15 Golden Quotes from the Peoples’ Champ Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay which he referred to as being his slave name, has died at the age of 74. There are few, very few, people who can ever live up to their names, but this man has done just that. Muhammad means the praised one and Ali means the sublime, put them together and you have the praised one who is/was sublime. He leaves behind an impeccable imprint on the hearts of many which has been the result of his profound actions and quotes that made him not just an unbeatable boxer, but more so an educator, a poet, a preacher, an activist, an entertainer and above all a caller to the obedience of God Almighty. Here are 15 golden quotes from the people’s champ, the last one will leave you in tears yet smiling:

1. I’m not number one

“This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction. God gave me this illness to remind me that I’m not number one, He is.”

2. Pay for your rent

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room on this earth.”

3. I learned everything from Islam

“Everything you admire me for, everything I stand for I learned from Islam.”

4. Get ready to meet God

“So what I’m gonna do when I get out of boxing, is to get ready to meet God. We have one life, it will soon past; what we do for God is all that will last.”

5. Champions are made.

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision.”

6. Allāh will help you

“Stay strong. Read the Qur’an. Pray. Praise Allāh. This will help you.”

7. Be what I want to be

“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”

8. Radicalism in the name of Islam

“I cannot sit by and let the world think that Islam is a killing religion. It hurts me to see what radical people are doing in the name of Islam. These radicals are doing things that God is against. Muslims do not believe in violence.”

9. Racism is wrong

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”

10. When I want to sin

“I don’t smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket. When my heart slips towards a sin, I burn a match stick and heat my palm. Then I say to myself: ‘Ali, you can’t bear even this heat, how would you bear the unbearable heat of the hell?'”

11. My bodyguard

“No, I have One bodyguard. He has no eyes though He sees. He has no ears though He hears. He remembers everything with the aid of mind and memory. When He wishes to create a thing, He just orders it to be and it comes into existence, but this order does not convey the words which takes the tongue to form like our sound carries ears. He hears the secrets of those on the quite thoughts. He stops those whom, whose that? That’s God Allāh. He’s my bodyguard. He’s your bodyguard. He’s the Supreme, The Wise.”

12. Leaflets with my signature

Towards the end of his life, Muhammad Ali would spend his days signing leaflets about Islam, which he would then give out to people wherever he went. Once someone asked him why he did that. He replied,

“Because I know that no-one will ever throw away a piece of paper with Muhammad Ali’s signature on it.”

13. Hollywood walk of fame star

Muhammad Ali was offered a star with his name on “Hollywood Walk of Fame” but he refused and said:

“I bear the name of our Beloved Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), and it is impossible that I allow people to trample over his name.”

14. Refusal to go on the illegal war

“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people, Just take me to jail.”

15. How to remember me

“I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times. Who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him. And who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all of humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s too much then I guess I’d settle for being remembered as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”

We won’t get class inspirational legends like him anymore.

May the Almighty have mercy upon his soul.