Yasir Qadhi – Legacy & Lessons from life of Muhammad Ali

			As we are all aware, brothers and sisters, we have lost one of our dear brothers in Islam this last
week, perhaps the most famous not just perhaps, the most famous American Muslim in the history of
this land. And that is our dear brother, Muhammad Ali. And it is not befitting that we do not
mention his name and derive some benefits from his life. That is the least that we can do, because
will law he, there is no question that there is so much benefit to be learned from the life and
times of a person of that statue. Notice, my dear brothers and sisters how beloved, this single
individual was. I do not know of any human being in our lifetimes that has more fame, and honor and
		

			respect. Perhaps the second closest would be Nelson Mandela. But I would say that Muhammad Ali is
even more famous, that every street kid in every single corner in the world is aware of our brother,
Muhammad Ali. And you know, brothers and sisters, Allah blesses the OMA with famous converts, has
always been the case. Allah blesses the Ummah with people who show there is a truth of Islam. What
did the Sahaba say that we have always remained in is at the conversion of
		

			Hamza is another example, Hamza, the one of the most respected members of the Quraysh. His
conversion was a huge shock and a blow to the leadership of the parish and Allah use the conversion
of Hamza to demonstrate the truth of Islam. Now, I'm not comparing any human being with the sahaba.
But the concept the concept is there, that Allah blesses people. And Allah blesses the OMA with such
people that they convert to our faith, and their conversion causes quite literally, quite literally
an earthquake, it causes an entire perception. Wallahi if the only blessing of this person's
conversion was that the name of our Prophet system is mentioned by every single person in the globe
		

			with respect what a blessing that is, if that was his only blessing, what a great blessing when even
the most bigoted Islamophobes when the worst racists they have to mention the name of our Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with respect, if that was the only blessing, but there are so many other
blessings and the main point and so much can be said inshallah. Perhaps in a future lecture I'll
give more examples of what not but for me, the main lesson that we can learn from the life and times
of our brother Muhammad Ali, is the famous Hadith of the process, and we see it throughout your
line. We see it with our own eyes, that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said montara cache
		

			Allah, our water, Hula, hula hiraman.
		

			Whoever gives something up for the sake of Allah, Allah will replace it with something far better
than what he gave up. There's a hadith. This is a Hadith, whoever gives something up for the sake of
Allah. Allah will replace it with something much better than what he gave up.
		

			Brothers and sisters, we can never understand never how the greatest boxer who won the Olympic gold
medal who won the Olympic gold medal at the age of 1819. And he went on to win the World Champion
heavyweight. When he was drafted for Vietnam.
		

			He said, I cannot go kill people. My religion forbids me to go kill innocent people. Let's not
sugarcoat he used Islam. And it came all the way to the Supreme Court. He was thrown into jail or he
was sentenced to jail. He appealed the appeal once again, jail, he appealed again. And it went to
the Supreme Court. And he kept on saying my faith of Islam. He didn't say my conscience, he said
publicly in the 1960s when the religion of Islam was unknown, nobody even knew it. He said, my faith
prohibits me to kill innocent people. I cannot as a Muslim, go and kill the people you want me to
kill? I have nothing. No problem with them. They didn't do anything to me. You people are doing more
		

			harm to me than they ever did. We all know the quotes. And the boxing Federation said to him, If you
don't go, we're going to strip your title away. You're no longer going to be the champ. We're gonna
take your gold medal. You're gonna be stripped of everything. You're gonna go to jail, and they even
told him. Look, you don't have to fight. We don't expect you to fight you're too famous.
		

			Just go and showcase be a trophy for our troops go and you know, you're not going to be in the
actual camp, just go and show yourself and and you know, wear the uniform, everybody's going to see
you're a patriotic citizen, go do what you need to do. And that's it, you will be back, go do a tour
and come back. But he said, No, I'm not going to be a propaganda tool. I'm not going to use as a
token for your false button war. I'm not going to do that.
		

			And his famous quote, put me in jail, I don't care. You can put me in jail. I've already been in
jail, or my people have been in jail for 400 years. What are you going to do that has already
happened to me in my people, we need to understand that act of courage, conviction. It's literally
him against the rest of the world. Literally, he couldn't care. He gave up his title for three and a
half years. Many of us don't understand this. He was not the heavyweight champion, not because he
lost in the battle, but because the Federation took it away from him. For three and a half years he
was banned from fighting. Do you know he didn't have money at that time? It's so easy for us to
		

			consider him a hero. And I've said this so many times, Every hero has to suffer in his lifetime.
That's what makes him a hero. Nelson Mandela, 20 years, 27 years in solitary confinement, Gandhi,
every person that the world looks up to, for some reason. For a major point of their lives, they
were despised, they were hated. Let's not sugarcoat history, Muhammad Ali was considered to be a
traitor to his country, Times Magazine and others put in his cover as an evil person, as a draft,
Dodger refused neck, they used vulgar terms, that he's not patriotic.
		

