Pictured: Eight of Muhammad Ali's children who will be fighting over the boxing legend's $80million fortune as his casket arrives home in Louisville 

It was a moving display of family unity: nine children with four women gathered around the bedside of dying Muhammad Ali.

They had rushed from all corners of the US, said his spokesman, to share the final moments of a man whose chaotic family life had always been subsumed under his glorious public one.

‘We all tried to stay strong and whispered in his ear, “You can go now. We will be OK. We love you. You can go back to God now”,’ said his daughter Hana.

‘All of us were hugging and kissing him, holding his hands, chanting the Islamic prayer.’

Ali’s spokesman Bob Gunnell said he was deeply moved by the scene. ‘It was a wonderful thing to witness. A lot of love and every member of his family was there,’ he said.

‘There was a lot of crying ... but more important they did it with dignity and kindness, as Muhammad lived his life.’

This show of solidarity in grief is undoubtedly one that Ali’s family will maintain – at least until after his funeral. 

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United front: Ali, center, with some of his children – (from left) Jamillah, Maryum (standing), Khaliah (sitting), adopted son Asaad, Hana, Miya, Laila and Rasheda 

Muhammad Ali's body has arrived in his hometown of Louisville - ahead of a public funeral procession and service expected to draw huge crowds in honor of 'The Greatest' on Friday. Above, his casket is seen being loaded into a hearse at Louisville International Airport

An airplane carrying the boxing great's body arrived from Arizona, where he died, on Sunday afternoon in his hometown of Louisville ahead of a public funeral procession and service expected to draw huge crowds in honor of 'The Greatest' on Friday.

The private plane landed at Louisville International Airport around 4.30pm, WLKY reports. Gunnell says Ali was accompanied by his wife, Lonnie, and other family members and friends. He says the body was taken to a local funeral home.

Police reportedly escorted the casket, which was wrapped in a black cloth bearing Arabic scripture in gold on it, from the airport to the funeral home.

The three-time heavyweight champion and outspoken civil rights activist died on Friday night at age 74 after health problems complicated by a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

'Our hearts are literally hurting. But we are happy daddy is free now,' one of Ali's nine children, daughter Hana, wrote on Twitter.

A private plane carrying the boxing great's body arrived in Louisville from Arizona, where he died, at around 4.30pm on Sunday

Police escorted the casket carrying Ali's body from the airport to AD Porter and Sons Funeral Home on Bardstown Road in Louisville

Ali's daughter Hana pays tribute to her father in this Instagram post saying 'you are the love of my life'

After the funeral there are fears that the gloves will be off in the battle over the boxer’s $80million (£55million) fortune and, perhaps equally importantly, who guides the legacy of such a legend. 

For both his brother Rahman and Muhammad Ali Jr, the boxer’s sole biological son, have accused others in his extended family of being anything but ‘humanitarian’ towards them, cruelly leaving them in varying degrees of financial hardship as Ali and his controlling fourth wife, Lonnie, lived in the lap of luxury.

Unemployed Ali Jr, 44, recently revealed he hadn’t spoken to his father for two years, and that his attempts to contact him were routinely blocked.

Indeed, he even went so far as to claim that he had stopped caring what happened to Ali. And it’s not difficult to see why.

For the past decade, he has been living in a miserable garret in Chicago’s crime-ridden South Side, relying on charity handouts to feed and clothe him, his wife Shaakira, and their two children, aged seven and eight. Their grotty flat is theirs only through the charity of Shaakira’s family, who own it.

Ali Jr, the son of Ali’s second wife, Khalilah, says he has been almost entirely cut off from his father since 2004. He blames Lonnie, who married Ali in 1986, and not only nursed him through his long decline but also – with power of attorney over his money – sorted out his chaotic financial affairs.

