Muhammed Ali
Another black Muslim American who championed civil rights is boxing champ, Muhammad Ali.
Ali was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. His birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.
Cassius Clay joined the black Muslim group Nation of Islam in 1964. At first, he called himself Cassius X before settling on the name Muhammad Ali. The boxer eventually converted to orthodox Islam during the 1970s.
Ali started a different kind of fight with his outspoken views against the Vietnam War.
He refused to serve in the military when he was drafted in 1967 on the grounds that he was a practicing Muslim minister with religious beliefs that prevented him from fighting. He was arrested for committing a felony and almost immediately stripped of his world title and boxing license.
The U.S. Department of Justice pursued a legal case against Ali, and he was found guilty of violating Selective Service laws and sentenced to five years in prison on June 1967 but remained free while appealing his conviction.
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Unable to compete professionally in the meantime, Ali missed more than three prime years of his athletic career. Ali returned to the ring in 1970 with a win over Jerry Quarry, and the U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned the conviction in June 1971.
“Ali essentially lost all of his material accomplishments, but he was never robbed of his convictions and determination to stand for his civil and religious rights while improving the lives of, namely, African-Americans, but the lives of all Americans. Ali’s stance was directly in accord with the Qur’an’s encouragement that we all be ambassadors for justice despite the odds,” wrote Michael Saahir in 2017.
