Why did Mohammad Ali change his birth name?

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.

In 1964, the boxing legend who told the world he was “The Greatest” changed his name to Mohammad Ali, dubbing his former alias, Cassius Clay, “my slave name”.

Named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr after his father, the sporting champion, denounced his birth name upon converting to Islam and affiliating with the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam is an African American political and new religious movement, founded in 1930. Its stated goals are to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans.

Ali reportedly attended his first NOI meeting in 1961 and continued to attend meetings with the African American Islamic religious movement aiming to improve the condition of African Americans in the US.

Malcolm X, a key figure of the movement before his conversion to orthodox Islam, became a spiritual and political mentor for Clay, and he briefly referred to himself as Cassius X before being renamed Muhammad Ali (Praised one) in a recorded statement by Elijah Muhammad, the group’s leader in 1964.