Muhammad Ali’s death on June 3rd affected so many of his Muslim brothers and sisters. Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah said Ali’s devotion to Islam “will always be an inspiration for me…. Ali was a true ambassador for the Islamic community for his courage and devotion to his faith through very trying times. He carried himself with absolute dignity when standing up for his faith in trying circumstances.”
At the height of Ali’s career, he lost millions of dollars in potential earnings when he was banned from boxing for 3½ years for “refusing to give up his religion” and declaring himself a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. That episode, remarked Imam Abdullah El-Amin, founder and board chairman of the Muslim Center in Detroit, “gave us a lot of courage.”
According to AP, even in Ali’s final months, he was speaking out on behalf of Islam. Last December, he issued a statement criticizing Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Ali called on his fellow Muslims to “stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda.”
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says, “American Muslims would be well-served to look at the challenges that Muslims such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali had to deal with.”