Sad: Muhammed Ali's brother Rahman, pictured left, at 'The Greastest's' boyhood home and museum in Louisville and his son Muhammad Ali Jr is pictured right. ave accused others in his extended family of being anything but ‘humanitarian’ towards them, cruelly leaving them in varying degrees of financial hardship as Ali and his controlling fourth wife, Lonnie, lived in the lap of luxury

The official cause of Ali's death was septic shock due to unspecified natural causes.

Gunnell said Ali had sought medical attention for a cough, but his condition rapidly deteriorated. He was admitted to a hospital in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, where he had lived for several years with his wife Lonnie.

In Louisville, the late boxing legend's life was celebrated at a memorial service at the church where their father was a longtime member on Sunday.

His younger brother Rahman Ali took center stage at the two-hour service at King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, sitting in a front-row pew with his wife, Caroline.

During the service, assistant pastor Charles Elliott III asked the congregation to stand to honor Muhammad Ali. In his tribute, Elliott said 'there is no great man that has done more for this city than Muhammad Ali.'

Hundreds of fans flocked to Ali's childhood home (above) on Sunday, which was recently renovated and turned into a museum

A mourner wrote a a heartfelt note about Ali, calling him a 'hero to the whole world' in a tribute left outside his childhood home

People pray during the Interfaith Memorial Service at the Louisville Islamic Center for the late Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday

People are seen decorating a banner set up at the interfaith service in tribute to Muhammad Ali with some of his famous quotes, including 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'

The church is not far from the little pink house in Louisville's west end where the Ali brothers grew up. It also features a painting by Ali's father, Cassius Clay Sr.

And it was one of several emotional remembrances Sunday as the city joined together to mourn its most celebrated son, called 'the Louisville Lip'. Later on Sunday, interfaith services were planned at Louisville's Islamic Center, which invited citizens to 'join hands in unity to celebrate the life' of Ali.

On Friday, politicians, celebrities and fans from around the globe are expected for a memorial service that Ali planned himself with the intent of making it open to all.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (right, outside the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel) is seen for the first time since the death of Muhammad Ali

On Instagram, Mayweather thanked Muhammad Ali for not only his efforts in the ring but his cultural standing during a difficult era

After a small family funeral on Thursday, Ali's coffin will be transported Friday through the streets of Louisville, before a private burial at Cave Hill Cemetery and the public interfaith memorial service at the KFC Yum! Center.

The procession has been organized to 'allow anyone that is there from the world to say goodbye,' family spokesman Bob Gunnell told reporters.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city is ready for a massive celebration to honor its most famous son.

MUHAMMAD ALI (1942-2016)

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr on January 17, 1942. He dazzled fans with slick moves in the ring and his wit and engaging persona outside it - and famously said he could 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.'

He took the name of Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam in 1964, soon after he claimed the world title with a monumental upset of Sonny Liston.  

His career spanned from 1960 to 1981 and he retired with a record of 56-5, including such historic bouts as the 'Rumble in the Jungle' against George Foreman in 1974 in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).

'He hit me with a quick one-two, knocked me down to the canvas and my whole life changed,' Foreman told CNN of the epic 'Rumble.'

'I was devastated,' he said. 'Little did I know I would make the best friend I ever had in my life.'

Ali's refusal to serve in the Vietnam War saw him prosecuted for draft evasion, and led to him being effectively banned for boxing for three years of his prime.

But Ali held firm to his beliefs and eventually earned accolades as a civil rights activist. The US Supreme Court overturned his conviction for draft dodging in 1971.

He received the highest US civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2005 and was chosen to light the Olympic torch in 1996, his hands trembling due to Parkinson's - a poignant moment for the sports world.

The famous 1974 Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali (right) and his compatriot and the titleholder George Foreman

Ali wed his first wife, Chicago cocktail waitress Sonji Roy, in 1964 but they divorced within 17 months without producing any children.

The marriage reportedly ended because she objected to the constraints of being a Muslim wife.

Next came Belinda Boyd, who had caught Ali’s wandering eye when she was 14 and working in a Kentucky bakery. They married in 1967, when she was 17 and he 27.

