Oral History Interview with Shaykh Ali Suleiman Ali on August 27, 2020
Title
Oral History Interview with Shaykh Ali Suleiman Ali on August 27, 2020
Creator
Dream Storytelling Project Team
Date
2020
Description
Oral history interview with Shaykh Ali Sulieman Ali conducted by Abdul-Zahir Sadid on August 27, 2020. Interview written by Dr. Alisa Perkins (Research Director) and Abdul-Zahir Sadid. Shaykh Ali Sulieman Ali was born in Ghana on February 12, 1948, to parents who hailed from Nigeria and Ghana. He grew up attending the local mosque with his family and enrolled in an Islamic school at a young age. After graduating high school, Shaykh Ali won a prestigious scholarship through the Saudi Arabian government, allowing him to study at the Islamic University of Madinah. Shaykh Ali later moved to the United States to pursue a doctoral degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic from the University of Michigan. After graduating, he worked as a professor of Islamic Studies and Islamic Law at several institutions, including the Michigan Islamic Academy, Wayne County Community College, Oakland University, and the University of Detroit. In the early 1980s, Shaykh Ali began serving as imam for a Dearborn congregation. Several years later, he helped establish Muslim Family Services (MFS) in Detroit, a division of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which assists struggling community members with counseling, financial aid, and access to food and transitional housing. He serves as the director of MFS and as an Islamic counselor there. In the interview, Shaykh Ali reflects on his lifetime experience in international travel for Islamic education, comparing the various cultures in which he has immersed himself, including those in West Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. He elaborates on the importance of African and African-American Muslim community-building in Detroit, describing the diverse and tightly-knit communities surrounding the Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center and Historic Masjid Wali Muhammad. Shaykh Ali also describes his aspirations to continue promoting relations between African and African-American Muslims.
Subject
African-American history
African-American Muslim autonomy
African-American Muslims
American culture
American Islamic College (AIC)
American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM)
Ann Arbor
Arab-Americans
Arabic language education
Arabic radio
Bangladeshi-Americans
Butcher
Cairo
Canada
Canton
Canton mosque
Cattle dealer
Community service
Counseling
COVID-19 pandemic
Dearborn
Detroit
Doctoral studies
W. E. B. Du Bois
Economic aid
Edinburgh University
Egypt
England
Food distribution
Gambia
Gender separation
Ghana
Government scholarship
Historic Masjid Wali Muhammad (HMWM)
Homelessness
Housing eviction
ICNA Relief
Imam
India
Indian-Americans
Islamic education abroad
Islam
Islam in America
Islamic community
Islamic Council of North America (ICNA)
Islamic counselor
Islamic law
Islamic parochial school
Islamic social services
Islamic studies
Islamic University of Madinah
Islamic University of Minnesota
Job training
King Faisal
Mali
Islamic marriage counseling
McGill University
Mecca
Medina
Michigan
Michigan Islamic Academy (MIA)
Miftaah Institute
Montreal
Mosque
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad
Multiethnic community
Muslim Americans
Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center
Muslim Community of Western Suburbs of Detroit (MCWS)
Muslim Family Services (MFS)
Muslim World Studies Program
Muslims
New Town
New York
New York University
Nigeria
Oakland University
Online Islamic studies
Pakistani-Americans
Professor
Qur'an memorization
Religious leadership
Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian ambassador
Senegal
Soccer
Somalia
Sufism
Toronto
Transitional housing for women
University of Detroit
University of Ghana
University of Michigan
University of Toronto
Imam Dawud Walid
Warren
Wayne County Community College
West Africa
West African-Americans
Women's education in Islam
Xhosa language
Zaytuna College
African American Studies
Africana Studies
American Studies
Civic and Community Engagement
Digital Humanities
Inequality and Stratification
Islamic Studies
Nonprofit Administration and Management
Politics and Social Change
Race and Ethnicity
Religion
Urban Studies and Planning
Source
Michigan Service Hub
Language
English
Relation
Type
text
References
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dream-storytelling-interviews/33
Collection
Citation
Dream Storytelling Project Team, “Oral History Interview with Shaykh Ali Suleiman Ali on August 27, 2020,” Center for Knit and Crochet Digital Repository, accessed October 14, 2026, https://digital.centerforknitandcrochet.org/items/show/34032.
Added by Rebecca Keyel
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