FRIDGE MAGNET GARDEN: Kentucky Derby? Worth a visit. Muhammad Ali Center? A must visit.
Appreciation to my Palm Beach Post colleagues for publishing over the years my occasional columns on Al-Islam and Muslims – whether explaining Ramadan or the Hajj, or the fact that Islam by definition rejects terrorism, or this essay today, whose text also appears below. In an era of so much misinformation – some due to simple lack of knowledge, some clearly intended to mislead – much more light must be shed. Such as that Muhammad Ali did not exist in a vacuum; he was part of a universal movement for humanity that continues, if only we would see.
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My favorite recent memory of Muhammad Ali comes not from the 1996 Olympic Games, but rather our 2003 annual Islamic Convention in Chicago led by Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
I’ll never forget how Ali labored through his Parkinson’s up the steps to the platform stage, sat with other dignitaries in support of his friend the imam, then after perhaps 45 minutes worked his way back down, where he was love-mobbed. It was a distraction from the ongoing program, but Ali had accomplished his mission. He obviously had wanted to send an unmistakable message in that post-9/11 America: This is my community, and this is my imam.
