Aḥmad Usmān, who meticulously planned Malcolm X’s Hajj emphasised the role of the Black Saudis Malcolm met – Muḥammad Surūr Sabbān, a poet, politician, and Saudi Arabia’s second Minister of Finance, in particular. Sabbān was a Saudi of African descent who took Malcolm under his wing and appointed Sudanese Shaykh Ḥassūn as his Islamic adviser. Malcolm was then interested in establishing Harlem branches of the Muslim World League in Harlem, New York. It was said that Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥassūn would visit Harlem and stay at the Theresa Hotel, where Malcolm worked. 

Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥassūn (1897-1971 CE) is widely regarded as the founding leader of Ansār al-Sunnah al-Muḥammadiyá  in Sudan – the original Ansār al-Sunnah al-Muḥammadiyá praised by major scholars such as Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqḥī, Ibn Bāz, al-Albānī, and Muḥammad al-Banná, and not the political party known today. He was a unique figure in Sudanese society, having graduated from the Postal and Telegraph School, he was considered an Effendi but never forgot his place in the world. He focused on religion and Islamic sciences, spreading the Sunnah while opposing innovations and the Sūfī paths. He suffered greatly from all sides because of his opposition to political parties, movements, and innovations. Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥassūn was among the first to raise the banner of Tawḥīd and Sunnah in Sudan, and struggled greatly during a critical period when sectarianism was on the rise. 

He believed that a person must know his religion as it was originally revealed in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and that he cannot reach happiness and progress until he knows his religion correctly. With Ansār al-Sunnah al-Muḥammadiyá, he worked in various areas of Sudan where sectarianism was prevalent, facing dangers and wars. Despite this, he was a man of great humour and strong debating skills. He was well-versed in both Arabic and English literature, frequently speaking in both. Prior to Sudan’s independence, he worked in the postal service which allowed him to communicate and collaborate with Salafīs all over the world.

When Malcolm X visited the Holy Lands, he stayed with Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥassūn in Mekkah. King Faisal appointed Shaykh Aḥmad as a guide for Malcolm and a teacher at the newly established Islamic Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, New York. Malcolm X spoke at that mosque and oversaw the African-American Union, which he established after returning from Hajj. Along with his work at the mosque. Shaykh Ḥassūn served as a religious mentor to him, guiding him through the grand concepts of Islam and the meanings of Islamic texts.  Shaykh Aḥmad also guided him through Islamic fundamentals when he educated the African-American community. During Malcolm’s public lectures and religious seminars, the Shaykh could be seen by his side.  Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥassūn continued to accompany him, advise him, enlighten him, explain Qur’anic verses and rulings until Malcolm’s assassination.

“In the Unity Funeral Home in the Harlem community of New York City in the mid-afternoon, the public’s viewing of the body of Malcolm X was interrupted by the arrival of a party of about a dozen people whose central figure was a white-turbaned, dark-robed elderly man whose white beard fell to his chest and who carried a forked stick. When reporters rushed to attempt interviews, another man in the party waved them away, saying, “A silent tongue does not betray its owner.” The man was Shaykh Ahmed Hassoun, a Sudanese, a member of the Sunni Moslems, who had taught in Mecca for 35 years when he had met Malcolm X there, and then had soon come to the United States to serve as Malcolm X’s spiritual advisor and to teach at the Muslim Mosque, Inc.

Shaykh Hassoun prepared the body for burial in accordance with Moslem ritual. Removing the Western clothing in which the body had been on display, Shaykh Hassoun washed the body with special holy oil. Then he draped the body in the traditional seven white linen shrouds, called the kafan. Only the face with its reddish moustache and goatee was left exposed. The mourners who had come with Shaykh Hassoun filed to the bier and he read passages from the Koran. Then he turned to a funeral home representative: “Now the body is ready for burial.” Soon, the sheik and his retinue left, and the viewing by the public resumed. When the word spread, numbers of persons who had come before returned for another wait in the long, slowly moving line, wanting to see the Moslem burial dress.”

– The Autobiography of Malcolm X Book by Alex Haley and Malcolm X