Imam Sham­si Ali is a renowned Mus­lim schol­ar and a well known imam in New York City. He was an imam of the city’s largest mosque and is now chair­man of the Al-Hikmah Mosque in Asto­ria and the Direc­tor of Jamaica Mus­lim Cen­ter in Queens. Imam Ali serves as an Advi­so­ry Board mem­ber to numer­ous inter­faith orga­ni­za­tions. He is also a Board mem­ber for the Part­ner­ship of Faith in New York, and co-founder of the UNCC (Uni­ver­sal Cler­gy Coali­tion-Inter­na­tion­al). Fur­ther­more, he is also Assis­tant Direc­tor and a Board mem­ber of the Mus­lim Foun­da­tion of Amer­i­ca, Inc., and Chair­man of the annu­al Mus­lim Day Parade in NYC. He serves as the Vice Pres­i­dent of the Asian-Amer­i­can Coali­tion USA (AAC-USA) and its UN Rep­re­sen­ta­tive. Last year, Imam Ali was award­ed one of 100 recip­i­ents of the 2009 Ellis Island Medal of Hon­or Award. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, Imam Ali was cho­sen as one of the 500 most influ­en­tial Mus­lims in the world by the Roy­al Islam­ic Strate­gic Stud­ies Cen­ter in Jor­dan and George­town University.