She dutifully changed her name to Khalilah Ali and had three daughters – Maryum and twins Jamillah and Rasheda – and the son Ali had long craved.

During the tumultuous marriage, Ali had numerous affairs, two of which led to the birth of another two daughters. In 1975, Ali strayed again, beginning a relationship with Veronica Porsche who had worked as a glamorous ‘poster girl’ to spice up his fight against Joe Frazier.

Once, Khalilah caught them in bed together in a hotel and she attacked him so ferociously she drew blood.

A man carries a photo of Ali outside the boxing legend's childhood home on Grand Avenue, which was recently turned into a museum

Hundreds of mourners - many visibly shaken by the passing of their hero - visited the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville Sunday to lay flowers and heartfelt messages to 'The Greatest Of All Time'

Muhammad Ali is seen raising his fists for the final time in these photographs from his final shoot taken by photographer Zenon Texeira 

After Ali married Veronica, Khalilah was quickly written out of his life and reduced to very modest circumstances. Today, she works as a hospital canteen waitress in Florida.

Ali’s marriage to Veroncia produced two more daughters, Hana and Laila, but by 1986 she, too, had been swept aside.

That year, as Parkinson’s Disease began to take hold, he married wife number four, Lonnie Williams, who had been a childhood neighbour, albeit 16 years his junior.

Inevitably, Ali’s life was complicated by claims he fathered other children. They include Kiiursti Mensah Ali, now 35, whose mother claims she had a 20-year affair with the boxer which started when she was 17.

Meanwhile Lonnie and Ali adopted a baby boy, Asaad, and she became Ali’s full-time carer. But her motives for such self-sacrifice remain hotly debated within the family.

The last public picture: Muhammad Ali pictured with singer Carrie Underwood at Celebrity Fight Night XXII at the JW Marriott resort in Phoenix in April

The Greatest: Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston after he dropped him with a short hard right to the jaw in Lewiston, Maine in 1965

Ali is pictured in September 2012 alongside his wife Lonnie Ali, left, and his sister-in-law Marilyn Williams, right, after receiving the Liberty Medal during a ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia

Whereas some are adamant that Lonnie rescued Ali, others say she poisoned his relationships with the rest of his family, many of whom were seen as spongers leeching money off him. Ali Jr, as well as the boxer’s brother, are seen in this category.

For his part, Ali Jr says his estrangement from his father happened 12 years ago when he asked him for a signed pair of boxing gloves. He claims Lonnie believed he wanted the memento only so he could sell it and therefore refused to let him see his dad.

He also claims she did not allow his father to attend the funeral of Ali Jr’s baby daughter.

In recent years, Ali Jr says that when he phoned his father, his calls would either not be answered or he would be told his father was busy. Although he’s in touch with his sisters, they never discussed their father, he said. Ali Jr claims they are also angry at Lonnie but are too scared to say anything.

Trading punches: Muhammad Ali  and Joe Frazier box in a 12-round non-title fight at Madison Square Garden in 1974

He added: ‘I used to say that I felt hurt not having my daddy in my life and it’s still not a good feeling. In reality, it’s like not having one. My father can’t do a thing for me.’ Rahman Ali also blames Lonnie for his reduced circumstances.

Aged 72, the ex-boxer married six times and was a member of his brother’s entourage.

In return, Ali is said to have helped him with alimony payments to some of these ex-wives and allowed him to move into a house he bought for their mother after she passed away.

Yet this largesse ended when Lonnie took over the purse strings, forcing Rahman into a modest Louisville flat.

Three of a kind: Former World Heavyweight Champions Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in London in 1989

Rahman says he once confronted Ali about the woman he’s called a ‘gold digger’ and ‘an evil b****’. He claims Ali ‘just looked at me with his famous look’, put a finger over his mouth and went ‘Ssshhh’.

