One of the first name changing Muslim’s I became familiar with. Cassius Clay will be his name to me, if I spelled it correctly.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.
And "me too." I was at my grandparents' house on Long Island, it must have been summertime, the "summer of the World's Fair." The name change came on the news. I noticed it, that particular news piece. I wondered about it. For reasons unknown to me (certainly at the time), that news item made an impression as being an odd thing for a person to do.
After the Israelis whomped the Arabs in 1967, he briefly changed his name again to `Morris Steinberg’.
;^)
JACK E. LEONARD AND ALI
At the time he was in the news for refusing to serve in the US armed forces,
Ali walked into a night club where comedian Jack E. Leonard was in the middle of his act.
When Jack E. Leonard saw Ali, he said from the stage:
“HOW’S MY FAVORITE SOLDIER?
“WHAT’S YOUR NAME THIS WEEK?”
Ashs to Ashs Clay to Mohammed
Cassius Clay is such a cool name too, his namesake was a famed anti-slavery Senator, and the man then changed his name to Mohammad, after a man not only owned slaves but conquered and enslaved a lot of people. SMH.
RIP