TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Muhammad Syamsi Ali has been living in New York City, the United States, for 16 years. He is not just an ordinary resident. This father of five is an imam (Muslim religious leader) and the Head of the Al-Hikmah Mosque Foundation, which was founded by Indonesian Muslims in Astoria, and the Director of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens.
After the September 11 attack that took down the World Trade Center and tore up the Pentagon, the name Syamsi Ali became popular due to his involvement in various inter-faith activities. Syamsi introduced Islam to churches and synagogues. He also worked together with Jewish and Christian groups.
Syamsi Ali managed to become an imam in New York under an invitation from the Indonesian Ambassador for the United Nations (UN), Nugroho Wisnumurti. “I met Mr. Nugroho in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” he said to Tempo. “At that time, I did not enjoy teaching at the Jeddah Islamic Education Foundation [an educational foundation owned by Amir Mamduh, brother to King Fahd] because there was discrimination,” Syamsi added.
In 2006, Syamsi Ali was listed as one out of seven most influential religious leaders in New York by New York Magazine. He was one of the 100 people who received the 2009 Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award, the highest non-military award given by the National Ethnic Coalition Organization to immigrants who provides great contribution to people of America.
HERU TRI
