Muhammad Ali was initially raised as a Baptist before his high-profile conversion to Islam. In the early 1960s, he began attending Nation of Islam Meetings. There, he met Malcolm X, who encouraged his involvement and became a highly influential mentor to Ali. Ali, who was named Cassius Clay after his father, first changed his name briefly to Cassius X and then finally to Muhammad Ali in 1964. In later years, Ali moved away from the Nation of Islam and its racially separatist ideas to embrace "true Islam." In 2005, he adopted Sufism, Sufi Islam. He was particularly influenced by Sunni-Sufi beliefs, which he continued to hold until his death in 2016.

Ali and Nation of Islam

Muhammad Ali said that he first heard of the Nation of Islam when he was fighting in the Golden Gloves tournament in Chicago in 1959, and attended his first Nation of Islam meeting in 1961. He continued to attend meetings, although keeping his involvement hidden from the public. In 1962, Ali met Malcolm X, who soon became his spiritual and political mentor. Ali first met Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad's chief disciple at the time in Nevada in 1962. Malcolm X is credited with playing a critical role in the evolution of Ali's religious views by steering him towards the Nation of Islam. Ali would subsequently go on to attend the rallies and lectures of Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. By the time of the Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, first Ali-Liston bout, Nation of Islam members, including Malcolm X, were visible in his entourage. This led to a story in ''The Miami Herald'' just before the fight disclosing that Ali had joined the Nation of Islam, which nearly caused the bout to be canceled. The article quoted Cassius Clay Sr. as saying that his son had joined the African American Muslims, Black Muslims when he was 18. After his win in the first Ali-Liston bout, Ali was publicly welcomed into the organization by Elijah Muhammad, and named "Cassius X", which was his "waiting name", and eventually "Muhammad Ali." In an interview with George Plimpton, given shortly before his Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, rematch with Liston, Ali expounded on the ontology, ontological teachings of Elijah Muhammad and Elijah's instructor Wallace Fard Muhammad. According to these teachings, which Ali said he believed in, there exists a space platform operated by "men who never smile" which orbits the Earth at the speed of 18,000 miles per hour. The platform contains bombs which would be dropped at Armageddon which would begin after a threshold in the earth's collective guilt had been breached. Ali claimed he had seen the platform on several occasions. A member of Ali's entourage, Cody Jones, who was also present during this interview, corroborated what Ali said and claimed he had seen the platform together with Ali at five A.M. one morning when the two were out jogging. Jones described the platform as "a bright light darting in the sky." According to Plimpton the "bright light darting in the sky", seen by Ali and Jones, was probably either Venus or Jupiter. On being probed further by Plimpton, Ali explained that according to this belief system the first inhabitants of the Earth were blacks. Among them was an "evil genius", Yakub (Nation of Islam), Yakub, the "devil" of this religion. After six hundred years of working in a laboratory, Yakub created the white race. Yakub was eventually ejected from paradise, together with 59,999 of his inventions, who went on to eventually subjugate the blacks. In interviews for his 1991 biography ''Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times'', and his 1998 biography ''King of the World (biography), King of the World'', Ali clarified that he no longer believed in the existence of the space platform or in Yakub anymore. According to Ali, "hearts and souls have no color", and it was wrong of Elijah Muhammad to have talked of "white devils". Ali's biographer David Remnick noted that everything "threatening or obscure" about the Nation of Islam's teachings, including the space platform, Yakub, and racial separatism, had long been forgotten by Ali.

Ali and Sunni Islam

After Elijah Muhammad's death, in 1975, his son Wallace D. Muhammad (later Warith Deen Mohammed) assumed leadership of the organization, following which the fundamental doctrines of the Nation of Islam underwent a change to bring them closer to Sunni Islam. The divinity of Elijah, and that of the Nation of Islam's founder Wallace Fard Muhammad, was denied by Wallace D., and a nonracial view of religion was promulgated in which white people were no longer considered "devils". Eventually, a schism emerged amongst the followers of Elijah, between a faction loyal to Wallace, and another loyal to Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan continued advocating the "racial separatism" of Elijah Muhammad, and reportedly considered Wallace "a soft minded heretic." Ali decided to follow the teachings of Wallace Muhammad. In an interview for his 1991 biography ''Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times'', Ali commented:

Ali and Sufism

In his 2004 autobiography, ''The Soul of a Butterfly'', Ali revealed that he had developed an interest in Sufism. Around 2005, Ali adopted Sufi Islam, and announced that out of all Islamic spiritual schools of thought, he felt most strongly inclined towards Sufism. According to Ali's daughter, Hana Yasmeen Ali, who co-authored ''The Soul of a Butterfly'' with him, Ali was attracted to Sufism after reading the books of Inayat Khan which contain Sufi teachings. According to Ali's biographer and friend Davis Miller: Ali later moved away from Inayat Khan's teachings of Universal Sufism, towards traditional Sunni-Sufi Islam. Muhammad Ali received guidance from Sunni-Sufi Islamic scholars such as Grand Mufti of Syria Almarhum Asy-Syaikh Ahmed Kuftaro, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and Dr. Timothy J. Gianotti, who was at Ali's bedside during his last days and ensured that his funeral was in accordance with Islamic rites and rituals.

Ali's religious views and boxing

From a boxing perspective, it is speculated that Malcolm X may have contributed to enhancing the probability of Ali winning his first bout with Liston, by instilling into Ali the belief that he was invincible, and that it was destined that he would win. At the weigh-in before the first Ali-Liston fight, Ali had shouted: "It is prophesied that I should win! I cannot be beaten!" According to Dennis and Atyeo:

Notes

References

{{Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali Religious views by individual, Ali, Muhammad