Muhammad Ali, boxing legend, and America’s most famous Muslim died yesterday at age 74 died at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, after being admitted on Thursday.
Muhammad Ali converted himself to Sunni Islam in 1975. The Leading Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump announced his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the US, last year. Muhammad Ali condemned it and without mentioning Trump’s name, he issued a statement targeting Donald Trump: ‘Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the United States’.
Here is what he wrote in 132 words :
I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world. True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion.
We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda. 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.
Speaking as someone who has never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people’s views on what Islam really is.
Ali was suffering from Parkinson’s disease since last 32 years.The funeral will take place in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, his family said in a statement.
Photo Credit – CNN | Jeff Chiu/Associated Press