Legendary Boxing Great Muhammad Ali, a 'Muslim-American Original,' Dies at Age 74

HOLLYWOOD -- Muhammad Ali, the eloquent, colorful, controversial and brilliant three-time heavyweight boxing champion who was known as much for his social conscience and staunch opposition to the Vietnam War as for his dazzling boxing skills, died Friday.

Ali, who had a long battle with Parkinson's disease, was taken to a Phoenix area hospital earlier this week where he was being treated for a respiratory issue. He was 74.

On her Facebook page, his daughter Maryum 'May-May' Ali posted these comments:

I love you my beautiful father, rest in Allah's Peace," stated his daughter Maryum Ali on Facebook. " I am so happy he is no longer suffering and is with his Creator!!!!!! Allahuakbar!!!! God is the Greatest!!!!"

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Ky., Ali learned to box after his bicycle was stolen when he was 12 years old. When young Clay vowed to "whoop the behind" of the thief, a local police officer encouraged him to learn to box to channel his energy.

He would go on to become known as "The Greatest," and at his peak in the 1970s was among the most recognizable face on Earth.

Ali's boxing career came to a screeching halt after that fight. He'd refused induction into the U.S. Army because he stated he was a conscientious objector.

He became a Muslim in 1964 after the first of his two wins over Liston, and changed his name from Cassius Clay. He said Islam was a religion of peace and that he had no desire to engage in combat with those who'd done him or his family no harm.

This all went down at the height of the civil rights movement.

"Shoot them for what?" Ali asked in an interview after he refused induction. "They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They never put dogs on me. They didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. What do I want to shoot them for, for what? Why do I want to go shoot them, poor little people and babies and children and women? How can I shoot them? Just take me to jail."

"Ali was an American original," stated hall of fame boxing analyst Larry Merchant. "He was Mark Twain with boxing gloves."

Internationally acclaimed fine artist Jameel Rasheed, who created the only known art piece personally signed by Muhammad Ali said, "Ali was a hero of unprecedented proportions, not just in boxing, but for humanity. I feel honored to have met him and created an art rendering he felt worthy of putting his signature on."

Rasheed said his phone has been ringing non-stop this morning with art collectors inquiring about buying the original artwork, now valued in excess of $1,000,000.

Muhammad Ali signs Jameel Rasheed artwork with daughter Maryum Ali

Despite his health issues, Ali spent his years after boxing promoting the cause of peace and charity. In December 2015, he condemned ISIS and took a shot at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (without mentioning Trump's name) when Trump suggested temporarily banning all Muslims from entering the U.S.

After the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, Ali released a statement through his publicist. The headline said, "Statement From Muhammad Ali Regarding Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the United States."

"I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino or anywhere else in the world," Ali said in the statement. "True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so-called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion.

"We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda. They have alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.

"Speaking as someone who has never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people's views on what Islam really is."

It's the last major public statement Muhammad Ali ever made.