“I Was the One Who Refused to Be a Muslim”: Laila Ali Once Revealed ‘Only Reason’ Muhammad Ali May Have Clearly Remembered Her in Childhood

Former women’s super middleweight champion Laila Ali was able to step in and fill the huge shadow cast by her father, Muhammad Ali. The former heavyweight champion had garnered the love and attention of masses across the world with him leaving a lasting impact outside the sport as well. However, while Ali was adored by people all across the world, things weren’t the same in his family.

Ali had four wives in his life and nine children. Moreover, he was a devout Muslim who put his religion over everything. This included his own family as well as he wanted every one of his children to be a Muslim like him. However, Laila had other plans in mind as she revealed why her father remembered her better than others in the family.

Laila Ali reveals the ‘only reason’ why Muhammad Ali remembered her

In her book Reach!: Finding Strength, Spirit, and Personal Power, Laila revealed that her father had often forgotten her age. This was after the time he divorced her mother and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. According to Laila, her father always had trouble remembering facts about his children. Despite this, he was able to remember Laila for a very peculiar reason.

“In the summers, we’d usually visit him and Lonnie in Michigan. When we were there, he’d forget my age. That had nothing to do with his condition. Dad always had trouble remembering basic facts about all his kids. The only reason he may have remembered me clearly was because, of all his children, I was the one who refused to be a Muslim,” she wrote.

This was not all as Laila Further details why she didn’t want to become a Muslim like her father and gave examples of instances where she refused to get to holy sites to pray.

Laila details why she refused to become a Muslim

In the next paragraph, Laila claimed that she didn’t go to the mosque or other holy sites in the religion. However, this wasn’t meant as any disrespect towards her father’s religion but she could not simply fake it.

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“I refused to go to the mosque, refused to pray five times a day, refused to pretend that the religion held any interest for me. I respected my father’s devotion- I still do, but devotion isn’t anything I can fake. When spirituality came, it came by way of my mother, not my father. And that wouldn’t be for years,” she wrote.

Laila wasn’t as spiritual and devoted to religion as her father. However, in Ali’s household, there was constant pressure on his children to become Muslims like him. This meant that his children had to spend other festivals secretly. Despite this, Laila managed to stand up to her father and walk on the path which she thought was right. Moreover, Ali distinctly remembering her for the wrong reasons could also be seen as a silver lining after his deteriorating condition.

What are your thoughts on Laila Ali’s choice of spirituality? Let us know in the comments.

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