USA TODAY International Edition
Still the champ
Muhammad Ali’s defense of Islam packs quite a punch, Martin Rogers says,
Muhammad Ali can barely make a firm fist these days, let alone lace up a glove.
Yet half a century removed from when he shook the world and Sonny Liston’s fortitude to become heavyweight champion and three decades on from the sad denouement of his marvelous career, Ali still packs a punch.
He delivered one straight, devastating, written jab to Donald Trump on Wednesday.
While it won’t be a knockout blow to Republican presidential candidate Trump’s chances of reaching the Oval Office, that was not its intention.
But the 73- year- old’s defense of the Islamic faith, the call for understanding and calm amid these roiling times, well, that was vintage Ali.
Once he made his points with rhyme; this time it was with reason.
“Speaking as someone who has never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people’s views on what Islam really is,” Ali said in a statement.
He did not directly mention Trump by name, and he didn’t have to. His intention was as clear as those rapid- fire tones he once used to bait opponents such as Joe Frazier and George Foreman, a defiant and beautifully balanced retort to such Trump suggestions as a national Islamic database and restrictions on Muslims traveling to the United States.
These are not political pages, and there is no attempt here to debate the merits or follies of the electoral contest that will twine through the cycle of our lives over the next year.
However, there are factual elements at play. When President Obama used his address to the nation Sunday to preach tolerance toward the Muslim community, his reminder that some of our sports heroes are Muslims was instantly challenged by Trump. “Obama said in his speech that Muslims are our sports heroes. What sport is he talking about, and who? Is Obama profiling?” Trump tweeted. It was a misstep. Notwithstanding that Trump has met Ali on several occasions, he should have needed little reminding that “The Greatest” is Muslim. Heck, it has hardly been a secret. Ali used the afterglow of his first great professional triumph, beating Liston, to announce he was Muslim and was changing his name from Cassius Clay. He was stripped of his title and banished from the sport at the peak of his powers for refus- ing to fight in Vietnam on religious grounds.
There are many Muslim athletes in this country. Few chose to speak publicly about their faith this week, and given the tinderbox of public sentiment and political furor, it is easy to see why.
USA TODAY Sports reached out to more than a dozen retired and active Muslim athletes over the last few days to question them over Trump’s stance. A rare few, such as Denver Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Harris, responded firmly. Others preferred to keep a dignified silence, as is their absolute right.
Ali is not bound by such concerns. Not because he has a contract to protect or sponsors to please or wishes to avoid distractions. Those things never factored into his thinking to begin with — he was always this way, a man of principled ideology whether you agreed with him or not.
“I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world,” Ali wrote. “True Muslims know the ruthless violence of socalled Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion.
“We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to ad- vance their own personal agenda. They have alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.”
It was Ali, back again, speaking with his mind and his heart just like in the fight game’s golden years. He is forever a champ, but he is not a saint, and never was. He could be cruel, dismissive and adulterous. But those intangibles, those other redeeming factors, carried such power. We thought that was in the past, that he would live out his days as a beloved figure and nothing more.
But then, in typical fashion, he rose again when you least expected it, right when he had to, when there was an opponent that was rolling with momentum and seemingly unstoppable.
Ali is an old man who has battled Parkinson’s disease for 30 years and no longer floats, not like a butterfly nor anything else. But he stings like a bee, just as sharply as ever, just as sweetly, armored by the knowledge that his own conviction is the greatest weapon, and the greatest shield, of all.