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No. Ali is a Muslim, not a member of the Black Nation of Islam. (I consider him a coward for refusing to enter the Army when drafted.) The Black Nation of Islam, at least at one time, had strange teachings about the afterlife; rather, they believed that they should have their "heaven" here on earth. Clay supported them politically, but he does not believe like they do (or did).

I consider him a coward for refusing to enter the Army when drafted.

A coward? No way. The cowards fled the country and then came back when it was safe.

Ali acted in the finest traditions of the American Revolution. He believed in something, held his ground, stood firm against the powers-that-be, and accepted the consequences that followed. He ended up going to jail, ending his boxing career for all he knew.

Time and time again many of us say we would go to jail rather than do this or that thing the government would have us do. Most of us are never asked to put up or shut up. Ali put up which gave him the right not to have to shut up.

I look forward to hearing what he has to say. (And the fact that he is not physically able to say it like the rest of us can, shouldn't matter. If it did, Stephen Hawking would have been wheeled into a nursing home a long time ago.)