Moorish Science Temple of America

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Attendees of the 1928 Moorish Science Temple Conclave in Chicago. Noble Drew Ali is in the front row center.

The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American religion founded in the early 20th-century by Timothy Drew. He based it on the belief that African Americans had descended from the Moors and were originally Muslims. Drew put together elements of major traditions to develop a message of personal transformation, racial pride and uplift.

Founded in New Jersey in 1913 by self-proclaimed Prophet Drew Ali (born Timothy Drew in the United States), the Moorish Science Temple blossomed in Chicago and other major cities during the late 1920s, when the African-American population and culture of the North and Midwest was increasing rapidly as a result of the Great Migration from the South. Its creation can be seen as part of the era's search for identity as African Americans sought to establish themselves in new regions of the United States, at a time when racial discrimination and segregation were severe. Membership in the Moorish Science Temple gave people a positive community in which to build their lives.

As in Protestant sects, competing factions developed, especially after the death of the charismatic founder Noble Drew Ali in 1929. Members followed various leaders into different groups, but the main body of the Moorish Science Temple continued. In the 1930s membership was estimated at 30,000, with one third of them in Chicago. The founding of the Nation of Islam also created competition for members. The Moors continued to increase members in the postwar years, but at a slower rate.

By the late 20th century, demographic and cultural changes had decreased the attraction of young people to the Moorish Science Temple. In the early 2000s, it is estimated that there may be 1 million card-carrying Moors.[1]

Contents

[edit] Drew's early life

Timothy Drew was born on January 8, 1886 in North Carolina, USA.[2] Accounts of Timothy Drew's ancestry variously described his being the son of two former slaves, who was adopted by a tribe of Cherokees,[3] or his being the son of a Moroccan Muslim father and a Cherokee mother.[4]

His mother apparently died while Drew was a young boy, as he was left with an aunt. She was reported to have been abusive.[5] According to the Moorish Science account, at the age of 16, Drew befriended a band of Roma ("gypsies"), with whom he traveled the world.[6] Other accounts state Drew shipped out as a merchant seaman, became a railway expressman,[7] or joined a circus and became a stage magician.[8] Some researchers wonder whether Drew ever left the United States.[9]

[edit] Founding the Moorish Science Temple

Drew reported that during his travels, he met with a high priest of an Egyptian cult of magic. In one version of Drew's biography, the leader saw him as a reincarnation of the founder of the cult, while in others, the priest considered Drew a reincarnation of Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammed and other religious prophets. According to the biography, the cult trained Drew in mysticism and gave him a lost section of the Koran.

This text came to be known as the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America (note: this text is never spelled Qur'an). It is also known as the Circle Seven Koran because of its cover, which features a red "7" surrounded by a blue circle. Drew took parts of his book from the Rosicrucian work, Unto Thee I Grant and most of it from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, published in 1908 by an esoteric Ohio preacher named Levi Dowling. In The Aquarian Gospel, Dowling described Jesus's supposed travels in India, Egypt, and Palestine during the years of his life which are not accounted for by the New Testament. Drew and his followers used this material to say that "Jesus and his followers were Asiatic." ("Asiatic" was the term Drew used for all dark or olive-colored people; he labeled all whites as European. He suggested that all Asiatics should be allied.)

His sources meant that Drew created Moorish Science out of 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."[10] In the inter-war years in Chicago and other major cities, Drew 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 and faced struggles in new urban environments.[10]

Drew claimed to have been anointed the Noble Drew Ali, the Prophet. He launched into his career as head of the Moorish Science Temple. His version of Islam was quite different from the traditional one, and his text, the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple, had more about Jesus than Muhammed. Drew taught his followers to "face east when praying, regard Friday as their holy day, and call their god Allah and their leader Prophet. But the similarities to mainstream Islam end there. Moorish-Americans drink alcohol and eat pork. They do not pray five times a day or travel to Mecca."[11] Many hymns sung are recognizable as adapted from traditional Christian hymns common in black churches.[11]

[edit] Practices

Drew claimed that African Americans were all descended from Moors and were of Muslim heritage, and that their true nature had been withheld from them. In the traditions he founded, male members of the Temple wear a fez as head covering; women wear a turban. They added the suffixes Bey or El to their surnames, to signify Moorish heritage as well as their taking on the new religion. It was also a way to claim and proclaim a new identity other than that lost to slavery of their ancestors in the United States.

The ushers of the Temple wore black fezzes. The leader of a particular temple was known as a Grand Sheik, or Governor.

As Drew began his version of teaching the Moorish-Americans to become better citizens, he made speeches 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.

Drew Ali was known to have had several wives.[12] According to the Chicago Defender, he took the power to marry and divorce at will.[13]

[edit] History

Noble Drew Ali

[edit] Early history

In 1913 Drew Ali formed the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey.[14] Forced to flee town because he had agitated people with his views on race,[6] Drew Ali and his followers migrated, while planting congregations in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C., and Detroit. Through these years he developed his ideas about Moorish Science Temple. Finally Drew Ali settled in Chicago in 1925, ostensibly because the Midwest was "closer to Islam."[15] 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. He was creating a way for African Americans to make their place in the United States by giving them a new national identity and a new religion.[16] In the late 1920s, journalists estimated the Moorish Temple had 15,000 members in 17 temples in cities across the Midwest and upper South.[17] 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 UNIA and the later Nation of Islam.[18] By 1928, members of the Moorish Temple had obtained some respectability within Chicago and Illinois, as they were featured prominently and favorably in the pages of the Chicago Defender, a black newspaper, and conspicuously collaborated with black politician and businessman Daniel Jackson.[19] Drew attended the 1929 inauguration of the Illinois governor. The Chicago Defender stated that Drew's trip included "interviews with many distinguished citizens from Chicago, who greeted him on every hand."[20] With the growth in its population and membership, Chicago was established as the center of the movement.

