Salaam Ice Cream Parlor: Bringing Flavor To Newark

By Starla Muhammad -Managing Editor- | Last updated: Nov 1, 2017 - 11:50:31 AM

Photos: Andrea Muhammad

NEWARK—It is not hard to miss; the colorful pink and white awning with “Salaam Ice Cream Parlor” emblazoned across the top and an enlarged poster of a menu with images of delicious sweets and treats on the front window facing the street.

From left to right: Cushanda Muhammad, Shikhana Muhammad and their mother, Doris Muhammad are owners of Salaam Ice Cream Parlor in Newark, N.J.

This is what greets patrons on the outside as they enter this new, quaint and tidy family-owned establishment situated in the South Ward of Newark at 1024 Bergen St. Inside on any given day, customers can expect to see Doris Muhammad and her daughters Shikhana and Cushanda scooping any of the wide variety of ice cream flavors atop a waffle cone or in a bowl or cup, preparing flavorful sundae’s and milkshakes or making baked goods from scratch. Salaam Ice Cream Parlor is bringing the flavor to “Brick City”.

During the weekend commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the Million Man March and Holy Day of Atonement, held Oct. 13-15 in Newark, a message by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan played from a television mounted on the wall while the mother, daughter trio attentively served customers.

Doris Muhammad is the mother of nine and accepted the life-giving teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and joined the Nation of Islam in 1968. She, her husband at the time and their children took the “do for self” ideology and program of the Nation of Islam patriarch to heart and went to work.

Girls enjoying ice cream with their grandmother at Salaam Ice Cream Parlor. (R) Customer about to enjoy one of the many delicious ice cream flavors offered.

“I always ran businesses. I came from Cleveland, Ohio, and when I got here, I just wanted to open up a business in the community to be a reflection of what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wanted us to be a reflection of,” said Doris Muhammad.

She originally considered opening a restaurant but her daughters Shikhana and Cushanda suggested an ice cream shop and they partnered. After securing a location, Doris said she just had one request.

“I said, just let the name be the Salaam because it seems like everybody that opens up businesses, we can’t connect like back in the 60’s. Everybody had their businesses like ‘Shabazz,’ ‘Kabala’ or like ‘Your Supermarket’ … to let people know that we all tie into the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” explained Doris Muhammad.

“The people, they love it in the neighborhood and it’s just so good to be a reflection of a Muslim in the community. We’re like a light to the people. We play the Minister (Farrakhan) twenty-four seven, we’re open seven days a week, all year ‘round,” she continued.

A family affair

Growing up as a Muslim child in the Nation of Islam, watching her parents and others own and run various businesses was the norm, explained Shikhana Muhammad. Her mother owned a bakery in Cleveland and both of her parents owned various businesses under the Hon. Elijah Muhammad.

“When we were in Cleveland still, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad instilled in us coming up in Mosque No. 18 under Minister Roland Muhammad, that concept was all around us. We had our own Muhammad University of Islam, two restaurants, a bakery; so, we were surrounded by that,” said Shikhana.

When she was 14, Cushanda Muhammad gained additional valuable experience about how to run and operate a business from working in one of the Muslim businesses, but she also noticed something else.

“One of the things that Brother Minister Roland did at the Blue Sea’s restaurant was always show the tapes of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and I noticed at that young age that him showing the tapes of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan brought in a lot of our Lost-Found brothers and sisters into the Nation of Islam,” she explained.

“So, when we did the ice cream parlor here, that was one of the things that we wanted to be able to do. We wanted to show the Minister to our people to allow them to be able to sit down and listen to the Minister to be able to help reach our brothers and sisters.”

When we came to New Jersey it was just already in us to do something for ourselves, said Shikhana. Her husband David Muhammad is from New Jersey and she moved here in 1996. However, whenever they wanted to get some ice cream, they had to drive 25 miles from Newark, she continued.

“There’s no ice cream parlor other than one ward. It’s a South Ward, East Ward, North Ward and a West Ward in Newark. There’s only one ice cream parlor in the North Ward … so I told my husband ‘we need one in Newark.’”

Doris was riding down the street one day and spotted an empty storefront and told Shikhana about it. “She talked with my sister as well and she said, ‘do you all want to go into business?’ and we were like ‘of course!”’so the idea of an ice cream parlor came about,” explained Shikhana Muhammad.

It was truly a family affair in opening the shop. The location was gutted and there was nothing inside. Doris Muhammad’s son Aljarone Muhammad began working diligently to repair and fix up the property.

“He started going to work on it, putting the walls up and the ceiling in and everything. That’s how it pretty much came about,” said Shikhana. “It appears as the people said, that it happened over night because it was so quickly done. I want to say it took him maybe about a month to get the place together and then we were here,” she added with a good-natured laugh.

Salaam Ice Cream Parlor opened Aug. 26.

Though Salaam Ice Cream Parlor just opened Aug. 26, it is already a hit with locals, said the Muhammad family. At the grand opening, Mayor Ras Baraka was among many that joined residents in dropping by to lend their support. The response from the community has been overwhelmingly supportive, said Shikhana Muhammad.

“When Allah gives you the vision to move out on something, you have to move out on it while it’s in the air and its fresh on your mind, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Cushanda agreed, stating it is very important for her to carry out the work of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and Min. Farrakhan.

“Our communities right at this point are not filled with us. Everyone else outside of our community is making money off of the community, off of our people and they’re not putting anything back into the community, so it was very important. I’ve had businesses before in Cleveland, Ohio, but it was very important for me to open up a business in the community, to be able to service our people,” said Cushanda Muhammad.

It was also a vision for Doris Muhammad to open a business in Newark, one that she has now seen grow into fruition. Providing the community with something that is professional, and quality was important, she explained. The ice cream is top of the line, non-GMO and kosher, she said, and Doris, Shikhana and Cushanda make all the assortment of baked goods from scratch. Baked items include: double chocolate cake, carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, sugar cookies and world-famous bean pie. The brownie sundae and milkshakes are the most popular items. The strawberry shortcake and butter almond ice cream are also top sellers.

“Everything we try to give our people is the better part of things. It’s just about representing the Teachings and doing for self,” said Doris Muhammad.

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