Farrakhan details Muhammed Ali’s ties to Nation of Islam (The Associated Press)
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan spoke of his own history with Muhammad Ali on Sunday, recounting the boxer’s courage both in the ring and out of it, but lamenting the late heavyweight champion’s shift toward mainstream Islam. In a speech that lasted more than two hours at the Chicago-based movement’s headquarters, Farrakhan recounted Ali’s boxing career and his refusal to be drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war that resulted in Ali being stripped of his title and prevented him from fighting for more than three years. Ali was the most famous follower of the Elijah Muhammad, the late leader of the Nation of Islam.