Ramadan: Rethinking zakat for Muslim political prisoners

Ramadan for Muslim political prisoners across the globe is often a time of great difficulty. Whether it is in the prisons of Egypt, Syria or Guantanamo Bay, there are challenges that they face in being able to complete their fasts and maintain their devotions to Allah, but these come secondary to even the task of knowing when Ramadan might begin.

Sensory deprivation, as a tool of torture, has been consistently used in carceral regimes in order to increase the suffering of those in their charge, knowingly through denying any knowledge of the start and end dates of Ramadan, and even the times of the day. When the Al Jazeera journalist, Sami Alhaj was first taken to Guantanamo Bay as a detainee, he was immediately denied any knowledge of Ramadan, leaving him to guess as best he could when he might fast:

“We prepared for the first Ramadan, and the guards were told that we would not be eating anything until sunset. Seemingly deliberately, they were always late delivering our meals, coming four hours after the azan had sounded […].The first and last days of Ramadan were difficult, we needed to see the crescent moon to determine the beginning and end of the holy month, but not all of us could. In the first, second and third camps, some of the cells could see the sun and the moon, but not where I was. In this doubt, we did our best and counted out 30 days.”

''Reading the Qur’an over Ramadan, I suggest that the traditional categorisation of ‘captives’ being held for ransom, should be applied to those who are held in political detentions – particularly as the states detaining them should be seen as hostile to the interests of justice and peace. The Qur’an explicitly states in the distribution of the compulsory zakat, that those who are due support include:

 

“relatives, orphans, the poor, ‘needy’ travellers, beggars, and for freeing captives…” (2:177)

For political prisoners though, despite the difficulties they face on a daily basis, the prison becomes a microcosm for the outside world – where they attempt to replicate much of what they lost. Those detained at Guantanamo Bay would regularly attempt to pray in congregational prayer throughout the month, even in the periods when it was forbidden.

They would find ways to pass on gifts and treats to one another, a way of giving charity to others in the month. They would even try and create a sense of community, singing devotional songs to one another in the evenings, attempting to raise the spirits of those, who perhaps on one particular day or another were struggling with the legal penumbra of their existence.

The plight of incarcerated Muslims, particularly those who have been detained for political reasons, carries implications for the entirety of the global Muslim ummah – the community of believers that transcends geographies and nationalisms. Prophetic traditions explicitly state the obligation on freeing captives of hostile states, by paying any ransom for those who are imprisoned.

Later, scholars such as al-Qurtabi explained that the coffers of the state should be emptied for the sake of securing a ransom for a prisoner – and if the state is not able, then the obligation falls on the community of Muslims at large.

So what does this mean in terms of our contemporary moment? There are political prisoners who continued to be detained at Guantanamo Bay, on the US mainland, in (not exclusively) Muslim majority countries such as Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, India and Palestine. How can the community of global Muslims reimagine their own obligations in relation to the thousands incarcerated, even at the hands of those who claim to be their coreligionists?

Reading the Qur’an over Ramadan, I suggest that the traditional categorisation of ‘captives’ being held for ransom, should be applied to those who are held in political detentions – particularly as the states detaining them should be seen as hostile to the interests of justice and peace. The Qur’an explicitly states in the distribution of the compulsory zakat, that those who are due support include:

“relatives, orphans, the poor, ‘needy’ travellers, beggars, and for freeing captives…” (2:177)

It is this final category of freeing captives that has long been neglected, but one that carries implications for Muslims across the world. The contemporary captives are our political prisoners, and so with the detentions comes the duty to alleviate their plight.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims give the majority of their zakat in charity to different causes. With the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and with a plethora of competing issues facing Muslims across the world, the rights of political prisoners can be forgotten.

This Ramadan, I suggest that the rights of prisoners should be reconceptualised as part of the zakah that communities distribute, that money should be put towards their securing their freedom. The past processes of providing a ransom to secure the release of an individual is no longer applicable to our contemporary circumstances – states do intervene regularly in the interests of such prisoners – often because they are largely complicit in reproducing unjust carceral systems. This money – raised from communities across the world – should be for a variety of activities, from legal fees, to lobbying, to building pressure through local and global activism.

Ramadan for political prisoners has very much become a time when they are forced to recreate a soupçon of their lives in freedom. Their families, communities and the political health of our ummah also continues to suffer during the course of their detention.

Ramadan should be a time of reflection, and so it is that I hope Muslim readers will reflect on what the continued unlawful, arbitrary, torturous and incommunicado detention of thousands of Muslims around the world means for us all. How do we interact with their plight, and how do we find ways to recentralise the Qur’anic injunction to secure the release of our captives?

Dr Asim Qureshi is the Research Director of the advocacy group CAGE and has authored a number of books detailing the impact of the global War on Terror.

Follow him on Twitter: @AsimCP

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.