Why did Cassius Clay choose the name Muhammed Ali

Not Johnny Carson the TV host?

 

Ali is a muslim name, I think the prophet Muhammad`s surname was Ali.

 

Tupac Shakur is a muslim name also I think, his father was a black activist.

 

The prophet Muhammad, he is the Muslim equivalent of Jesus.

 

He considered Cassius a slave name because it was the name of a roman soldier.

 

Yes, the African names were long forgotten after the first slaves took their masters surnames. They belonged to the farm they worked. Muhammad’s family were Clays because they worked Clays fields.

One of the group of managers that first signed Ali was actually a Clay. When interviewed on TV he said “my great granddaddy owned his great grandaddy. So you could say We have owned his family for many years” which mustn’t have gone down too well for a young kid calling himself the greatest.

I often wonder if it was that comment that started the ball rolling.

He wanted to get rid of his slave name.

One explanation of the conversion is it was an attempt on finding a more fitting name since Islam is more prevalent in the African continent.

To be fair I don’t know if the Native Africans followed hereditary name system within their cultures around the times they were sold off as Slaves? Or if Islam was prevalent on the coast where most of the slaves came from.

I assume they followed the tribal customs of the uncolonised Africans left behind in Africa where there are continuous cycles of tribal wars and people are named after the winning tribe they belong to.

There is a misconception that white people kidnapped free natives and sold them to America when I think they exploited the winning Tribes who sold the losing tribes to visiting traders in exchange for goods.

 

Thanks Hulk. I'm a fan of all 3 especially Dwight

 

No Ali was a cousin and companion of the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad didn't have a surname but the Arabs used to address each other as Muhammad son of so and so, son of so and so (their father and grandfather) while also mentioning which tribe they belong to. So for Muhammad it was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Mutallib from the Quraysh tribe.

Muhammad Ali is a combination of 2 of the most noteworthy Muslims in history and it has a nice ring to it. The name Muhammad means "praiseworthy" which fits for a boxer who praised himself and said he was the greatest. The name Ali literally can mean "high, elevated, or champion" which also fits. Clearly not a coincidence that he had those 2 names together.

 

The Clay's were related to Henry Clay, the politician in the 19th century. Even Ali himself said that.

 

Actually Jesus (Isa) is a prophet in Islam too. Whilst Muhammad is considered a false prophet in Christianity.

 

That’s what I heard. The Muslims rank JC. But only as a soldier with his own crew. Christians have God as the boss who also became a street level soldier on earth in the guise of JC. Jews recognise the same guy but also see JC only as just a kind of made guy alongside Abraham and Moses families. They don’t believe he was more than one guy. The Muslim recognition of Muhammad as a made man came after the Christians and Jews ceased to take on any new made men. They closed the books by then.

 

By the way, if you wonder about why Saad Muhammad chose his name, it's because Saad apparently means "bright future."

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Really? Guess I got that wrong. Wasn’t JC a son of David?

 

Well this has spiraled far from the topic at hand. I have some very divergent thoughts to the ones opined above but figure this forum probably isn’t the best source for this dialogue nor the right place.