His daughter Hana Ali remembered the 74-year-old global icon in a series of tweets, first sharing with followers, “Our father was a “Humble Mountain!” And now he has gone home to God. God bless you daddy. YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!”
The morning after his passing, Hana detailed her father’s death and admitted that the family’s “hearts are literally hurting.”
“Our hearts are literally hurting. But we are so happy daddy is free now. We all tried to stay strong and whispered in his ear, ‘You can go now. We will be okay. We love you. Thank you. You can go back to God.’
“All of us were around him hugging and kissing him and holding his hands, chanting the Islam prayer,” she said of the final moments she spent with her father.
Hana further explained that her father’s “heart wouldn’t stop beating” though his organs stopped working: “All of his organs failed but his heart wouldn’t stop beating. For 30 minutes…his heart just keep beating. No one had ever seen anything like it. A true testament to the strength of his Spirit and Will! Thank you all for your love and support!!!”
Ali’s daughter Rasheda Ali also shared a memory of her father, posting a photo of the two with their hands and arms intertwined.
“The Greatest Man that ever lived,” she said of her father. “Daddy my best friend & my Hero You R no longer suffering & now in a better place.”
The boxer, who had a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, was married four times and fathered nine children: Maryum, Rasheda, Jamillah, Hana, Laila, Khaliah, Miya, Muhammad and Asaad.
He was admitted into a Phoenix hospital for a respiratory issue and passed away a day later.
Miley Cyrus, 23, and back-on beau Liam Hemsworth, 26, joined the many celebrities to express condolences, posting a throwback pic of their meeting at a 2012 fundraiser.
Says Liam in the caption: “I’ll never forget the day we met the toughest man on the planet.”
Miley’s Instagram caption featured the now-trending hashtag, “#RIPCHAMP.”
In 2002 Muhammad Ali was honoured with a star on the world famous Hollywood Walk of Fame – but it wasn’t like all the other stars.
In a break with tradition, the star was mounted on the wall instead of the pavement at the Kodak Theatre entertainment complex.
The reason? Because the former boxer, 59 at the time, said he did not want his name to be walked on by “people who have no respect for me”.
