Ali remembered as icon who pushed for unity, peace

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

As the faithful chanted a Muslim prayer in unison, dignitaries and fans stood shoulder to shoulder to honor a man who used his celebrity to push for peace among races, religions and cultures.

On phones and screens around the globe, thousands more joined the service from afar through streams and broadcasts, watching a traditional Muslim funeral play out for one of their heroes.

The prayer service Thursday, known as Jenazah, began two days of memorials that Muhammad Ali crafted himself in exacting detail years before his death last Friday. He designed them with the intent to make them open to the world and to offer a view into a faith many Americans know little about.

“Ali was the people’s champion and champion he did the cause of his people,” said Sherman Jackson, a Muslim scholar who spoke at the service. Jackson said Ali did more to normalize the Islamic faith than anyone else, both in his life and in his death.

“Ali made being a Muslim cool,” he said. “Ali made being a Muslim dignified.”

More than 14,000 got tickets for the Thursday service in Ali’s hometown of Louisville. Some traveled thousands of miles to attend. Civil-rights activist Jesse Jackson, boxing promoter Don King, former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, were among the high-profile guests in attendance. Ali joined the Nation of Islam, the black separatist religious movement, in the 1960s. He left after a decade in favor of mainstream Islam, which emphasizes an embrace of all races and ethnicities.

Ali insisted he wanted the traditional Muslim ceremony to be open to all, organizers said.

The attendees were young and old; black and white; Muslims, Christians and Jews. Some wore traditional Islamic clothing, others blue jeans or business suits. Outside the arena, millions more were able to watch. The term “Jenazah” trended on Twitter as the service started.

The service lasted less than an hour. There was no stage or altar. Speakers stood in front of a black curtain on the ground near the casket, which faced Mecca.

The service began with four recitations of “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Great,” with silent prayers in between. They prayed that Ali find safe passage to the afterlife, and that his loved ones find a way to live without him.

The memorials come amid a fever of anti-Muslim political rhetoric and wave of assaults on U.S. mosques. Terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists in Europe and California have caused many around the world to view the religion with fear or contempt.

Organizers of Ali’s memorials say the events are not meant to be political.

Yet Muslim leaders and many faithful at the service say it represents a chance to demonstrate the beauty of the religion through the legacy of Ali, one of the most famous people on the planet.