A decade ago, I interviewed Abdul El-Sayed for a story I wrote about boxer Muhammad Ali after he died, how he impacted Muslim-Americans. El-Sayed traveled to Kentucky for his funeral. "I've never been so emotional about the passing of an icon or celebrity. No icon whose life with which mine overlapped has done more to empower me," El-Sayed told me. "He was my mind's answer to all the times I was told 'You can't because ... '  Here was this Muslim minority — a guy who looked different and had a weird name — who had the rare combination of a remarkable set of skills and the sheer grit and courage to believe both in himself and in a set of values to which he held unshakably, regardless the consequences." freep.com/story/news/obituar…