WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Former boxing champion Muhammad Ali, one of the best-known U.S. Muslims, appeared on Wednesday to join the chorus condemning the proposal by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to temporarily stop Muslims from entering the country.
"We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda," Ali, 72, said in a statement that appeared in a report by NBC News headlined: "Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the United States," but did not actually name Trump.
The Louisville, Kentucky-born Ali, a three-time world heavyweight champion who joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 and later converted to Sunni Islam, also took aim at Islamist extremists.
"I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world," Ali said in the statement. "True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion."
"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," he said.
Robert Gunnell, a spokesman for Ali, said later the statement "was not a direct response to Donald Trump. This statement was Muhammad Ali's belief that Muslims must reject Jihadist extremist views."
Asked by Reuters why the headline on the statement was later changed to "Statement from Muhammad Ali Calling on all Muslims to Stand Up Against Jihadist Radical Agenda," Gunnell said in an email it was "not meant toward Trump so we edited the headline."
Quote like a butterfly
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MajGenl.Meade
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Quote like a butterfly
Hands up all those who think Mr. Ali had anything to do with this statement. That's not to say he wouldn't have if he was capable of putting it together...
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
Re: Quote like a butterfly
he may have affirmed agreement with the statement, but those are not his words, they are too boring.
Re: Quote like a butterfly
My hand's up.
It's my understanding he can still communicate, although he doesn't speak well. It certainly sounds like the position he would take on this issue, so I have no reason to doubt that he has read it, understood it and affixed his signature to it (whatever fashion that signature might take, as I doubt he writes well).
It's my understanding he can still communicate, although he doesn't speak well. It certainly sounds like the position he would take on this issue, so I have no reason to doubt that he has read it, understood it and affixed his signature to it (whatever fashion that signature might take, as I doubt he writes well).
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan