Trump’s Freedom 250 Trucks Falsely Claim Muhammad Ali Disavowed Islam
The global icon converted to Islam in 1964 and remained Muslim for the rest of his life
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The national effort by Pres. Donald Trump to mark America’s 250th anniversary includes a set of mobile museums carrying displays about the nation’s history and prominent figures. One display falsely claims that Muhammad Ali disavowed Islam.
It is a stunning slight to the man — a beloved global icon, ambassador of peace, athletic legend, and cultural titan — and to Islam, a faith under siege by the Trump administration and others and for which Ali was a powerful envoy to mainstream America.
The falsehood appears in a display about Ali on board one of the Freedom 250 organization’s so-called “Freedom Trucks.” Six are traveling the country as part of the 250th anniversary commemorations.
The nation’s leading Muslim advocacy organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), responded to the falsehood about Ali, saying, “We call on the Freedom 250 Mobile Museum to correct the record.”
Earlier this year, a reader of mine agreed to send me pictures from the trucks. As I reported Monday, the pictures capture displays perpetuating falsehoods or, more often, half-truths that feed into Christian nationalist rewriting of American history. Two echoed antisemitic canards about Jews in the Revolutionary War.
Produced with two right-wing Christian organizations — Hillsdale College and the media company PragerU — the Freedom Truck exhibits predictably skew toward Christianity, elevating its role and focusing more on Christian figures, some of them with little relevance to the arc of America’s story and obscure even to history buffs.
Ali is one of the most famous Muslims in the world, and likely the most famous American Muslim in history. His conversion to Islam was a seminal moment of the 1960s, setting up the legal battle over his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War that robbed him of more than three years of boxing at his peak.
A fearless advocate for racial equality and justice, Ali spent much of his life after leaving the ring as an ambassador for peace, especially in the Muslim world, and remained, as CAIR told me, “a devout Muslim.”
The Freedom Trucks erase this history, as I found poring through exhibit photos.
If the falsehood was a mistake, it possibly arose from Ali in 1984 distancing himself from the Muslim organization, the Nation of Islam, with which he was originally affiliated. The Muhammad Ali Center writes that he converted to Sunni Islam in 1975.
Ali never disavowed, renounced, or converted from Islam. He died a Muslim and reportedly had a Muslim funeral.
Here’s what the Freedom 250 trucks say about possibly the most globally recognized and beloved Islamic man in modern history:
“After converting to Islam, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali though he later disavowed the religion.”
- Freedom 250 truck Muhammad Ali display
After Ali’s death, Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah wrote for the Daily Beast that “Ali was more than a sports figure or a celebrity to our community. He was a source of pride to so many Muslim Americans for so many different reasons.”
Ali, Obeidallah wrote, went to Mecca in 1989. That pilgrimage is one of Islam’s five pillars.
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell told me that “Muhammad Ali was a devout Muslim. Suggesting otherwise distorts both his personal faith journey and the historical record.”
Referring to Ali’s transition from the Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam, Mitchell said that Ali “lived the rest of his life contributing to causes of justice and peace, motivated by his faith.”
Mitchell also called on Freedom 250 to fix its false Ali display.
“Any exhibit honoring his life should accurately reflect his unwavering commitment to Islam. We call on the Freedom 250 Mobile Museum to correct the record.”
The lie about Ali has already been seen by untold thousands of people. The trucks are set to continue their tours at least through the end of this year.
In April, White House Task Force 250 Executive Director Brittany Baldwin was quoted saying, “They’ve reached more than 300 schools and welcomed more than 24,000 Americans.” The goal was to reach 20 million people.
Ali himself reached millions of people with his messages about Islam, even in the last year of his life.
One of Ali’s last public statements before his June 3, 2016, death was a defense of Islam in December 2015, responding to Trump’s proposed travel ban on predominantly Muslim nations.
“[O]ur political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam,” Ali said in a statement.
One month into Trump’s first term, border agents detained Ali’s son, Muhammad Ali, Jr., after his return flight from Jamaica and asked him, “Where did you get your name from?”
Reportedly, they also asked him, “Are you a Muslim?”
Ali spent much of the last years of his life speaking about Islam’s traditions and teachings of peace, especially in response to violence by Islamic extremists or terrorists.
One week after 9/11, Ali went to New York City to denounce the deadly attacks and assert that Islam rejects violence.
In 2006, he was recognized by the World Economic Forum for promoting Islam.
Given the reputations of Hillsdale and PragerU, it seems possible that one or both of them made an innocent mistake and that Freedom 250 failed to catch it. The Freedom Trucks contain multiple errors that are easily checked online, as I reported Monday.
Freedom 250 has not responded to my questions1.
Freedom 250’s corporate “partners” include ExxonMobil, Oracle, Penske, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, John Deere, Palantir, Deloitte, United Health Group, United Airlines, the Blockchain Association, and several right-wing organizations such as the openly theocratic Museum of the Bible.
The traveling Freedom 250 trucks can be requested by members of the public for stops in municipalities around the country. At least one appearance was canceled after local police discovered the role of PragerU, the Hartford Courant reported.
Full CAIR Statement
"Muhammad Ali was a devout Muslim. Suggesting otherwise distorts both his personal faith journey and the historical record. Like many other African-Americans who originally belonged to the Nation of Islam, Muhammad Ali transitioned to Sunni Islam under the leadership of Imam W.D. Muhammad in the 1970s and lived the rest of his life contributing to causes of justice and peace, motivated by his faith. Any exhibit honoring his life should accurately reflect his unwavering commitment to Islam. We call on the Freedom 250 Mobile Museum to correct the record."
- Edward Ahmed Mitchell
CAIR National Deputy Director
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On Sunday, I emailed Freedom 250 for comment, with a deadline of noon Monday. An unsigned response on Monday gave me an email address for media inquiries. I forwarded my request to that email address, extending my deadline to 5pm Monday. That night, someone identifying themselves only as “Rachel” responded: “Working on looking into this if you could please hold on publishing. Thanks in advance.” I responded that I would not be publishing Monday night so there was some time but had not heard back as of Tuesday night.
Funny, as soon as I read about Ali supposedly abandoning Islam, I thought "No, he didn't, he rejected the Nation of Islam." The fact that I so quickly and clearly remembered an event from 42 years ago raises the question of if I'm unusually well-informed or seeing the onset of senility.
Oh, sure....they probably just made a mistake.
I've been reading bilge put out by Liars For Jesus, since AOL 2.0 They never change. And (ask Prof. Warren Throckmorton, for one) no matter how many facts, or historical documents you present, or refer to, they will keep Lying For Jesus. That would be Manly Republican Jesus, because they have no interest in following that wimp from Nazareth.
If they can turn MLK Jr. into a white man every February, they can turn Muhammed Ali into anything that suits them. And people will repeat the story, because they LIKE it better than the truth. Because there is no truth in them.
I'm entirely too old for this crap.