By Muhammad Abdur-Rahman, Tayba Instructor & Office Manager
This week we’re featuring a post by Tayba Foundation, a local non-profit doing amazing work in the Bay Area and across the country. Keep reading to learn more about Tayba Foundation in their own words.
Tayba Foundation is a non-profit organization that is committed to supporting individuals and families affected by incarceration. Our core belief is that every person has a wellspring of goodness within them and that, with the right support and resources, individuals who have encountered setbacks in life can achieve lasting change.
Our founder and co-director, Shaykh Rami Nsour al-Idrisi, began Tayba Foundation as a personal project to serve the forgotten believers who have fallen into a revolving door of hardship, the state and federal correctional systems. Our mission is to help these struggling individuals become strong and successful members of society once they are released from confinement.
Our work is centered around three interrelated program areas: Education, Life Skills, and Reentry. We believe that education is the foundation for personal and spiritual growth, and we offer a custom-developed ‘Essentials Track’ that teaches the basic tenets of Islamic belief and practice. Students then progress to our ‘Intermediate Program,’ which covers more advanced topics in Islamic belief and personal practice, including the study of Arabic language. Finally, students enter the ‘Advanced Individual Study Track,’ which is modeled after traditional Islamic schools worldwide and focuses on Arabic language study and in-depth exploration of Islamic texts.
“Tayba gave me the ability to properly learn my religion in the same ways as others who weren’t in my challenging situation, even learning the basics of a foreign language” -Student G. Godsey
In addition to our educational programming, we offer a ‘Life Skills’ program that helps our students develop skills that can prove challenging in their current environment. This program includes topics such as anger management, personal accountability, and wellness and recovery. We believe that these skills are essential for our students’ eventual reentry into society as more well-rounded and developed individuals.
Our ‘Reentry Program’ is the final step in our students’ journey with Tayba Foundation. We recognize that the transition out of incarceration can be incredibly challenging, and we are committed to providing our students with the resources they need to secure jobs and other necessities upon release. Through our relationships with other organizations and groups, we are able to offer our students invaluable support during this trying time.
“The assistance offered by Tayba Foundation upon my release was invaluable in the way that it allowed me to concentrate on establishing myself as a contributing member of society again. Much of the stress others go through in the same situation was taken away from me due to the assistance I was offered. I could focus, knowing I had someone to lean on and that I wasn’t by myself in this challenging time.” -Student G. Godsey
At Tayba Foundation, we have seen firsthand the power of our model in effecting lasting change in the lives of justice-impacted individuals and their families. We believe that no one is ‘lost’ and that every problem can be solved without resorting to incarceration. By investing in the futures of our students, we are also investing in our communities and ourselves.