Current Events > These are hard times to be a Muslim in America.

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These are hard times to be a Muslim in America. President Donald Trump regularly makes non-inclusive comments such as Islam hates us, even though a religion does not hate. As a consequence of right-wing attitudes ordinary people suffer: a young 14-year-old African American school boy named Ahmed Mohamed was arrested and thrown out of school when his teacher thought his homemade clock was a bomb; a 17-year-old girl called Nabra Hassanen was recently raped and murdered by Martinez Torres in Virginia; a female university professor who teaches Women and Islam was aggressively manhandled and thrown out of a plane recently, as she happened to be a Muslim. All such happenings impact the health and wellbeing of ordinary Muslims and many others around the world who are constantly hearing about these and other cruel injustices. A recent study shows that in America today, Muslims in particular face many psychological pressures and problems due to them constantly being unjustly labelled as terrorists.

Yet, through the smoke of sensationalist media headlines, we still have those positive moments that give us hope. On the evening of October 15 I had the privilege of living one such moment, when I met Khalilah Camacho Ali (also known as Belinda), the wife of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.

A radiant African-American, Khalilah has an accent almost identical to that of Muhammad Ali, but her roots go back to South Asia, as her great-great grandfather was an imam from Karachi. In the Pakistani home of Sohail Kiani, the former vice-president of Merrill Lynch in Singapore, and his American wife Doreen, Khalilah began her introduction to a select audience who were mesmerised by her intimate stories and memories of The Greatest.
She said that when she met Muhammad Ali, he had just won his gold medal in the light heavyweight division in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, at the young age of 18. She was only 10 years old. In his famous cocky style, Muhammad Ali said, Im going to be the heavyweight champion of the world before I hit 21 so get your autograph! So he gave me his name. Khalilah said, When he signed, his name, Cassius Marcellus Clay. I tore up the paper and threw it on the floor. This is a Roman name! And do you know what the Romans did to us? They enslaved us. You need to change your name! In fact, I was really into Islam and admired Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as my role model he had the most gentle, simple and compassionate character so I said to Cassius, Go and get a Muslim name. She recounted, He was upset. But he couldnt wait. I want to be a Muslim like her. So he went to Elijah Muhammad.

Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation of Islam Movement, conceived of a new name for Ali. As Khalilah recalled, He gave him Cassius X, so he said, No, no, I dont want to be Cassius. I want a Muslim name. So he named him Ali (after Khalilahs father) and added Muhammad, after the name of the Prophet (pbuh). Muhammad Ali came back to me and by this time I was no longer 10. I was 13, she said smiling naughtily. The audience hooted. He came back and said to me, I changed my name to Muhammad Ali. I told him, Now go and live that great name.
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She told us how Muhammad Ali would spend days outside her house. He even stayed overnight outside once. I was 16 and I said, What do you want, man! He said, Well, youre going to be my wife. I said, But you didnt ask me? He said, I found out that if I ask you, youll say no, so I dont want to ask you! When he proposed to her and asked her parents for her hand in marriage, her dad asked, Do you have a job? Muhammad Ali had just been banned from boxing and his titles were taken away. He said he had no job but he had a car! Everyone laughed. Khalilah, talking about a legend in the making, whispered to her father, Dad, hes got potential. I think were going to be all right! The gathering laughed again. My Dad said to me, youre not supposed to marry someone who hasnt got a job. But I change my mind. I asked, Dad, why did you change your mind? he replied, Because when you make up your mind you dont change yours, so I changed mine! So we got married.

Khalilah remembers her husband as warm and funny. He had the ability to make everyone feel happy and he was kind to everyone. She was married to Muhammad Ali for 10 years and has six children by him and her eldest daughter is a writer and a poet. In the gathering there were at least three people called Ali. Khalilah held them affectionately. She signed a picture of herself and Muhammad Ali as newlyweds.

She reminisces, I asked Muhammad Ali once, everyone admires you and wants to be like you, but who do you admire? he said, I wish I could be half as strong as you. She added, He always supported womens rights. He was not a misogynist. Khalilah too was a role model for Muslim women and for womens rights, acknowledged Doreen.

When the world finds out that Muhammad Alis wife visited Pakistan, they will know the reality that it is safe here. We dont like the misperception of Pakistan as an incubation of terrorism. Part of the trip is to bridge the gap between this terribly mean misperception. Every nation has its fringe group. Parts of Chicago are so dangerous, said Mahomed, to which Khalilah added, Its so dangerous there, people eat on the floor because you can get shot. However, Mahomed assured, But of course, this is not the image of America. After a pause he added, USAID, USIP, etc, fund good projects in Pakistan like orphanages and peace projects, which shows they care. This is the real spirit of America. I think that America and its people are very diverse and beautiful people, just as Pakistan and Pakistanis are both diverse and beautiful. No one side should stereotype the other.

At a time when the Pakistan-US relations seem to be utterly fragile, Khalilahs visit highlighted the unity and warmth that can be possible between people of different nations. What touched me also was that Khalilah was so humble. She reached out to everyone, regardless of who they were. When young waiters of Khiva Restaurant, who were catering that evening, came up to her for a photograph she politely obliged. That evening there were no divisions between the rich and the poor, between Pakistanis and Americans there was affection, there was trust, there was friendship.

Blessed are the peace-builders as they are the bridges that help heal our shared, but troubled, world. Muhammed Ali and Khalilah also represent the finest in Islam they are people who embrace others with genuine warmth and affection; Muhammad Ali is revered not only in America, but across the world. Perhaps he is loved not so much for his trophies as much as for his outstanding character as he understood the human need to accept others as they are and reach out to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2017.
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Love this gimmick
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Imagine the shock of the world when they discover he is the grandchild of Bin Laden.
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Lol, the oppressed Muslims, not allowed to bring Sharia law to us like they've done in France.
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Oh
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Oh noooooooo
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glitteringfairy posted...

Love this gimmick

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KillerKhan420 posted...

Lol, the oppressed Muslims, not allowed to bring Sharia law to us like they've done in France.

Just curious, how many murders have been associated with the muslim population in France since the whole 'sharia law' thing?
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