Posted on 07/03/2021 9:18:21 AM PDT by daniel1212
The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American national and religious organization founded by Noble Drew Ali (born as Timothy Drew). He based it on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moabites and thus are "Moorish" (sometimes also spelled "Muurish" by adherents) by nationality, and Islamic by faith. Ali put together elements of major traditions to develop a message of personal transformation through historical education, racial pride and spiritual uplift. His doctrine was also intended to provide African Americans with a sense of identity in the world and to promote civic involvement.
An organisation with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, claiming to be "the ONLY Moorish Science Temple teaching the full National side of the Moorish Movement",[1] is the Moorish Science Temple, with registered business names of the Divine and National Movement of North America, Inc., and Moorish American National Republic.[2][3] A Facebook page and various documents are titled Moorish Divine and National Movement.[4][5]
One primary tenet of the Moorish Science Temple is the belief that African Americans are of "Moorish" descent, specifically from the "Moroccan Empire". According to Ali, this area included other countries that today surround Morocco. To join the movement, individuals had to proclaim their "Moorish nationality". They were given "nationality cards". In religious texts, adherents refer to themselves racially as "Asiatics", as the Middle East is also western Asia.[6] Adherents of this movement are known as "Moorish-American Moslems" and are called "Moorish Scientists" in some circles.[7]
The Moorish Science Temple of America was incorporated under the Illinois Religious Corporation Act 805 ILCS 110. Timothy Drew, known to its members as Prophet Noble Drew Ali, founded the Moorish Science Temple of America in 1913 in Newark, New Jersey, a booming industrial city. After some difficulties, Ali moved to Chicago, establishing a center there, as well as temples in other major cities. The movement expanded rapidly during the late 1920s. The quick expansion of the Moorish Science Temple arose in large part from the search for identity and context among black Americans at the time of the Great Migration to northern and midwestern cities, as they were becoming an urbanized people.[8]
Competing factions developed among the congregations and leaders, especially after the death of the charismatic Ali. Three independent organizations developed from this ferment. The founding of the Nation of Islam by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 also created competition for members. In the 1930s membership was estimated at 30,000, with one third in Chicago. During the postwar years, the Moorish Science Temple of America continued to increase in membership, albeit at a slower rate.
Timothy Drew was believed to have been born on January 8, 1886 in North Carolina, United States.[9] Sources differ as to his background and upbringing: one reports he was the son of two former slaves who was adopted by a tribe of Cherokee;[10] another describes Drew as the son of a Moroccan Muslim father and a Cherokee mother.[11] In 2014 an article in the online Journal of Race Ethnicity and Religion attempted to link Timothy Drew to one Thomas Drew, born January 8, 1886, using census records, a World War I draft card, and street directory records.[12]
Founding of the Moorish Science Temple
Drew Ali reported that during his travels, he met with a high priest of Egyptian magic. In one version of Drew Ali's biography, the leader saw him as a reincarnation of the founder. In others, he says that the priest considered him a reincarnation of Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad and other religious prophets. According to the biography, the high priest trained Ali in mysticism and gave him a "lost section" of the Quran.[13]
This text came to be known as the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America. It is also known as the "Circle Seven Koran" because of its cover, which features a red "7" surrounded by a blue circle. The first 19 chapters are from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, published in 1908 by esoteric Ohio preacher Levi Dowling. In The Aquarian Gospel, Dowling described Jesus' supposed travels in India, Egypt, and Palestine during the years of his life which are not accounted for by the New Testament.[14]
Chapters 20 through 45 are borrowed from the Rosicrucian work, Unto Thee I Grant with minor changes in style and wording. They are instructions on how to live, and the education and duties of adherents.[15]
Drew Ali wrote the last four chapters of the Circle Seven Koran himself. In these he wrote:
The fallen sons and daughters of the Asiatic Nation of North America need to learn to love instead of hate; and to know of their higher self and lower self. This is the uniting of the Holy Koran of Mecca for teaching and instructing all Moorish Americans, etc. The key of civilization was and is in the hands of the Asiatic nations. The Moorish, who were the ancient Moabites, and the founders of the Holy City of Mecca.[16]
Drew Ali and his followers used this material to claim, "Jesus and his followers were Asiatic." ("Asiatic" was the term Drew Ali used for all dark or olive-colored people; he labeled all whites as European. He suggested that all Asiatics should be allied.)[17]
