<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="color:rgb(21,23,25);font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:12pt;line-height:150%">Religious News Service</span><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="color:rgb(21,23,25);font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:150%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="color:rgb(21,23,25);font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:150%">When boxing star Cassius Clay declared himself a member of
the controversial Nation of Islam back in 1964 and demanded to be called by his
new name, Muhammad Ali, he shocked the world of sports and rattled a nation
already struggling with social unrest over civil rights and the Vietnam war.</span><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">But Ali’s conversion also launched a pilgrimage of faith that
would take him from the fringes of Islam through its orthodox heart, and from a
virtual pariah to a global ambassador for faith — his own and others — as the
key to peace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">For this legendary African-American athlete from the South, it
was a journey spurred by the enduring racial injustice that America was only
beginning to address, and it was one that presaged important religious changes
and tensions that continue today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:normal">Ali’s death late Friday (June 3) in a Phoenix hospital at 74
brought much of that remarkable story to light once again for a public that knew
the acclaimed celebrity but may not have followed his winding spiritual path.</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Ali was born in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 17, 1942, as Cassius
Marcellus Clay Jr., a name shared with a 19th century abolitionist. His father,
a billboard painter, was a Methodist but allowed Clay’s mother, who worked as a
domestic, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali#Early_life_and_amateur_career" target="_blank">raise their children as Baptists</a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Young Cassius Clay was introduced to boxing when he was 12, and
was so extraordinarily gifted that through his teenage years he amassed
numerous amateur titles, culminating with a gold medal in the light heavyweight
category in the Rome summer Olympics in 1960.</span></p>But Ali, always a headstrong and often brash personality, was
fast becoming aware of the racial inequities of his sport. “Boxing is a lot of
white men watching two black men beat each other up,” as he put it in one of
his many memorable lines.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">He saw the same dynamic, and restiveness, in American society.
While he gained fame as a professional boxer in the early 1960s he also
gravitated toward the more fiery voices speaking out on behalf of
African-Americans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">One of those was Malcolm X, who was key in introducing Cassius
Clay to the Nation of Islam, a group that was founded in Detroit in the
1930s as an amalgam of Islamic teachings and messianic claims.</span></p>The central goal of the Nation of Islam — which traditional
Islam does not consider authentically Muslim — was to empower
African-Americans. Its members were often known simply as “Black Muslims,” and
its message exerted a powerful draw on many disaffected African-Americans even
as the movement underwent numerous leadership struggles and schisms.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">(The main iteration of the Nation of Islam is currently headed
by Louis Farrakhan, whose racially-charged speeches and anti-Semitic remarks
have become hallmarks of the modern-day movement.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Even back then, when Cassius Clay first became involved, the
Nation of Islam and its leader at the time, Elijah Muhammad, was known for
demonizing whites and preaching racial separation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">In February 1964 in Miami, at the age of 22, Clay fought what
would be his signature match, shocking the boxing world by taking the heavyweight
title from reigning champ Sonny Liston in seven rounds.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">He was at the height of his fame, and his talent, and the very
next day he confirmed that he had joined the Nation of Islam. Within a few
weeks he said he would be known from then on as Muhammad Ali.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“Cassius Clay is a slave name,” <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/muhammad-ali-the-american-muslim/3361593.html" target="_blank">he said</a>. “I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am
Muhammad Ali, a free name — it means ‘beloved of God’ — and I insist people use
it when people speak to me and of me.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">The move was controversial not only among whites but among many
blacks.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“The act of joining was not something many of us particularly
liked,” Julian Bond, the civil rights activist and politician, once said,
according to The New York Times.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“But the notion he’d do it — that he’d jump out there, join this
group that was so despised by mainstream America, and be proud of it —
sent a little thrill through you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Yet it came at a cost to Ali. The WBA, one of two main boxing
associations, barred Ali after his conversion. Three years later, when Ali was
drafted to fight in the Vietnam War he cited his beliefs as the basis for his
refusal to serve, and that would lead to a total exile from the sport.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker
people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” as he
put it. “And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never
lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my
nationality, rape or kill my mother and father … How can I shoot them poor
people? Just take me to jail.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Ali was convicted of draft evasion in June 1967 and sentenced to
five years in prison. He remained out on bond while he appealed, but he was
barred from all boxing, from the age of 25 to almost 29 — his prime.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Yet those years also saw the beginning of a sea change in
American attitudes about the war, and the implementation of landmark civil
rights laws. Ali was no longer the outlier he had once been.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">He was able to begin boxing again in 1970, and a year later, the
U.S. Supreme Court overturned his draft evasion conviction in a unanimous
