Muhammad Ali Defends Islam After Trump’s Proposal to Bar Foreign Muslims

New York Times ^ | Dec. 10, 2015 | Katie Rogers and Victor Mather

[Olog-hai]

Muhammad Ali, one of the most famous athletes in American history and a convert to Islam in the 1960s, returned to the public spotlight Wednesday night to say that political leaders had a responsibility to foster understanding about his religion.

His comments came after Donald J. Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, stoked anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States by, among other things, suggesting that foreign Muslims be barred from traveling to the country. Trump has also questioned President Obama's affirmation that Muslim Americans are some of the nation's sports heroes. ...

[Opinionated Blowhard]

"When Cassius Clay joined the Black Muslims and started calling himself Cassius X he became a champion of Racial Segregation and that is what we are fighting against. I think perhaps Cassius should spend more time proving his boxing skill and do less talking,"

-- Martin Luther King

[JudyinCanada]

Honestly, since Trump is being covered so thoroughly, I wish he would just start reading some pertinent writings from the quran and hadith. People need to be educated.

[Cowboy Bob]

Did he say it himself...or was there just a “statement” released?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Was Ali always a lefty, or do you automatically become one after so many blows to the head? ;)

[LeoWindhorse]

I can’t wait to see trump do a Mohamed Ali impersonation

[ilovesarah2012]

I was a kid when Clay “converted” and even I could figure out why he did. Now he has serious brain problems, so...

[headstamp 2]

exactly, this is the perfect time for it.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

Just ignore 1400 years of history.

[BenLurkin]

Gaseous Clay — please go away.

[Paladin2]

Black Muzzies of the 60s and 70s were not.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Irrelevant to what Trump said.

[Uversabound]

pertinent writings from the quran and hadith. People need to be educated.

What a fantastic idea.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Ali was fun to watch. His thinking, however, must have been diminished by so many blows to the head.

[Lexington Green]

Ali’s mumblings interpreted by dishonest media. Must be reliable.

[Fiddlstix]

STFU! Cassius Clay! You Idiot!

And to think you were named for a truly good man
Cassius Marcellus Clay

Now you call yourself Muhammad Ali!
That alone proves you are an idiot!
Anything you say has no value

[JudyinCanada]

I’d love to see him begin every speech, quran in hand, just reading from THEIR “HOLY” BOOK. He needn’t even say anything else...just let the words hang there.

[kingu]

The most common target of Muslim terrorists is fellow Muslims - could be a funeral, could be a trip to the market, could be attending a mosque, could be a father or brother or sister - From ‘honor’ murders, to murder-suicide bombings, to outright gunning down in the middle of a soccer stadium - worldwide, Muslims, if they really want to be the religion of peace that so many claim, it is their own ranks they must contain and suppress.

It is not the job of politicians to apologize for murders committed by Muslims, it is the job of Islam to STOP the murders. Cut off the funding and any support for the so called radical Islamic preachers and nations.

Show us you actually mean it, and we might believe you.

[CGASMIA68]

proving his boxing skill and do less talking

These days he can no longer do either very well

[Olog-hai]

Given how the original Clay fought off six attackers during one assassination attempt, I’d take him to have been a better fighter than his namesake. Never mind a genuine statesman who fought against slavery while Ali fought for slavery by his association with two forms of Islam.