Muhammad Ali’s wife Lonnie, center, attends Muhammad Ali’s Jenazah, a traditional Islamic Muslim service, in Freedom Hall, Thursday, June 9, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. “We welcome the members of other faith communities. We welcome our sisters, our elders, our youngsters”, prominent US Muslim scholar Imam Zaid Shakir told those in attendance.
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“One of the most loved, one of the most recognized persons in the world happens to be a Muslim – everyone is coming from all over to celebrate this Muslim’s death”, said Imam Abdullah El-Amin, founder of the Muslim Center in Detroit, who will attend the prayer service.
Worshipers and well-wishers take photographs as Muhammad Ali’s casket is brought for his Muslim prayer service..
Mr Ali, whose remarkable boxing career and civil rights activism made him one of the indelible figures of the 20th century, died last week at age 74 after a decades-long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“One message he left for everybody of the world is ‘find the Muhammad Ali within you, live the goal God made you for before you go back to God, ‘” said Muhammad Evan Ali Jr.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said despite the celebrities the event is drawing, the service is about one person: Muhammad Ali.
Leading scholar Sherman Jackson dubbed Ali “The People’s Champion” for his work giving black Americans like himself courage to fight inside and outside the ring.
The service lasted less than an hour and included prayers and several speakers, including two Muslim women, who described Ali’s impact on their own lives, on the world’s acceptance of the Islamic faith and as a champion for civil rights. This may have been the place of Ali’s first fight – a six-rounder against a 186-pound journeyman named Tunney Hunsaker – but this wasn’t a day for fighting, or even thinking about fights.
“Ali made being a Muslim cool, dignified and relevant”, said Jackson.
Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson said Ali’s social and political impact on America can not be understated. She said she briefly met Ali, by chance, on a flight a few years ago.
“This is a story about going to bury my father, Muhammad Ali”.
In the 1970s, Ali converted to Sunni Islam, the largest denomination among Muslims worldwide.
On Friday, there will be a public funeral service held for Muhammad Ali at the KFC Yum!
U.S. President Barack Obama also praised Ali on Thursday in a Facebook live broadcast from the White House, showing off a copy of the book, “GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali”, and a signed pair of boxing gloves gifted to him by Ali.
Others on hand to pay respects included USA civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.
The main service will see former President Bill Clinton, longtime sportscaster Bryant Gumbel and comedian and close Ali friend Billy Crystal, among others, delivering eulogies.
After the service, there’ll be a procession through Louisville which will pass some key locations, including Muhammad Ali’s childhood home and a museum dedicated to him.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Abdullah II of Jordan also will speak during the service, according to longtime Ali spokesman Bob Gunnell.
