The efforts of Turkey to prove itself capable of leading the Islamic world are frequently knocked down by punishing blows. One of these was struck at Muhammad Ali’s funeral last week.

It all started when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to give a eulogy June 10 at Ali's funeral in Louisville, Ky. His request initially was accepted, but later declined in a strike to Erdogan’s reputation. King Abdullah of Jordan, whose request to deliver a speech was also accepted and then turned down — probably to discourage Erdogan — called off his trip to the United States.

Erdogan, however, did not change his plan, though his request to have Turkish Director of Religious Affairs Mehmet Gormez recite the Quran by Ali’s casket was also declined. Erdogan also brought with him a piece of cloth from the holy Kaaba Mausoleum to place on the casket, but Imam Zaid Shakir, who was leading the prayers, rejected the request, saying it would violate the sanctity of the ceremony.

That wasn’t all. Erdogan was unable to deliver the gifts he had brought for Ali’s family. Erdogan waited for 15 minutes in a room at the Muhammad Ali Center to deliver his gifts before the center's director Donald Lassere stopped Ali's daughter Jamillah by his second wife, saying she could not represent the family in receiving Erdogan’s gifts. The confusion was attributed to Ali's fourth and last wife, Yolanda Williams.