ruling.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">As Ali started re-establishing his reputation as a brilliant and
fearsome fighter, he also continued to speak out against racism, war and
religious intolerance. All the while, he projected an unshakeable confidence and
humor that became a model for African-Americans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“To the degree that the world ever agrees to stop screaming and
find a locus of consensus, a decent common ground, it did so on Muhammad Ali,”
Thomas Boswell <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/boxing-mma-wrestling/alis-athletic-greatness-was-merely-a-platform-for-the-larger-man/2016/06/04/03c5da50-2a13-11e6-ae4a-3cdd5fe74204_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_boz-605am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory" target="_blank">wrote in The Washington Post</a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“He stood by his beliefs, which qualified as eccentric, almost
alien to many, and took every form of punishment that the laws of his country
demanded. He paid the price for his beliefs, right up to the Supreme Court,
while never ceasing to speak out, especially against racial injustice.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">He was swept back into the ring “with joy,” as Boswell wrote.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Those years also marked a notable evolution in his religious
beliefs. In 1975, Ali formally joined mainstream Sunni Islam and abandoned
the Nation of Islam, denouncing its teachings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“The Nation of Islam taught that white people were devils. I
don’t believe that now; in fact, I never really believed that,” Ali wrote in a
2004 biography. “But when I was young, I had seen and heard so many horrible
stories about the white man that this made me stop and listen.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Decades later, Ali went on to embrace Sufism, which is <a href="http://www.religionfacts.com/sufism" target="_blank">a mystical approach
to Islam</a> that has been an important Muslim tradition since the faith was
founded.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“Muhammad Ali, a man who stood by his principles despite
criticism and hardship, exemplified a true patriot and a true Muslim,” Roula
Allouch, national board chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
said in a statement at Ali’s passing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Ali was also deeply affected by his declining health; he was
diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease — a degenerative neurological condition —
about three years after he retired from boxing in 1981.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“Now the things that once were so effortless — my strong voice
and the quickness of my movements — are more difficult,” he once said. “But I
get up every day and try to live life to the fullest because each day is a gift
from God.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">As <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/muhammad-ali-the-american-muslim/3361593.html" target="_blank">the Voice of America reported</a>, Ali’s daughter, Hana Yasmeen
Ali, said in 2005 that her father moved away from the staunchly religious ways
of his youth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“His health and his spirituality have changed, and it’s not so
much about being religious, but about going out and making people happy, doing
charity, and supporting people and causes,” she said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">But Ali could still be outspoken when he wanted to.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Last December, when Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump
was threatening to bar Muslims from the U.S., Ali released a statement that
said the recent global terrorism crisis has “perverted people’s views on what
Islam really is.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“We, as Muslims, have to stand up to those who use Islam to
advance their own personal agenda,” <a href="http://religionnews.com/2015/12/10/muhammad-ali-to-trump-you-dont-know-islam/" target="_blank">he said, without mentioning Trump by name</a>. “They have
alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that
it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">At the same time, Ali denounced Islamic extremists:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing
innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world,” he
said. “True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic
jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion.”</span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:15.45pt 0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(72,72,72)">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><strong><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">RELATED STORY:</span></strong><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)"> <a href="http://religionnews.com/2015/12/10/muhammad-ali-to-trump-you-dont-know-islam/" target="_blank">Muhammad Ali to Trump: You don’t know Islam</a></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:15.45pt 0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(72,72,72)">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">During his championship reign, but especially in retirement, Ali
met scores of world leaders and for a time he was considered the most
recognizable person on earth, known even in remote villages far from the U.S.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">Once asked about his preferred legacy, Ali said: “I would like
to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was
humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on
those who looked up to him … who stood up for his beliefs … who tried to unite
all humankind through faith and love.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.45pt;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(21,23,25)">“And if all that’s too much, then I guess I’d settle for being
remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his
people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”</span></p><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div> <div style="height:auto;width:auto"> <div> <div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><div>A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. <br><br>-Greek proverb</div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your
own understanding!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br><br></div></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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