WEB POSTED 03-10-2000
70 year Commemorative of The Nation of Islam in North America

MUHAMMAD ALI:
Muhammad's freedom fighter

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” was the famous moniker of former heavy weight boxing champ Muhammad Ali. Indeed, with the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad under his wings, Bro. Ali soared in and out of the ring, defeating his enemies with word, wit and wisdom as well as fists.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Ky., in 1942, Muhammad Ali enrolled in the Nation of Islam in 1957 and quickly “rose through the ranks.”  Using his notoriety as a famous boxer and access to media at the time, always “push the program” of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad by highlighting many of the Nation of Islam’s publications and teachings.

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After winning the prestigious Golden Gloves and Amateur Athletic Union titles, during his early career, in addition to winning the light heavyweight gold medal at the Olympics of 1960, Bro. Ali by 1964 won the professional heavyweight championship over the heavily favored Charles “Sonny” Liston.

By 1964, Mr. Muhammad bestowed on him the holy name, “Muhammad Ali,” after the legendary Islamic leader and warrior from an earlier century.  Bro. Ali was another major figure to emerge on the world stage resulting from the influence of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as did a few of his contemporaries of the same period like Minister Louis Farrakhan, Imam W. Deen Mohammed and Malcolm X.  Muhammad Ali was successful in also bringing his blood brother Rudolph, now known as Rahman, into the faith.

“I give all my credit and praises to God, Allah, because I know that I am not really that powerful or great,” he explained in a Temple No. 2 publication from 1975.

He and his wife Lonnie reside in his Kentucky hometown. His prior marriages to Sonji, Khalilah and Veronica ended in divorce, and one of his daughters has recently taken up boxing as a career. 

Bro. Ali and his family, along with Minister Louis Farrakhan and his family, remain brothers and friends to this day, and the two men in 1998 met and embraced as brothers at a gathering of Time magazine’s men and women of the century in New York City.

Photo: Muhammad Ali and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad.