Mohammed ali was a brilliant man and legendary fighter. The pseudo-christians of white America drove him to lose his faith in Christianity. . I mean who wouldn't? With the level of racisim that was perpetuated by whitemen including so called Christians and secularists alike of america in the 1900s.

The young mohammed ali then Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr found inspiration in the person of malcom x a popular Nation of islam member who introduced him to islam.
In 1962, Clay met Malcolm X, who soon became his spiritual mentor and political influence, and by the time of the first Liston fight NOI members, including Malcolm X, were visible in his entourage. In 1964 he converted to islam.
Ali later announced: "Cassius Clay is my slave name."

A quote by Ali shows his mindset at the time and his effort to draw a difference between him and white america (as many blacks tried to do at the time)
"I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me."
Malcom x was a very controversial figure who initially advocated violent opposition to the whiteman.. with as much flaws malcom x had, he was also a brave and inspirational figure.
Ali's friendship with Malcolm X ended as Malcolm split with the NOI a couple of weeks after Ali joined.
Ali would later say that turning his back on Malcolm was one of the mistakes he regretted most in his life. Malcom x was assassinated not long after as was Martin Luther king a noted black Christian civil rights leader. The white racist american did not differentiate between muslim or christian black man.. Black was black.

Ali converted to Sunni Islam in 1975, and then embraced the teachings of Sufism in 2005. Even Ali could not stand the intolerant doctrine of sunni islam.
Sufism or Tasawwuf, is defined as the inner mystical dimension of Islam. Sulfist are very moderate muslims and are even considered heretics / kaffirs by sunni muslims..They drink, they consider all religions to have some truths, they accommodate even african local beliefs and customs which tend toward the mystical and they dance as a form of worship..

The sunnis have murdered them for centuries. Sufis have had to deal with the destruction of their shrines and mosques, suppression orders, and discrimination against sufi adherents in a number of sunni Muslim countries where most Sufis live.
The Turkish Republican state banned all the different Sufi orders and closed their institutions in 1925 after Sufis opposed the new secular order.
The Iranian Islamic Republic has harassed Shia Sufi, reportedly for their lack of support for the government doctrine of "governance of the jurist" (i.e., that the supreme Shiite jurist should be the nation's political leader).
In most other Muslim countries especially sunni muslim countries, attacks on Sufis and especially their shrines and mosques have come with excuses such as the believe that practices like tge celebration of the birthdays of Sufi saints, and dhikr ("remembrance" of God) ceremonies are bid‘ah or impure innovation, and polytheistic (Shirk)..


Mohammed ali's Islamic sect was a small tolerant group that are truly very different from the intolerant bigot orthodox sunni majority but this has not stopped sunni muslims from trying to claim him..

I

@OP

Sufi is not a "Muslim sect". it is a movement, a tradition and mystical practices that Muslims, who are both Sunni and Shia, can identify with.

being a Sufi does not stop one from still identifying as a Sunni, or a Shia; however majority of Shia and Sunni Muslims do not follow Sufi traditions.

as for Muhammad Ali, he is most likely Sufi Sunni. but he was loved and still is loved by all Muslims, Sunnis and Shia. he visited Iran, the holy city of Karbala in Iraq, and holy Najaf. he did not discriminate along sectarian lines. the two branches/interpretations that Muslims fall into is Sunni and Shia. even the Ahmadiyyah who can today be considered a sect evolved from Sunni Islam.

the majority of Nigerian Sunni Muslims (as is the case in west Africa) are of Sufi Sunni leanings. this was the norm until Saudi started sponsoring scholars, giving scholarships, funding schools and mosques; then things started changing and Sunni Muslims started leaning towards Salafist/Wahhabi Sunnism. in the Sunni world, the Sufi Sunnis and the Salafist/Wahhabi Sunnis are two extremes of Sunni Islam. you see the majority of Sunnis are peaceful and tolerant because they are not Salafist/Wahhabi. they are either mainstream Sunnis or leaning towards Sufism. recently there was a very big Sufi event in Katsina celebrating the birthday of Sheikh Inyas. Sufi Sunnis are also very tolerant of Shia Muslims because even Sufi Sunnis honor the 12 holy Imams from the Prophet Muhammad's (s) Household whom the Shia regard as the righteous caliphs/successors of the Prophet (s). the Sufi Sunnis consider them as "awliyah" or Islamic saints. the Shia movement in Nigeria spread easily and there are millions of Shia through Sufi Sunnis who found it convenient to change.

Is it so difficult for the world to accept that hez a muslim?

What do u guys even know bout it