IMAM SAYED ABDUS-SALAM

IMAM SAYED ABDUS-SALAM: GREAT AMERICAN SUFI

 By: Rasul Miller and Samiha AbduRahman

Al-Hajj Imam Sayed Abdus Salam was a pioneer in New York City’s Muslim community. Born in 1942, he became involved in Harlem’s local Black Nationalist scene as a teenager. As a young man, he joined the Nation of Islam. Following Malcolm X’s departure from the Nation, Imam Sayed also left and attended the first meeting of Malcolm X’s Muslim Mosque Inc. Subsequently, he studied Sunni Islam and frequented various NYC Mosques that were active during the 1960s, such as the International Muslim Society or ‘303’ in Harlem and the State Mosque in Brooklyn.

Imam Sayed then lived in Guyana for a brief period, where he encountered Tasawwuf through members of the local Muslim community there.

He returned to New York and became a cofounder of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood (MIB) in Harlem in the late 1960s. There, Imam Sayed served as the Na'ib (assistant Imam) to Shaykh Ahmed K. Tawfiq, the founding Imam of the Muslim Mosque Inc. In this capacity, Imam Sayed developed MIB’s curriculum of study and oversaw the religious education of new shahadas, drawing on his exceptional erudition. In addition, he gave numerous shahadas and performed the general duties of the Imam (delivered sermons, etc) when needed.

In the later half of the 1970s, Imam Sayed left MIB on amicable terms due to what he saw as a need for the community to move in a more 'spiritual’ direction. In 1978, he met Shaykh Hassan Aliou Cisse, a young Senegalese Islamic scholar and humanitarian who would go on to become his generation’s most celebrated representative of the Tijani Sufi tariqa, and the spiritual guide for the largest community of Black American Sufis in the country.

Imam Sayed Abdus Salam & Shaykh Hassan Aliou Cisse

Imam Sayed became the first American man to join the Tijani tariqa and was appointed by Shaykh Hassan as the the first American muqaddam in the tariqa. Upon traveling to Medina Baye Senegal, a prominent hub for the Tijani Sufi tariqa, Imam Sayed also received an ijaza (license) and muqaddamship from Shaykh Hassan Cisse’s father, Shaykh al-Hajj Sidi Aliou Cisse, the top student, aid, and successor of the world renowned West African Muslim scholar Shaykh Ibrahim Niass (RA). Imam Sayed went on to send many of his children and grandchildren to Medina Baye to memorize the Quran and pursue Islamic scholarship – some of whom are still studying there today.

Imam Sayed served as Imam for the Tijani community in the US for the next 40 years, teaching and promoting Islam and Tasawwuf. Imam Sayed has benefited countless people by giving them shahada, teaching them Islam, giving them the tariqah, and/or teaching them the fundamentals of tasawwuf which, for him, revolved around purifying the heart, improving one’s character, and increasing one’s love for the Prophet (SAW) and adherence to his Sunnah. In the mid-2000s, Imam Sayed and his wife Sister Najah Abdus-Salaam opened their home in Brooklyn to serve as a Tijani zawiyah, where members of the community have gathered each week for more than a decade for dhikr and fellowship.

May Allah grant him the highest paradise. May He forgive his sins and accept all of his good deeds. May the acts of worship and goodness offered by his children and grandchildren, and the many people that he taught, inspired, and encouraged to remember Allah and follow His straight path continue to benefit him. May the mosques and communities he helped to establish thrive and continue to serve as lights for humanity. May Allah reward Imam Sayed for fostering love for Allah and His Prophet (SAW) in the hearts of so many people, and keep him in the company of His most beloved (SAW).

Ameen summa Ameen!

– The writers Rasul and Samiha are American Masters students and disciples of the Tariqa Tijani in Medina Baye.