[ chanting ] it s friday afternoon and prayers are just beginning at the local mosque. kareem, fresh out of prison, is attending his very first service on the outside. his former prison chaplain ismael leads services here. islam asked you to examine what is in you, to know who you are. look into your own heart. why is your heart filled with hate and anger? kareem is now surrounded by a new community, one that follows the very same principles he s worked so hard to learn and live by. we need each other. no man can live alone by himself. all of you are brothers to each other. may we pray as though they may be our last prayer. allahu akbar.
when it s fitness, i got a partner. that s what i mean. i need that. it seems the new brotherhood is forming fast. when you turn your life and heart around, the sky s the limit. the brother is next. it s his time to shine. we re more than confident it s going to be beautiful. brother kareem, and it s no dream. islam gives their life meaning and their life meaning is that mission to uplift others. it s about raising people up, making them better, making them better people. so this was the first time you ve been in a mosque outside of prison at all. right. how was it? it was beautiful. my brothers were here who were in the prison with me. you see how much love we share out here. and brothers that i didn t even know open their arms to me. first time i ve really seen you smile a lot since you ve been out. i m humbled by this experience because i didn t think it was going to be like this. you know?
for her, but i love her unconditionally. did you know he speaks arabic? uh-uh. yeah, i can speak a little bit of arabic. i m not fluent. but i can read it. have you heard much arabic, kitty? no, i have not ever heard any. can you say something? [ speaking arabic ] he is alive, the one, the absolute. he is the begotten. the fear is the unknown. do i want to know? i don t. do you worry about his salvation? oh, yeah. but all i can say is that i hope that he will figure it out. you mean hope he comes back? yes. right now, that s not likely to happen. in fact, one of kareem s first stops is the mosque. i got to go in front of allah
his chance. tomorrow after more than five years, 34-year-old kevin is getting out early for good behavior. hi, kevin. how you doing? how are you? i m lisa. my name s abdul kareem. nice to meet you. that s how you ve been going by? yes, it means the slave of the generous, because allah has been so generous to me. how are you feeling about getting out tomorrow? i m anxious. this is the longest time i ve been in prison. are these all your books? yep. and where is your koran? right here. it s got the arabic in it. have you learned any arabic? yes, i learned arabic when i was here. these are attributes of the king. guide us on the straight path. wow, i m impressed. you have great pronunciation as well. kareem has not always been this
disciplined and anchored. raised by a single mom, he was the oldest child and expected to be the man of the house, a role he struggled with as a teenager. i feel like i wasn t the man i was supposed to be for my family. as the leader. i always had an anger problem, i liked to fight. so that s how it started, me getting in trouble in school, suspended from school, fighting. i wanted to hang out on the corner and trying to keep up with the crowd, and that s how i started selling drugs. over the next decade, kareem was sent to jail over and over on drug-related charges. on his short stints behind bars, he encountered muslim converts and flirted with islam, but always went back to the violence and money of the streets. ultimately, his anger would be his downfall. in 2011, a local mechanic refused to exchange a tire he d purchased.