Ali’s widow, Lonnie, addressed a crowd on its feet.

“Muhammad indicated that when the end came, he wanted us to use his life and his death as a teaching moment,” she said. “He would not be intimidated so as to abandon his principles and his values.”

Lonnie said Ali would want people to see Islam as the religion of love, and the reason for his pacifism. About 15,000 came to his memorial, and 100,000 watched the procession in Louisville — a spectacle according to his wishes, she explained.

“He believed it was his duty to let everyone see him in person, because, after all, he was the greatest person of all time,” she said.

His eldest daughter Maryum Ali described the tributes as “overwhelming” and read a poem written by his children.

“Thank you our dear father for asking us to think about our purpose, and showing us to think about our service to others,” she said.

“Until we meet again: fly, butterfly, fly,” said another daughter Rasheda Ali.

Comedian Billy Crystal reflected on his decades-long relationship with the legendary boxer.

“It is hard to describe what he meant to me...He was funny, he was beautiful, he was the most perfect athlete you ever saw. And those were his own words,” he quipped.

Crystal also drew some laughter with his impression of Ali, joking that the boxer was “so fast, I can turn off the lights and get into bed before it gets dark.”

He added: “(Ali) is gone, but he will never die. He was my big brother.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton also paid his respects, acknowledging Ali’s historical significance.

“It is the choice Muhammad Ali made that brought us all here today,” Clinton said.

Memorial service a political statement:

Ali was a devout Muslim, and the service began with Imam Zaid Shakir reading passages from the Quran before leading the crowd in chants of “Ali! Ali!”

Timothy Gianotti, a professor at the University of Waterloo who studies classical Muslim thought, is the spiritual advisor to the Ali family and helped ensure that Ali’s funeral rights were in accordance with Islam.

“Embrace him in light and fill us all with light!” he urged.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton escorted Ali’s widow, Lonnie, on his arm.

The interfaith service touched on anti-racism, activism, social justice and “Muhammad Ali said ‘I’m black and I’m pretty,’ ” said Louisville pastor Kevin Cosby, “When he said that, that infused in Africans a sense of somebody-ness.”

“He dared to affirm the beauty of blackness.”

U.S. Senator Orinn Hatch, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commented that their religious differences fortified their friendship, but did not define it.

“Ali was open to goodness, in all of its diverse varieties,” he said.

The service took on a political tone when progressive Rabbi Michael Lerner took the microphone. He vehemently affirmed his support for people of the Muslim faith and condemned those who put down the faith because of the actions of a few.

“We know what it’s like to be demeaned,” he said, receiving a standing ovation.

In a speech covering everything from drug policy to drones, Lerner said Ali’s legacy as a Vietnam War abstainer should inspire this generation to end homelessness and create a free Palestinian state.

“The way to honor Muhammad Ali is to be Muhammad Ali today,” he said.

The speech was so impassioned it moved the crowd to chant “Ali! Ali! Ali!” once again.

Malcolm X’s daughter, Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, delivered a tearful speech remembering the legacy of both her father and Ali.

U.S. President Barack Obama was unable to make the trip because his daughter, Malia, is graduating from high school. Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, will read a letter Obama wrote to Ali’s family at the service.

“Muhammad Ali was America, brash, defiant, pioneering, joyful, never tired, always game to test the odds,” she read. An “unabashedly black voice in a Jim Crow world.”

On the schedule

Television journalist Bryant Gumbel also paid his respects.

“This time our beloved champion is down, and for once, he won't get up... Not this time. Not ever again,” Gumbel said.

How can the storied life of a man revered by fans worldwide be encapsulated in a two-hour service?

As it turns out, Ali called the shots.

Years ago, the champ signed off on how he wished to say goodbye to the world. One of his mandates was that ordinary fans attend, not just VIPs. Thousands of free tickets were snatched up within an hour, many fans waiting hours for the chance to witness history.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee:

In between the processional and the memorial, Ali will be buried in a private ceremony at the historic cemetery that is home to KFC’s Colonel Harland Sanders and the Hill sisters who wrote “Happy Birthday To You.”

