When Bongqi Mcane was sent to Westville Prison he thought his life was over. A career criminal, he was sentenced to 15 years for armed robbery and hijacking. But then he managed to get his hands on a Quran. It changed everything. Today Maulana Saeed Mcane is going back to prison to talk to prisoners…
“Growing up, I was never serious about religion, although I grew up in a strongly Christian home on the South Coast of KZN. We moved to Umlazi when I was young as my parents looked for work. There I came face to face with the ugly realities of life in South Africa’s townships.
Crime and unemployment is rife in Umlazi, as in most other townships. Our role models as youngsters were gangsters and thugs. Those involved in hijacking, theft and armed robbery.
While still at high school, there were many times I found myself under arrest, going to prison for three or four months for petty crimes. I didn’t see school as being of benefit to me and I thought it would just be better to be a full-time gangster or thug. So I left school.
One of my school friends who was worried about me persuaded me to visit his Maulana. I went with him and I listened to the Maulana explain the virtues of Islam, but I was not interested.
Instead of listening to the advice of the Maulana, I moved on to bigger crimes, like armed robberies. There came a stage where my parents were very upset and unhappy with me. They grew tired of the constant visits of the police, looking for me.
In the late 1990s, I decided to leave my parent’s home and move in with some criminal friends.
By this time I was heavily involved in crime everyday. Around 2000, I was arrested along with some other guys for armed robbery and hijacking. We were sentenced to 15 years in prison.
I thought my life was over when I entered the gates of Westville Prison.
When I entered the prison’s reception area for processing, I was asked about my religion. I had grown up as a Christian but that was a long time back. I had wandered off the path.
I thought about the last time I was in contact with a person who was spiritual was with this friend of mine, Ali Gaffaar. So I told them that I am a Muslim. The prison official said I did not look like a Muslim, so he wrote Apostolic on my paperwork.
I was given prison clothes and I was told I’d spend the first night in prison at reception. The next morning I was taken to my section where I was to spend my years.
During my time in reception I noticed there was one prisoner whom I thought was Muslim. In the section, I noticed that next to his bed there was a thick book.
At that time I didn’t know it was a Quran. Then I started thinking to myself that I’m going to be in prison for many years and I need to get rid of this part of me and make sense of my life.
So I asked him to let me see the book. He told me that in prison you don’t borrow people’s things, if you want things you buy them.
So I asked him again to borrow it, as I had no money. And he said no, not unless I gave him some money because prisoners are always looking for something to smoke or to buy drugs.
I had one nice jacket on me and so I asked him to trade the jacket for the book. And I thought the book was so thick it would take me years to complete. Only once he gave it to me did I come to know that it was an English version of the Quran.
And I started reading and reading and reading. And I can tell you that night I hardly slept. The Quran and the Bible have similar incidents, but the Quran emphasises Tauheed – the Oneness of Allah Ta’alah.
The more time I spent with the Quran, the deeper my interest became in Islam.
Even before I actually accepted Islam, I remember going to the prison library to search for books about Hinduism and other religions.
I still had that hope that I was going to get out of prison soon. I realised that only God can create the opportunity for me to leave prison. I started spending more time in the library and I started schooling at religious classes (in prison) and receiving education to finish my matric.
I learned that the Quran has the message of One God compared to Christianity which was how I grew up.
While I was reading the Quran, my love for Islam just continued flourishing. I then learnt that religious leaders came to the prison often to speak to inmates.
I started attending the programmes run by the Muslim Prison Board KZN. I benefitted hugely from the talks by Maulana Shabir Asmal, Sheikh Amir and the many Ulema they brought to talk to us.
I started to surround myself with other Muslim friends and it dawned on me that who I kept company with was very important. We just spoke about Allah, and the worship of Allah.
Every prison has an Amir for Muslims. He clarified a lot of things for me and I converted to Islam under his guidance.
We had classes every Monday where they taught Quran, Islamic history, and that’s when my hunger for learning became insatiable.
I started reading the Quran daily and I fell in love with the style, the poetry, the format.
The Ulema (spiritual leaders) that visited us every Monday inspired us to such an extent that I wanted to become like one of these Muftis.
Mostly, I realised that our people, African people, the indigenous people really needed to know about Islam. It is true, it is Haq (truth). It sets you free, whether you’re poor, whether you’re coming from any environment, just to know that there is one God and that you have to worship Him alone and abide by His commandments.
It was some kind of freedom. Islam has Just principles. Allah Ta’alah says in the Quran that “the most noble among you is the one who has taqwa.” What he is saying is that the issue of race or status is not an issue.
Amongst human beings it can be but in the court of Allah Ta’alah. Allah only wants taqwa.
These Ulema taught us if you obeyed Allah Ta’alah, you are dutiful to Allah Ta’alah, you are conscious of Allah Ta’alah at all times, no matter how dark your skin is, or how poor you are. Allah Ta’alah can raise you and be pleased with you.
That made me feel so free and I felt that everybody needs to know about this. So I had the desire in prison to come out and study. I started learning Ahadith.
All this learning changed my approach to my prison term. Instead of feeling angry about my sentence, I came to accept that I had to serve time because I had hurt so many people and committed so many crimes. I just felt 15 years was nothing. I had committed so many sins for which I was not punished, so I accepted that I deserved my punishment. I made a lot of taubah (sincere repentance) until my release after eight years inside.
I left prison with loads of apprehension about finding a job and making a life.
But the Muslim Prison Board was there. I started classes outside prison and I saw that a lot of the things they (Ustaad) were teaching, I already knew. So the Maulana teaching us advised me to buy Islamic books. He wanted to teach me Arabic grammar and he began teaching me a little bit and then he advised me to go to a Darul Uloom and start an aalim course. “
Maulana Saeed Mcane was imprisoned in 2001. He accepted Islam at the Westville Prison due to the efforts of the Muslim Prison Board in KZN. He was released on parole in 2008 and studied the Imaamat course at Madressah Taalim ud Deen in Isipingo Beach. Thereafter he began the aalim course at madressah Miftaahul Falaah in Harding in 2009 and graduate 2012