			The media and the press smeared him and he had to resort to even doing odd jobs. Do you know for
those three and a half years, he had to go and act in plays and do things that is not even befitting
for somebody of his but he had no money to pay the bills. He has a wife and children to feed. He had
to do odd jobs, as the threat of jail is on his shoulders, as his title has been revoked. And he
says in an interview, I don't care, I can work in the McDonald's flip burgers, I'll do that. But I'm
not gonna go fine in that war. Can you imagine somebody who's being given millions of dollars, the
gold of the heavyweight champion, the most fit, and he gives it all up because I don't care. I'm not
		

			going to kill innocent people. My faith does not allow me to do that. Well, what happened? Whoever
gives up something for the sake of Allah, Allah will bless him much better than what he gave up
SubhanAllah 2030 4050 years later, and the very entity and the very people that smeared him that
government and the media now want to claim him as their own. Bill Clinton is going to come and give
the eulogy right now as I'm speaking, other world leaders are coming. These same world leaders,
their predecessors, were the ones who were smearing Muhammad Ali. You know, when the hero dies,
everybody wants him. Everybody wants him when the hero dies, when the heroes alive. When the heroes
		

			the hero, when he's truly the hero, He is despised by society. That's why he's going to be the hero.
This is the lesson that I learned and all of us should learn from Muhammad Ali's life and every
righteous person and inshallah he is righteous, nice Ibuka that it was a gala either every person
who undergoes that battle, look at how Allah blesses them in the end, his charisma, his fortitude,
his sticking up to his principles, Allah blesses that sincerity, so that even the people who are
insincere have to acknowledge that sincerity. Allah blesses that loss, that courage and bravery, so
that even if you don't like him, eventually, you're going to have to come and love him and call them
		

			the greatest. We as American Muslims especially, have a lot to benefit. Brothers and sisters, don't
be ashamed or shy to be a Muslim.
		

			I was attending the janazah. Yesterday, Muhammad Ali, and Dr. Sherman Jackson, a very good friend of
ours and mentor to the American Muslim community. He said, Muhammad Ali made being a Muslim cool in
America. Muhammad Ali was quintessentially an American Muslim, the embodiment of what American Islam
is. And if you look at his life and times, so many lessons to be derived, but again, the main point
here, there are so many issues going on in the world today. And it's easy to go with the flow to be
politically correct. It's easy to be quiet about the injustice is taking place. It's easy to just
hide your identity. But Allah is not going to bless a life like that. Allah is not going to bless a
		

			life like that. Look at Muhammad Ali, when he was proud to be a Muslim, and he stood up for what he
believed in and he was willing to go to jail. He has suffered, He suffered. There's no question.
Allah is going to test you if you want to do that you're going to be tested. But look at the end
result. The single greatest legend in the history of sports history of sports think about it nobody
before him, and in all likelihood nobody after him
		

			As he was at the right time in place, he was not just a great sportsman, he was not just a great
boxer. He was a man of principle. He was a person who's active in social campaigns. He was a person
who was involved in the problems of society, he was a person speaking out about the plight of his
people. That's what you call conscience. That's what you call leadership.
		

			So brothers and sisters,
		

			don't be ashamed to criticize what needs to be criticized. Don't be ashamed to be a Muslim. Don't be
ashamed to speak the truth. There are so many atrocities, so many evil things going on. Now. If
Muhammad Ali were younger and alive, what happened was, you know, Parkinson's disease you couldn't
speak. What happened? What would he have done? If he were young right now? What we have done with
the reality of America right now, what would he have said about our bombing campaigns about our
drones? What would he have said about black lives matter? What will you said about police brutality
about the prisons? Just imagine if he was saying what he was saying in the 60s? In many aspects, our
		

			situation is even worse. It's not just Vietnam, there's 60 countries were involved with, who got the
plight of African Americans and minorities, look at the racism. One of the last in fact, the last
letter that Muhammad Ali wrote about politics was against Donald Trump. The last letter, the last
political statement was against the rising Islamophobia of this bigger tear. Can't we benefit from
his life and times? Can't we see that Allah bless his people who are sincere to him, if there's
anything we can benefit from, we benefit in what our prophets have sort of said to us and we see it
in his life. Whoever gives something up for the sake of Allah, Allah will give him back much more,
		

			he gave up his visa, he gave up his gold medal. He gave up his prestige, he gave up his money. What
happened? Allah gave him back so much more fame. So much more is so much more money. After he gave
it all up. He becomes the most famous legend in the history of sports. That's what you call
conviction and dedication. And if we can benefit that from his life, and of course the Quran and
Sunnah tells us about this reality. And every leader and every prophet has the same, of course much
more than this, but it's nice to see living examples. It's nice to see in our own lifetimes, if we
can benefit from this, then insha Allah Allah Allah, we have genuinely kept the legacy of Muhammad
		

			Ali alive May Allah azza wa jal forgive him and raised his ranks and exalt Him and may Allah azza wa
jal give us all the courage and conviction to be true to our faith.