Teacher and student since 1980. Shihan Rahiem began teaching Sonny in the Bronx when he was 11 years old. Today they teach side by side, and every class at Shin Sei Kan is led by one of them.
Shihan Abdur Rahiem has been on the mat for more than five decades. Born in Harlem in 1954 and raised in the Bronx, he began training in 1971 under Allah Freedom and Jimmy Grey Wolf Monroe, earning his black belt in 1976 and his sandan just two years later.
He never stopped learning. In 1987 he deepened his Shotokan training under Derrick Williams, and in 1989 he was awarded yodan twice, by Soke Nathaniel McBride and by Chief Blackhawk San Carlos. In 2023 he received a sandan from Shihan Errol Bennett.
Today he holds the rank of godan, awarded by his original teacher, Grand Master Allah Freedom. After more than fifty years, it is an honor for him to still have his original teacher in his life.
Sensei Sonny Williams Jr. walked into his first karate class in the Bronx in 1980, an 11-year-old training under Shihan Abdur Rahiem, the teacher he still trains under today. In 1989 Sensei Rahiem awarded Sonny his black belt in Harlem, at the dojo of Grand Master T. Taylor.
When his sensei stepped away, he told Sonny to train under Derrick Williams, and from 1990 on Sonny trained in the Bronx with his BSKC family. In 2010 Shihan Derrick Williams awarded him his 3rd degree black belt at City College of New York, and that same year he became promoter of The Battle of Bushido in New York City.
In 2026 he received an honorary 4th degree black belt in the Shakil Warriors System. He is also CEO of the Sonya's Seeds Hall of Honors, and after more than four decades of training, he is bringing it all to Poughkeepsie, New York, his home for more than 23 years.