Drew Ali crafted Moorish Science from a variety of sources, a "network of alternative spiritualities that focused on the power of the individual to bring about personal transformation through mystical knowledge of the divine within".[17] In the inter-war years in Chicago and other major cities, he used these concepts to preach racial pride and uplift. His approach appealed to thousands of African Americans who had left severely oppressive conditions in the South through the Great Migration and faced struggles in new urban environments.[17]
Ali believed that African Americans are all Moors, who he claimed were descended from the ancient Moabites (describing them as belonging to Northwest Africa as opposed to Moab as the name suggests).[18] He claimed that Islam and its teachings are more beneficial to their earthly salvation, and that their 'true nature' had been 'withheld' from them. In the traditions he founded, male members of the Temple wear a fez or turban as head covering; women wear a turban.[19]
They added the suffixes Bey or El to their surnames, to signify Moorish heritage as well as their taking on the new life as Moorish Americans. It was also a way to claim and proclaim a new identity over that lost to the enslavement of their ancestors. These suffixes were a sign to others that while one's African tribal name may never be known to them, European names given by their enslavers were not theirs, either.[citation needed]
As Drew Ali began his version of teaching the Moorish-Americans to become better citizens, he made speeches like, "A Divine Warning By the Prophet for the Nations", in which he urged them to reject derogatory labels, such as "Black", "colored", and "Negro". He urged Americans of all races to reject hate and embrace love. He believed that Chicago would become a second Mecca.[citation needed]
The ushers of the Temple wore black fezzes. The leader of a particular temple was known as a Grand Sheik, or Governor. Noble Drew Ali had several wives.[20] According to The Chicago Defender, he claimed the power to marry and divorce at will.[21]
Early history
In 1913, Drew Ali formed the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey.[22] He left the city after agitating people with his views on race.[23] Drew Ali and his followers migrated, while planting congregations in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C., and Detroit. Finally, Drew Ali settled in Chicago in 1925, saying the Midwest was "closer to Islam".[24] The following year he officially registered Temple No. 9.
There he instructed followers not to be confrontational but to build up their people to be respected. In this way, they might take their place in the United States by developing a cultural identity that was congruent with Drew Ali's beliefs on personhood.[25] In the late 1920s, journalists estimated the Moorish Science Temple had 35,000 members in 17 temples in cities across the Midwest and upper South.[26] It was reportedly studied and watched by the Chicago police.
Building Moorish-American businesses was part of their program, and in that was similar to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League and the later Nation of Islam.[27] By 1928, members of the Moorish Science Temple of America had obtained some respectability within Chicago and Illinois, as they were featured prominently and favorably in the pages of The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper, and conspicuously collaborated with African American politician and businessman Daniel Jackson.[28]
Drew Ali attended the January 1929 inauguration of Louis L. Emmerson, as 27th Governor of Illinois in the state capital of Springfield. The Chicago Defender stated that his trip included "interviews with many distinguished citizens from Chicago, who greeted him on every hand."[29] With the growth in its population and membership, Chicago was established as the center of the movement. Internal split and murder
In early 1929, following a conflict over funds, Claude Green-Bey, the business manager of Chicago Temple No. 1 split from the Moorish Science Temple of America. He declared himself Grand Sheik and took a number of members with him. On March 15, Green-Bey was stabbed to death at the Unity Hall of the Moorish Science Temple, on Indiana Avenue in Chicago.[30]
Drew Ali was out of town at the time, as he was dealing with former Supreme Grand Governor Lomax Bey (professor Ezaldine Muhammad), who had supported Green-Bey's attempted coup.[31] When Drew Ali returned to Chicago, the police arrested him and other members of the community on suspicion of having instigated the killing. No indictment was sworn for Drew Ali at that time. The death of Drew Ali
Shortly after his release by the police, Drew Ali died at age 43 at his home in Chicago on July 20, 1929.[32] Although the exact circumstances of his death are unknown, the Certificate of Death stated that Noble Drew Ali died from "tuberculosis broncho-pneumonia".[33] Despite the official report, many of his followers speculated that his death was caused by injuries from the police or from other members of the faith.[34] Others thought it was due to pneumonia. One Moor told The Chicago Defender, "The Prophet was not ill; his work was done and he laid his head upon the lap of one of his followers and passed out."[35][36]
Succession and schism Grand Sheik E. Mealy El in an undated photo, ca. 1928
The death of Drew Ali brought out a number of candidates to succeed him.
