His name was changed from Utteng to Shamsi (an Arabic word which means Sun) when he and his father met with the Daarul Arqam school headmaster, Abdul Jabbar Asyiri.

In 2001, he was appointed as deputy Imam of Islamic Cultural Center of New York which is the city's largest mosque located in 96th street and 3rd Ave in Manhattan, but left the position in 2011.

He also serves as the vice president of the Asian-American Coalition USA (AAC-USA) and its UN representative and as an advisory board member to numerous interfaith organizations, including the Tanenbaum Center and Federation for Middle East Peace.

In interfaith organizations, Imam Ali serves as a board member for the Partnership of Faith in NY, and co-founder of the UNCC (Universal Clergy Coalition-International).

A few days after the events of 11 September 2001, New York City chose him to represent the Muslim community to visit the scene, where he met President George W.

Other people at the mosque accused him not to do good in the wider community, but instead he went out and made friends with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly.

In September 2015 Ali sharply criticized Chairman of the DPR of Indonesia, Setya Novanto and its Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon for attending Donald Trump's press conference.

He has made countless appearances on TV (ABC, PBS, BBC World, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, al-Jazeera, the Hallmark Channel) to condemn terrorism, radicalism, anti-Semitism and to promote peaceful Islam.

[16] The former US president Bill Clinton gave a foreword to his fourth book, a memoir, entitled Sons Of Abraham: A Candid Conversation about the Issues That Divide and Unite Jews and Muslims which he co-authored with Marc Schneier, a Jewish rabbi who is also his close friend.

[18] This prestigious non military gold medal is one of the highest awards recognized by US government to native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens with tremendous contributions to the American society and the world and for Shamsi Ali it was due to his endless dedication in building bridges between religious communities.

According to the AACUSA, Dr. Parveen C. Chopra, Shamsi Ali has reached across the division and became part of the Muslims’ voice at the United Nations forums, churches, synagogues, the NYPD, FBI and major news outlets including, ABC, PBS, BBC World, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, Al-Jazeera and the Hallmark Channel.

[21] He was also chosen as one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world in 2009, 2010, and 2011 by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan and Georgetown University.

Shamsi Ali lives with his wife (Mutiah Malik), four sons (Utsman, Adnan, Shakeel, Ayman) and two daughters (Maryam, Malika).