With family members expecting Lonnie to be a co-executor of the estate, Rahman has reportedly vowed to fight ‘tooth and nail’ in court to ensure he and all Ali’s children receive a share – which is now likely to soar in value.

The marginalised brother and son aren’t the only enemies of Lonnie. Charlotte Waddell, the boxer’s cousin, claimed two years ago that Lonnie ‘controls everything’, saying: ‘I can’t stand to be around her. It wouldn’t take me two seconds to spit in her face.’

How tragically ironic that the greatest fighter the world has ever known has left an extended family who seem hell-bent on plunging into bitter feuding.

A meeting of minds: Muhammad Ali poses with The Beatles, who visited him at a boxing gym in Miami in 1964

FROM TRAITOR TO TRAILBLAZER: HOW MUHAMMAD ALI BECAME THE MUSLIM WHO AMERICANS CAME TO LOVE

Moroccan King Hassan II (right) decorating Muhammad Ali during a ceremony in the Royal Palace in Rabat on January 15, 1998

The death of Muhammad Ali has cost American Muslims perhaps their greatest hero, a goodwill ambassador for Islam in a country where their minority faith is widely misunderstood and mistrusted.

'We thank God for him,' Talib Shareef, president and imam of the Masjid Muhammad mosque in Washington, told a gathering of Muslim leaders who honored Ali in Washington on Saturday, a day after he died in a Phoenix hospital at age 74. 'America should thank God for him. He was an American hero.'

From the turmoil of civil rights and black Muslim movements of the 1960s to the darkest days after Sept. 11, 2001, Ali was a hero that U.S. Muslims could share with part of the American mainstream.

Muslims remembered Ali for many familiar reasons, hailing him as a champion of social justice, a lifelong supporter of charitable works and an opponent of the U.S. war in Vietnam.

Moreover, they said, he was a Muslim that a largely Christian country came to admire, even if Ali shocked and scared much of U.S. society after he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay in 1964.

'When we look at the history of the African-American community, one important factor in popularizing Islam in America is Muhammad Ali,' Warith Deen Mohammed II, son of the former Nation of Islam leader, said in a statement.

With some 3.3 million adherents in the United States, Muslims make up about 1 percent of the population, largely immigrants and African-Americans who have embraced the religion.

Although they have integrated into society better than some of their brethren in Europe, American Muslims face hardships even as the United State grows demographically less white and less Christian.

Since 2001, they have suffered backlash from those Americans who equate all Muslims with those who have attacked civilians out of some jihadist cause.

Decades before, black Muslim leaders such as Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X rattled the white establishment as religious and ethnic minorities who demanded equality for their people. Elijah Mohammad preached a version that denounced white oppression and opposed integration of the races.

Ali came to be widely revered, but there was a time when he was rejected, mostly by whites by also by some black leaders for his bold statements against white supremacy and for his refusal to embrace the model epitomized by Martin Luther King, a Christian.

'The sanitizing of Ali's image in recent years has led many to forget that he was reviled by many during the 1960s for his conversion to Islam and for his refusal to be inducted into the U.S. armed forces,' said Frank Guridy, a visiting associate professor of history at Columbia University.

'He was seen as a traitor to the United States of America.'

In the 1970s, Ali converted to Sunni Islam, the largest denomination among Muslims worldwide, and embraced Sufism, a mystical school of the faith.

At the gathering of Muslim-American leaders in Washington, speaker after speaker remembered him fondly as the Muslim who Americans came to love.

Ali defended Muslims last December, after Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump proposed temporarily stopping Muslims from entering the country in the wake of Islamist militant attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

'Our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam, and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people's views on what Islam really is,' Ali said in a statement.

He also used his influence to advocate the release of Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who spent 18 months in a Iranian prison, and for Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was captured by Islamic extremists in Pakistan and later beheaded in 2002.

'Muhammad Ali was a gift from God,' said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, 'not only to Muslims but to the world.'

Source: Reuters