because this event is part of the Muslim community iftars. Meat and vegan entrees will be provided and we are requesting faculty, staff, and community members (and students, as they are able to) to bring a salad, appetizer, or dessert.
Every year, incarcerated Muslims struggle to access proper meals, prayer time, and spiritual support during Ramadan. We’d like to create awareness and conversation about mass incarceration and highlight the meaning spirituality brings for individuals trapped within the system through direct engagement with individuals who have previously been “behind bars.” Our two speakers, Abdul Muhaymin Al Salim and Amin Anderson, are both formerly incarcerated individuals who started off as Tayba students within the prison system and are now instructors with Tayba Foundation, a non-profit that has served at least 13,000 individuals within the US prison industrial complex since 2008.
The Quran obligates Muslims to pay their obligatory charity to “the poor, the needy…for bringing hearts together and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt…” [Quran 9:60] However, we rarely think of the believers behind bars as victims of modern-day slavery who fit all the criteria of someone deserving of our care, attention, emotional, and financial support.
- When we perceive oppression against racially and religiously-minoritized groups nationally and internationally, how come we forget those who are incarcerated?
- What is our responsibility of caring for these members of our community even though they are out of our sight?
- The prison system is part of a larger carceral system in the US that seeks to surveil and punish Black, poor, and other already marginalized groups. What does it look like to extend the responsibility/solidarity to those made vulnerable in other iterations of the carceral system that are supposedly dedicated to care but also violent in nature – juvenile “justice” system, foster care system, punitive substance abuse centers, etc?
- What can we do as members of the Berkshire community to protect the communities that are policed and surveilled?
Abdul-Muhaymin Al Salim, Senior Instructor, Tayba Foundation | Imam, Grinnell College
Abdul Muhaymin Al-Salim (Eugene Priester, III) started as a student with the Tayba Foundation in 2013 and has been on the staff as a Sr. Instructor since 2016. He also works as the Imam at Grinnell College, providing religious leadership and spiritual care for the Muslim students & staff while serving as a staff resource for the Islamic perspective on social and religious issues. He mentors and teaches youth and Muslims and is a mayoral task force appointee in his home community in Savannah, GA.
Abdul Muhaymin has an MA in Islamic Studies and Religious Leadership from The Islamic Seminary of America (TISA). He is now in the Doctor of Ministry program at the Catholic Theological Union, studying Practical Theology focusing on Leadership &Ethics.
He continues his studies of the traditional Islamic sciences and has Ijazat (License to transmit) in Hadith, Theology (`Aqida`), and the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh). He is also working on completing the Maliki Fiqh curriculum.
Abdul Muhaymin rotates between living in Ghana with his family, Des Moines, IA, and Savannah, GA, his hometown.
Amin Anderson, Instructor, Tayba Foundation
Amin Anderson’s journey to becoming a Tayba Instructor is one of transformation and dedication. Over 20 years ago, while incarcerated, Amin connected with Shaykh Ram Nsouri, the co-founder of Tayba Foundation, and throughout this time, dedicated himself to studying the Islamic sciences until he became one of Shaykh Rami’s most advanced and dedicated students. Amin has studied several classical works with Shaykh Rami in their original Arabic, including several advanced fiqh treaties, language, and spirituality, eventually being given authorization to teach traditional works like Al-Arjumiyya in Arabic grammar while he was incarcerated.
He has recently completed a commentary on Matharat al-Qulub, which is the first complete translation and commentary of the poem in English. His story is a testament to the transformative power of knowledge and the human spirit. Now that he has been released from prison, Amin is eager to share the knowledge he has gained with others.
Patrick Bensen, Muslim Chaplain, Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office
Patrick Bensen is a writer who grew up in western Massachusetts. He attended Deerfield Academy and Harvard College, and accepted Islam. He worked in organic agriculture for a decade after graduation before transitioning into a writing career. Since 2021 he has served as Muslim chaplain for the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office.