Mufti Mahdi Alam was born and raised in New York and began his formal Islamic studies with the memorization of the Quran at Darul Uloom New York. After his memorization, he started the rigorous ‘Ālimiyyah (Master’s in Islamic Studies) program at the same institute and completed it at Madrasah Arabia Islamia, Azaadville, South Africa. He then specialized in ulum al-hadith (the sciences of hadith) and iftā (legal opinion) under Shaykh Abdul Malek (may Allah preserve him) at Markaz al- Da’wah al-Islamiyyah, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He had been an instructor at Darul Uloom New York for about 10 years and now teaches at his own institute. He is also serving as a chaplain at a hospital in Long Island.

He holds a BA in philosophy and Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University.