Muhammad Ali Seeks to Declare Marriage Void

June 23, 1965 - Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali asked the Dade Circuit Court in Miami Beach today to declare void his 10-month marriage to Sonji Roi (right), a former model, complaining that she broke a promise to convert to his Muslim faith.

The 23-year-old champion, who has been a Muslim since he won the Olympic boxing title in 1960, filed the suit as “Muhammad Ali,” although it is unclear if he has legally changed his name from his birth name, Cassius Clay.

Ali said 26-year-old Sonji had promised to adhere to Muslim prohibitions against tobacco, whiskey, and facial makeup and Muslim requirements that “all female adherents cover their bodies with floor-length dresses of plain and simple design.”

The suit filed today said that on May 26, a day after Ali won a controversial first-round knockout in his Lewiston, Me., title fight with Sonny Liston, Ali found Sonji in the lobby of the Schine Inn at Chicopee, Mass., “both attired and conducting herself in a manner contrary to tenets and beliefs of the Islamic faith.”He admonished her “concerning her deportment, whereupon she left him,” the suit said.

Sonji, who had been married previously and has a 10-year-old son, was in Chicago today.

Ali’s suit asked for an annulment on grounds that his wife had not fulfilled her vow to become a Muslim. But the suit asks a divorce if annulment is not granted.

An annulment would preclude the wife from claiming any alimony or a property settlement. She has until July 26 to appear in court or file any papers.

In Chicago, Ali’s wife said she was not aware of the suit and did not know that Ali had planned to file suit.

“It’s no shock to me, though,” she said. “I’m still on my feet. Cassius kept saying I had to become a Muslim. He said it was because I was embarrassing him.”

She said she had not seen her husband for two weeks and did not know where he was.

She said she had done her best to respect the Muslim faith. She said she did not smoke or drink and ate only foods prescribed for Muslims. The sole point of contention, she said, was the dictum that wives of Muslims wear floor-length dresses.

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