Boxing icon Muhammad Ali has come out fighting against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and his controversial call for a ban on the entry of all Muslims into the US.
Trump's comments have been widely condemned in the states from across the political spectrum with President Barrack Obama calling for unity in the wake of the 2 December San Bernardino shootings which left 21 dead and were inspired by Islamic State terrorism.
Ali, who became an outspoken advocate of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s and converted to Islam in 1975, also used his statement to speak out against the Islamic State (Isis/Daesh) and to say Islam had nothing to do with the attacks in Paris on 13 November.
In the statement broadcast on US television, Ali, 73, said: "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.
"I am a Muslim, and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world.
"True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so-called Islamic jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion," he added.
That's an absurd call by the presidential candidate. What happened to being democratic and secular in the modern age?
I'm not surprised by Alis response, it's shameful for someone as high ranking as Donald Trump to be running around and making controversial statements as such.
