Two of Ali’s daughters, Rasheda and Maryum, will speak at the funeral, along with Ali’s widow Lonnie, former USA president Bill Clinton, American actor Billy Crystal and Malcolm X’s daughter Attalah Shabazz.
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President Barack Obama has been invited but has yet to confirm whether he will attend the funeral.
“This is the greater worship, really, to pay tribute to this great man”. They will be followed by Ali’s wife, daughter Maryum Ali, actor Billy Crystal, sports presenter Bryant Gumbel, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Ali died at the age of 74 from septic shock and had battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years.
The service will include a public memorial in a multi-purpose sports arena that seats 22,000 people.
Islamic studies scholar Timothy Gianotti stressed that “this was really designed and intended by the Champ himself to be his last statement to the people of planet Earth”.
And one of the venues will be the site of Ali’s last hometown fight in Louisville, Kentucky.
Thousands of mourners, including foreign dignitaries and celebrities, are expected to attend the funeral of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, a family spokesman said Monday.
Ali planned the details of his funeral which will be an interfaith memorial service in the Muslim tradition, in keeping with his beliefs.
On the eve of the ceremony there will be an Islamic prayer service and private family funeral, organisers said.
The inner circle that helped the Alis with funeral preparations included his lawyer and a business associate, Mr Gunnell said.
“Everything that we’re doing here was blessed by Muhammad Ali and requested”, Gunnell said.
Muhammad Ali and his family never seriously thought of donating his brain for research, according to his doctor.
London-born Lewis, who went on to represent Canada in the Olympics, is one of three boxers along with Ali and Evander Holyfield to have held the heavyweight title three times. We’re here to do the job the way I want it.
Dr. Holly Shill, director of the Ali centre, said research shows that those with a history of head injury are at only a slightly greater risk of contracting Parkinson’s.
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Then traveling west on Muhammad Ali Blvd to 34th Street, left on 34th street to Broadway, making a left on Broadway and then traveling to Cave Hill Cemetery.
