In Memoriam

A pause now from my retreat ramblings to remember Leon Faruq, local community activist, ex-offender advocate, Muslim leader, and personal acquaintance who died last week from complications due to kidney disease.

I met Leon years ago, when I began doing advocacy work on behalf of inmates and former prisoners. A large man, he cut an imposing figure with his djellaba and kufi cap and his salt-and-pepper beard. Yet he had a gentle demeanor and I never heard him raise his voice above a quiet murmur.

Until I read today's obituary, I was unaware of the details of his history with the criminal justice system. Even among people who are very comfortable discussing correctional standards, re-entry programming, and criminal history record information policy, the details of one's own record are a delicate subject. As someone who has never been incarcerated, it would have been disrespectful and rude of me to ask about the criminal history of someone who has. In any event, the subject never held any curiosity for me. One thing that working with former prisoners taught me is that while we can never forget the past, we can't change it, either. All we can do is pay attention to where we are now and look ahead to where we might be going.

Some of Leon's sad and violent early history is recounted in the obit. I find it of interest only because the young man described in those paragraphs contrasts so markedly with the man I knew professionally: a mentor, a nonprofit leader, a man of deep faith, someone who was respected and liked by some of the most powerful people in the state. Leon was proof of the still-radical idea that people can rise above their circumstances and embrace hope and healing over pain and despair.

Just as I never would have wished to cause Leon offense by inquiring into his past, so I will not affront his religion by quoting directly from its traditional funeral prayer. Instead I will, with humility and respect, paraphrase it just enough to say: God, forgive your servant Leon and have mercy on him. Cleanse him of all sin. Give him a mansion in your house that is better than the house he had here. And fill with light the grieving hearts of those he left behind.