[4] Sayful Alam was born on 7 March 1934, to a Bengali Muslim family in Purnanagar, Gowainghat, located in the Sylhet district of the British Raj.
His entrance to politics started at the Basic Democracy elections held in 1959 under Ayub Khan's military rule.
Alam participated in the May 1962 Basic Democracy elections, becoming a member of the East Pakistan Legislative Assembly, representing the PE-113 (Sylhet-IV) constituency.
[5][6] According to Ehsanul Haq Jasim, Alam was convicted in a murder case eighteen months later and his seat became void.
[4] In 1999, the President of Bangladesh Hussain Muhammad Ershad visited Alam's grave along with Abdul Hannan and MP Nasir Ahmad of Derai-Sullah.