Nazeeh Zul-Kifl Abdul-Hakeem was the principal founder of Jamaat Ibad Ar-Rahman, Inc. and its President for 12 years; 11 of which were consecutive from 1983 to 1994. He was project leader for establishing Masjid Ibad Ar-Rahman and the Durham Muslim Cemetery.

Born and raised in Goldsboro, NC, Nazeeh became a Muslim in 1979 while working as a city planner in Durham, North Carolina. Before his retirement on October 1, 2006, he had participated in many of Durham’s major planning and development projects. He began his career in community development working with citizens to prepare and implement neighborhood revitalization plans. Then, he supervised a staff of three planners and a technician who prepared comprehensive plans for 16 areas of the City and Durham County. He finished his planning career by working in zoning administration where he processed and analyzed many of Durham’s largest, most complex and publicly sensitive development proposals.

Nazeeh has made several major and minor pilgrimages to Makkah and Madinah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has visited Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. He has also visited many Muslim countries and numerous destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. Shortly after he retired, he spent nearly two years in Cairo, Egypt studying Arabic. He has been happily married to Olaiya Abdul-Hakeem, formally known as Catherine Johnson of Brooklyn, NY, since October 29, 1982.