His cherry-red casket, draped in an Islamic tapestry, was loaded into a hearse as a group of pallbearers that included former boxers Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and actor Will Smith. It left the funeral home in a double file. Ali’s nine children, his wife, two of his ex-wives and other family members joined the funeral procession.

The 17-car motorcade carrying his casket slowly made its way past sites important to him: his first boxing gym, his high school, Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The throngs were undeterred by cloudless 30 C day.

“If it was raining, I believe the crowd would have been the same,” said Sean Little, 45.

The crowd was biggest outside Ali’s childhood home on Grand Ave., a small pink bungalow turned recently into a museum. Street vendors hawked shirts and posters as a camera-equipped media drone buzzed overhead.

“R.I.P, Muhammad Ali! Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!” a group of young girls chanted on the road.

Do not rob Muhammad Ali of his sting

As the long line of black limousines went by, hundreds broke into a chant of “A-li”, stood on cars, held up cellphones and signs, tossed flowers onto the hood of the hearse, and reached out to touch it.

The crowd shouted and surged forward in excitement when Smith, who played Ali on screen, was spotted waving out the window of an SUV close behind.

Truckers honked their horns in salute. Others fell silent and looked on reverently as the champ went by.

Just an ordinary guy:

In Louisville, Ali was both a revered icon and a local guy. Local residents, black and white, had strikingly personal memories of a man they said hadn’t forgotten his humble roots.

Ali strove for justice at a high cost

“Once, with my grandmother when I was 12, he was handing out prayer books. And once I decided to drive through Shawnee Park, and there he was in the middle of the basketball court. I couldn’t believe it. I hit the brakes so hard I almost broke my neck,” said Little.

Bill Robben said Ali’s wife Lonnie once worked at the Louisville roller rink owned by his father.

“One Sunday night we all went out drinking beer and eating pizza,” said Robben, 69, sitting in a lawn chair along the route across town. “Really.”

“He was just an ordinary guy, like us,” said Robben’s wife, Linda, 64. “He was a very approachable person. You could probably ask a lot of people in this town — they’ve all met him.”

One man drove 14 hours straight from Atlanta; one flew in from Indonesia. Standing near the Robbens were Cedric Rashad, 68, and his grandson Justice Ali Reeder, 14, who came from Atlanta.

“He was named after Ali. And I just wanted him to have a sense of history, of where his name came from, of why we decided to name him Ali,” said Rashad, who like Ali, is black man who converted to Islam.

He continued: “I had a chance to meet Ali one time. He was the prettiest guy I’ve ever seen in my life. Oh, my God!”

Ali was given a simple Muslim funeral service, or janaza, on Thursday afternoon.

Last time to see Ali ride by:

Inez Hughes tried not to cry as she gazed at the interstate where the hearse carrying Muhammad Ali’s body will soon pass by.

“This is the last time to see him ride by,” the Louisville native said. “This is history.”

She stood with dozens of others leaning against the rail overlooking the interstate at Louisville’s Belvedere, a plaza along the Ohio River where the memorial will be livestreamed for those who weren’t able to get tickets.

“He was Louisville, he represented us better than anybody else,” said Hughes’ co-worker, Ashia Powell. “He stood up for himself and for us, even when it wasn’t popular.”

Turkey’s president cuts visit abruptly:

Private Dogan news agency reported that the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan was upset that funeral organizers rejected his request to lay a piece from the cloth covering the Kaaba, in Mecca, on Ali’s coffin. They reportedly also denied a request for Turkey’s top cleric to read from the Qur’an.

Erdogan attended the Muslim prayer service for Ali on Thursday, but would not take part in Friday’s interfaith memorial service.

Erdogan and Jordan’s King Abdullah were scheduled to speak at the funeral but lost their spots when other speakers were added later.

RELATED LINKS

Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, lived the biggest, brightest life possible: Arthur

“Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee.” Some of Ali’s best quotes.

For more on Ali’s best fights.

With files from The Associated Press and Robin Levinson King