People in Islam: Muhammad Ali

“This man might be the most famous man in the world. And he is a Muslim.”

-Will Smith

Arguably one of the world’s most famous Muslims, Muhammad Ali has been for the longest time, the face of Islam in America. Born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to a Christian family, Muhammad converted first to the Nation of Islam in the mid 1960s and then to Sunni Islam in the mid 1970s, Muhammad Ali quickly became the face of Muslim-Americans as one of the highest profile reverts in modern American history he would speak on television about Islam and give Americans the first sight of a faith they had largely been ignorant about, and to give them an insight to the clash of concepts of how women were treated with both the western ideal and the Islamic ideal.

He speaks still to this day about what Islam is and isn’t, most recently during a Tribute to Heroes fundraiser alongside actor Will Smith. Brother Muhammad Ali has been an inspiration to Muslim Americans for generations and insha’Allah, he will have many more years to worship and give dawah to millions of Americans who still look up to the kid from Kentucky who changed America in so many ways.