Khalila Camacho Ali, the ex-wife of legendary world boxing champion Muhammad Ali, has advised Muslim women to follow the principles laid down in Islam about how they should live and work, not what they call “Hislam”, which is a prejudiced view. Ali was speaking at an event organized by the Spiritual Cords Foundation, a charitable and social welfare organization with a Muslim ethos, in Johannesburg by social activist Safia Musa during a whirlwind tour of South Africa on Saturday. An account of how Ali played a key role in changing her name to aspiring aspiring world champion Cassius Clay at age 10, eventually marrying him a few years later.
He also outlined his role in convincing him to be a conscientious objector and his refusal to perform military service for America in its long war against Vietnam.
Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title in 1967 for refusing to enlist in the US Army.
He was convicted of draft evasion, which included a five-year prison sentence, a US$10,000 fine, and a three-year ban on professional boxing.
Three years later, the US Supreme Court overturned the sentence.
“I told him to say: ‘Hell no! I don’t want to go!’ About getting involved in the Vietnam War and they saw it on TV for the whole world, word for word,” Ali said.
She divorced Ali later because of her indiscretion, but said she has forgiven him now and has found peace, as will be reflected in her book which will launch next month.
“I went through a lot in order to heal and forgive, so now my healing is over and I’m ready to share my story,” Ali said. It was important for women and girls to do so. Whether they are of Muslim origin or not.
She told how she met Ali for the first time when she was just ten years old in school.
“This guy climbed the podium. He was about 18 and his name was Cassius Marcellus Clay. He said: ‘I’m going to be the heavyweight champion of the world before I’m 21, so get your autograph now because I I’m going to be famous.” Ali went on to elaborate how he made fun of her name and tore on the piece of paper he had given her with her name, asking her to come back when she had a It was a decent Muslim name.
Fascinated by her enthusiasm, Ali continued to meet her again for several years and eventually proposed to her when she was 16, when she decided to embrace the Muslim faith and change her name.
They married in 1967, and separated a decade later after an acrimonious divorce battle.
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A karate expert himself, Ali suggested that the great martial arts champion and actor Bruce Lee could have become a Muslim if he had not died at the age of 32 in 1973, at the height of his career.
“Bruce Lee was a very important person. He was a wonderful man and is greatly missed. If he hadn’t died so soon… He was very interested in Islam at the time. What I said about Islam, He liked that,” Ali said.
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