Legendary boxer, humanitarian and civil right activist, Muhammad Ali, was remembered at a packed Muslim prayer service Thursday as a transcendent figure who fought past all racial, religious and national boundaries.
Up to 16,000 mourners of all faiths packed Freedom Hall in Ali’s native town of Louisville as the casket bearing the remains of Ali The Greatest arrived to start a two-day public send-off.
Rev. Jesse Jackson
“He was a gift to his people, his religion, his country, and ultimately, to the world,” said Prof. Sherman Jackson of the University of Southern California, a leading scholar of Islam.
Dignitaries in attendance were: Ali’s wife of 30 years, Lonnie, daughter Laila and his former wife Khalilah Camacho-Ali were in attendance, along with boxing promoter Don King, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Many in the crowd held up smartphones, shooting video while the Muslims in attendance offered prayers in Arabic for Ali.
Donald Trump To Attend Muhammad Ali’s Funeral on Friday
Donald Trump
In a separate development, the family of the late Muhammad Ali has responded to presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in his request to attend legendary boxer’s funeral on Friday.
According to Ali’s family spokesman Bob Gunnell: “Everything we’re doing here was blessed by Muhammad Ali and was requested.”
Gunnel said Ali wanted different religions at the service. He said he wasn’t preparing for Trump on Friday, but “he would be welcome to attend.”
Although the family is aware of Trump’s nasty rhetoric, Ali’s friend, Saliha Shakir, said that he would never turn anyone away, even Trump:
“None of us care for Trump’s rhetoric, but this is what Ali would have wanted. He would not have turned him away.”
Shakir emphasized that Islam is an inclusive religion and the family is simply following the tenets of the religion despite the hate mongering and Islamophobia Donlad Trump has both spewed and encouraged throughout his campaign, which has prompted a rise in Islamophobia across the country.
