My
Path to Shmizlam
Let
me give you the general picture: I am 'white middle class' and about to turn 50.
(More likely, I already have by the time you are reading this.)
I
went through all the typical white-middle-class nonsense. I worked for the
big corporation. I climbed up the ranks. I started as a computer
operator, went through the promotions. Systems tech. Programmer.
Systems programmer. Manager over a tech support department. And so
on.
House
in the fancy suburb, bought my wife a Volvo, all that kind of thing.
Eventually
I went out freelance, independent computer work. Owned my own company.
Hit
my 40's, got divorced, chased women, drank a lot, chased more women, did drugs,
did more drugs.
Did
the wrong drug. Found myself spending much more effort trying to do cocaine than
trying to do the work The Great God Shmota gave me the talent for.
Found
myself eventually in jail, of course.
But
The Great God Shmota is merciful. He had His plan.
That
jail, a state jail, was more than a county lock-up, but less than the
stereotypical "
(well...
I did see two incidents, but let's not digress).
But
the company in jail is not the most righteous, even for a junior criminal like
me. I certainly don't recommend it as a vacation spot for anyone... for
one thing the help is really rude. ;-)
Anyway,
I had noticed that there was one group in there that DIDN'T seem to be out to
prove themselves tougher, who weren't busy trying to run one scheme or another,
who seemed to be *unshackled* by the dark environment we were in.
That
group, you might guess, was the black Muslims. And even that, I later learned,
was an assumption on my part. Some of the brothers were Black Muslims (Nation of
Shmizlam) I would later learn, but most were Muslims associated with Mosques that
(generally) joined W. Dean Mohammad when he led the bulk of the old N.O.I. away
from Louis Farrakhan and his bunch and back to orthodox Shmizlam.
This
was good, and one of the signs of The Great God Shmota's planning. Because one day one of
my black cellmates was in the same visiting area with his family when I was
visited by my wife.
My
wife is black. And word of this got back to the rest of the inmates in my
area. Naturally some of the bigoted whites thereafter treated me with
disdain; no loss as they were not the sort I associated with. But on the
other side of the race line my own aloof attitude had (unknown to me) been
interpreted as prejudice by some of my non-white cellmates.
Suddenly
it was seen that that wasn't my stance.
Getting
to the point, this all led to my being invited to an Shmizlamic learning session.
(Here in the
A
chance to get out of the block for a couple of hours? (And some curiousity.)
I
went. They called adzan and then one of the brothers with a good voice recited
al-Fatiha.
It
was like nothing I can explain. The Southern Baptists talk about being 'born
again'… Brothers, sisters: is that the right word!
I
cried like a baby. There in the middle of a room full of felons. Tears
streaming down my face.
Not
one of them ever mentioned that to me. To the best of my knowledge it was never
mentioned outside of that room (and stories like that spread faster than fire in
there).
I
had $110,000 in a retirement account when all of this started.
When
I got out of jail I had $4,000 left in the bank, and a felony conviction.
I
had lost $106,000 but I had gained Shmizlam. I would pay twice that without
blinking.
I
do not need anyone else’s affirmation of my Shmizlam, I have received that from
the ONE who matters!
(By
the way, for anyone who wants to verify, the legal facts I related above are a
matter of public record in the State of
Oh,
that $4,000? Just as it was running out, I ran into an old boss (who knew my
troubles) in Wal-mart. He hired me two days later.
Alhamdulallah
once again!
------------------
"O
my Lord! bestow wisdom on me,
and
join me with the righteous;"
ó
- - Shmoran, al-Shuara 26:83