The community was further split when Wallace Fard Muhammad, known within the temple as David Ford-el,[43] also claimed (or was taken by some) to be the reincarnation of Drew Ali.[44] When his leadership was rejected, Ford El broke away from the Moorish Science Temple. He moved to Detroit, where he formed his own group, an organization that would become the Nation of Islam.[45] The Nation of Islam denied any historical connection with the Moorish Science Temple until February 26, 2014, when Louis Farrakhan acknowledged the contribution(s) of Noble Drew Ali to the Nation of Islam and their founding principles.[46]
The African nations won’t take them voluntarily! They would have to “filibuster (old meaning) “ their way in William Walker style. They would need significant outside support. They would be up against not only the nation’s military, but OAS, & the UN. Africans in general feel no affinity toward American blacks, they’re just Americans (foreigners) who have black skin. In fact African attitude toward American blacks is one of disdain. It shocks a lot of American blacks when they discover this.
Used to be out here (Iowa).
Dubuque I think. By the old Spiritualist camp
Middle photo of Moorish dignitary with hand on stomach....
“And I stupidly, stupidly trusted that damn street cart vendor serving me the large burrito. Never again.”
Who says that blacks are underrepresented in the sciences?
Don’t like to read “Michigan” in the list.
A couple of years ago there were some news stories about a police incident. They were called when a man was trying to slash a woman to death. He still tried to attack the officers but they stopped him and jailed him. As Robert Johnson the blues great sang in Traveling Riverside Blues: “I aint gon’ to state no color....”
Then stories of protest demonstration blocking the freeway entrances and main east-west highway through the city. Over police brutality (they were found innocent later). The people involved as witnesses and in the crime said “We don’t follow the laws and we don’t believe in the laws. We keep ourselves separate from that.” Another said “No police have any right to arrest any of us.”
Photo said to be of Mealy El....
The word “El” in Hebrew is for God or god.
Examples: Immanuel means God is with us. Bethel means House of God.
Has a high opinion of himself, apparently.
Do they do it without the fez on?
And if you commend one class being proud of their skin color while asserting another class should be ashamed of their skin color - all while condemning racism - then your are a racist (usually a democrat).
I used to volunteer as a prison chaplain, and one of my duties was to babysit the Moor’s meetings. You could tell that I wasn’t part of the group — I had a tie on. Okay, and I was the only white guy within a quarter of a mile, there was that. Time. To. Make. Friends.
Their website is a confusing array of statements. An interesting read if one wants to wade through them. There are seeming contradictions. Sometimes they say they are not anti-government yet in other places they seem to say they believe they exist as a separate government inside the US.
There seemed to be a bit more specific detail on their application page.
main page http://www.riseofthemoors.org/store/p87/RISE_OF_THE_MOORS_STUDY_GROUP_APPLICATION.html
application form
http://www.riseofthemoors.org/store/p87/RISE_OF_THE_MOORS_STUDY_GROUP_APPLICATION.html
Good to know this!
Time to demand Reparations for all the Spanish/French/Italian/Greek families whose families were destroyed by the N. African Corsairs and whose mothers and daughters were dragged off to wretched slavery in the Moorish lands between 700 and 1450!
Quasi Islamic, big in prisons. The Moors and Nation of Islam were always fighting with each other in the Michigan prison system about who would control the drugs and gambling rackets.
CC
Middle man’s picture....
I can’t remember your name, pal, but the fez is familiar.
Nod to Austin Powers.
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