Taslim Ali was a pioneer in the establishment and advancement of the needs of Muslims in Britain, as well as a leading figure in the East London Mosque. With his English wife who converted to Islam, as well as friend Nawab Ali and his wife, he opened a boarding-house-cum-cafe and a halal butcher's shop in the 1940s. Perhaps more significantly still, he is said to have been Britain's first Muslim undertaker. According to Shah Abdul Majid Qureshi, he began this role by renting a room near the East London Mosque to use as a Muslim mortuary. Having collected dead bodies from hospitals, he would prepare them according to Muslim rites and perform funeral services. His wife performed the same duties for women (Adams, p. 161). He continued to remain active in the East London Mosque for several decades following the Second World War and Independence, and was a leading figure in the Pakistan Caterers' Assocation from its formation in 1960.