Shifa was born on July 30, 1986 in Reston, Virginia.  As a new-born infant, Shifa traveled to Bangladesh with his parents where, in his first year of life, he began experiencing acute respiratory illnesses such as chronic asthma and bouts of broncho-pneumonia.  Because of these health issues, well-respected doctors in Bangladesh advised Shifa’s parents that they should not remain in Bangladesh but return to the U.S. where Shifa could receive the best medical care and thrive in a better climate. Shifa’s parents immediately complied, returned to the United States, and took extra care of their youngest child, continuing to feed him through a tube to avoid aggravating his delicate respiratory system.

 In spite of facing serious medical challenges, Shifa had a playful and happy childhood growing up in Atlanta, Georgia.  Friends remember him as a kind, jolly and moderately shy little boy who enjoyed drawing, painting, and learning new languages like Arabic and translating Arabic religious text into English.  He was also an avid reader delving into books of poetry, religion and spirituality, and history. At home Shifa gladly performed household chores and enjoyed receiving guidance from his older brother and two older sisters. His siblings, in turn, enjoyed taking care of their little brother and often bought him books to read.  His favorite gifts were books of riddles and jokes which he liked reading aloud to his family in order to make them laugh. Shifa also cared for a menagerie of pets including cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits. As Shifa grew and his health improved, he was able to take part in outdoor activities and, as a teenager, he participated in several sports such as soccer, tennis, and swimming.  

Shifa’s sister, Sharmin, recalls that, as a little boy, her brother was concerned about the plight of living things, often reminding his big sister to keep her eyes on the ground or pavement when she walked to make sure she didn’t step on small bugs. One day, when Sharmin tried to give her 11-year old brother a sandwich, some fruit, and several other snacks he said that he only needed the sandwich because “it is a good thing to keep our stomachs a little empty, so we can feel the people who are hungry in this world.” 

Shifa attended a parochial Muslim high school in Canada, taking classes in religious and Arabic studies.  Soon after, in 2001, he returned to Bangladesh to live with his parents and finish high school. Once again, however, he fell ill from environmental pollution in Dhaka so his parents decided to keep him at home where they home-schooled him.

 When he returned to the U.S. in 2004, Shifa worked with his sister Sonali at a women’s rights organization dedicated to the eradication of violence against women. 

During this time, he learned how to cook, how to drive a car, how to budget funds with his new part-time income, how to make phone calls to institutions of higher learning to inquire about college prep courses for his future. He also developed an appetite for television variety shows finding pleasure in the comedic skills of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

 Shifa was, admittedly, a hopeless romantic and hoped to marry the woman of his dreams. This woman was Bangladeshi and her name was “Happy.”  Shifa maintained a long-distance relationship with Happy for a year before going to Bangladesh, in 2005, to marry her.   Shifa depended heavily on his family in the U.S. to help him plan, prepare, and pay for his wedding in Bangladesh.  When he went to Bangladesh to get married, Shifa kept in touch with family members living in the U.S. Shifa enjoyed a beautiful wedding with his new bride, Happy who he thought would accompany him back to the United States where they had hoped to live happily for the rest of their lives.

Shifa's Letters to His Wife, Happy

Letter 1

Letter 2 

Shifa's Drawing and Post Cards to His Wife, Happy 

Drawing   Love note

Eid card to wife  Eid card to wife  Birthday card to wife

List of Books Shifa has read in Solitary Confinement

Voices of Family and Friends About Shifa, Letters to the Magistrate Judge

Sister Sonali's Letter 

Sister Sharmin's Letter

Shifa's Mother's Letter 

Friend's Letter

Friend's Letter

Friend's Letter

Friend's Letter

Friend's Letter 

Example of Shifa's Translation of Religious Text

Breezes, From the Paradise of This World  

 Shifa's Hand Written Breezes, From the Paradise of this World 

JUSTICE FOR SHIFA

Shifa is innocent of any crimes. He deserves the same freedom that we all enjoy. Shifa is being punished forexercising his first amendment and human rights to free speech and religious views. The U.S. Government plans to convict Shifa based upon his religious views and expression and objections to U.S. foreign policy and U.S. treatment of disenfranchised people like Muslims around the world.  Shifa has been stripped of his rights because he is a religious and spiritual Muslim American.

We join with the consensus of people who believe Shifa is the victim of political and religious discrimination and profiling strongly advanced by the Bush Administration towards people of color, immigrants, South Asians, Arabs, Muslims, and other minority.  We believe the U.S. Justice Department succumbed to post-9/11 hysteria and set aside the United States Constitution and International Human Rights protocol and a long legal tradition of due process and respect for the US Constitution and thhuman rights to sanction illegal Bush Administration policies aimed primarily against Muslims like Shifa.  As American and world citizens, we can not sit by and let such violation of human rights and our constitutional rights go unnoticed.