The Champ and the Trump! Donald’s friendship with Muhammad Ali in pictures

US President-elect Donald Trump was one of Muhammad Ali Clay’s biggest fans. Trump and Ali had a relationship going back to at least 35 years, with Ali attending Trump’s second wedding in 2005. Their paths crossed at countless charity and public events.

Trump has even received the 2007 Muhammad Ali Award at Celebrity Fight Night XIII, an annual fundraiser for Phoenix-based charities.

President Donald Trump tweeted to praise sports icon Muhammad Ali following his passing, saying that he was a great legend and that he will be missed.

Trump said of Ali: “He was two people. In the ring, he was fierce, and outside of the ring he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He was an amazing poet and a very generous man.”

AA.Net

However, the relationship between the two stumbled when Trump made his statements about Islam and about banning Muslims from entering the US.

Without naming Trump, Muhammad Ali responded to this statement confirming that he is a Muslim man and that there is nothing in Islam that allows killings. He talked about moderate Muslims who know their religion, explaining that violence and terrorism practiced by ISIS have nothing to do with Islam.

aa.net

Clay added: “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.”

When asked about Clay’s words, Trump said he did not believe that it was about him. “He never mentioned the name or anything like that,” he said, adding that if it were about him, Ali “would have mentioned the name”.

*This article was first published in AlArabiya.Net.