Handwritten prayer, two pages, on 8.5 x 11 lightly-lined sheets. Entitled “Prayer from Prophet Muhammad,” the prayer reads, in full: “O’ Lord, grant to me the love of thee, grant that I may love those that love thee, grant that I may do the deeds that may win thy love. Make thy love to be dearer to me than self, family and wealth. Lord I think [sic] thee for firmness in faith and direction towards love and kindness and assist me in being grateful to thee, and in adoring thee in every good way. And I pray thee for an innocent heart. Which shall not incline to wickedness, and I pray thee for a true tongue and that virtue which thou knowest and I pray thee to defend me from that vice which thou knowest. O my defender assist me in remembering thee, and being grateful to thee, and in worshipping thee with all my strength. O Lord, I have inquired my own soul, and no one can pardon the faults of thy servants but thou, forgive me out of thy loving kindness and have mercy on me for thou art the forgiver of offences and the bestower of blessing on thy servants. Amen.” Signed at the conclusion, “March 25-19-81 from Muhammad Ali, Service to others is the rent I pay for my room here on Earth.” In fine condition, with punch holes to left edge, intersecting folds, a few creases, and a faint vertical strip of toning along the left side of the first page.
“The Greatest” was at the end of his professional career in 1981—just a memory of the pugilist who’d dominated the ring for twenty-one. A year earlier, Ali had been bested by champion Larry Holmes, yet Ali would not let go of the notion that it was time to hang up his gloves. The proceedings were painful to watch, as the skill and ring savvy of Ali were no longer there. The Champ viewed it as par for the course, but in reality Ali’s sluggishness was being treated with medication that left him unable to sweat and therefore, much weaker than normal. Truth be told, the decline was not sudden...Ali hadn’t packed much of a punch, by boxing standards at least, since the mid-1970s. Even “pretenders to the throne”, men like Earnie Shavers and Leon Spinks, men that Ali in his prime would have crushed just by glaring at them, had defeated him or came dangerously close to doing so.
It was in the wake of this—mortality—that Ali turned more strongly to his faith, witnessed by the the offered sentiment. At the time he was training for a December bout in the Bahamas against Trevor Berbick. By the end of the match, prayers were all that Ali had left. Berbick defeated Ali—the last man to do so. This prayer is a spiritual link to a man considered to be one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Pre-certified Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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