[edit] The death of Drew Ali

In early 1929, following a conflict over funds, Claude Green-Bey, the business manager of Chicago Temple No. 1 and a Booster's Club president, split from the Moorish Temple. 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 Temple, on Indiana Avenue in Chicago.[21] Drew was out of town at the time, as he was dealing with former Supreme Grand Governor Lomax Bey (professor Ezaldine Muhammad). Bey had also supported Green-Bey's attempted coup.[22] When Drew Ali returned to Chicago, the police arrested him and other members of the community on suspicion of having instigated the kiling. No indictment was sworn for Drew Ali at that time.

Shortly after his release by the police, Drew Ali died at age 43 at his home in Chicago on July 20, 1929.[23] Although the exact circumstances of his death are unknown, the autopsy ruled that Noble Drew Ali died from pneumonia and tuberculosis.[citation needed] 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 Moorish community.[24] Others thought it was due to pneumonia.[25] 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."[26]

[edit] Succession and schism

At the Unity Conference later that year, the governors of the Moorish Temple declared Charles Kirkman Bey as the successor to Drew Ali and named him Grand Sheik. When John Givens El, Drew's chauffeur, declared that he was Drew reincarnated, there was a division within the temples.[27]

On September 25, 1929, the Chicago police, accompanied by two Moors, were investigating the apparent kidnapping of C. Kirkman Bey. Arriving at the home of Ira Johnson, they were met by gunfire. The attack escalated into a shoot-out that spilled into the surrounding neighborhood. In the end, a policemen as well as a Moor were killed in the gun battle, and a second policeman later died of his wounds.[28] The police took 60 "Negroes" into police custody, and a reported 1000 police officers patrolled the Chicago South Side that evening.[29] Johnson Bey and two others were later convicted of murder.[30]

[edit] Nation of Islam

The community was further split when Wallace Fard Muhammad, known within the temple as David Ford-El,[31] also claimed (or was taken by some) to be the reincarnation of Drew Ali.[32] 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.[33]

[edit] The 1930s

Despite the turmoil and defections, the temple continued to grow in the 1930s. It is estimated that membership in the 1930s reached 30,000. There were major congregations in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago.[34] One-third of the members, or 10,000, lived in Chicago, the center of the movement. There were congregations in numerous other cities where African Americans had migrated in the early 20th century. The group published several magazines: one was the Moorish Guide National. In 1964 the Moorish Science Monitor was started in 1964 by the Moorish Orthodox Church of America). During the 1930s and 1940s, continued surveillance by police (and later the FBI) caused the Moors to become more withdrawn and critical of the government.[35]

[edit] FBI surveillance

During World War II, the Science Temple (specifically the Kirkman Bey faction) came to the attention of the FBI, who falsely suspected the Moors of collaborating with Japan. The FBI was alarmed by their doctrines that the world order would one day invert and put Asians back in charge, as the Temple taught was the original order of things. The FBI created a file on the Temple; it grew to 3,117 pages.[36] They never found any evidence of any connection or much sympathy of the temple's members for Japan.

Scholars estimate that in the 1950s, the community had 10,000 members in 15 temples.[37] Due to its prison ministries, some temples showed a slow but steady growth in the 1950s and early 1960s.[38] In the latter part of the 20th century, however, membership began to decline.

[edit] El Rukn connection

In 1976 Jeff Fort, leader of Chicago's Black P Stone Nation gang, announced at his parole from prison in 1976 that he had converted to Islam. Moving to Milwaukee, Fort associated himself with the Moorish Science Temple. It is unclear whether he officially joined or was instead rejected by its members.[39]

In 1978, Fort returned to Chicago and changed the name of his gang to El Rukn ("the foundation" in Arabic), also known as "Circle Seven El Rukn Moorish Temple of America"[40] and the "Moorish Science Temple, El Rukn tribe".[41] Scholars are divided over the nature of the relationship, if any, between El Rukn and the Moorish Science Temple.[42] Fort reportedly hoped that an apparent affiliation with a religious organization would discourage law enforcement.[43]

[edit] Since 1980

In 1984 the Chicago congregation bought a building from Buddhist monks in Ukrainian Village. It continues to be used for Temple No. 9. Demographic and cultural changes have decreased the attraction of young people to the Moorish Science Temple. Only about 200 members attended a convention in 2007, rather than the thousands of the past. In the early 2000s, the temples in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington, DC had about 200 members each, and many were older people.[11]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Moorish Science Temple of America". http://www.ccky.org/PDF%20Files/prison/Moorish%20Science%20Temple%20of%20America.pdf. Retrieved November 5, 2009. 
  2. ^ Wilson, p. 15; Gomez, p. 203; Paghdiwala; Gale Group.
  3. ^ Wilson, p, 15.
  4. ^ Gomez and Paghdiwala give both versions.
  5. ^ Wilson, or Gomez, p. 205.
  6. ^ a b Paghdiwala.
  7. ^ Both Wilson.
  8. ^ Wilson, p. 30, reproduced a 1927 flyer for a "Great Moorish Drama", which advertised that Drew Ali would "be bound with several yards of rope as Jesus was bound at the Temple of Jerusalem . . . and will escape in a few seconds".
  9. ^ Gomez, p. 206. Turner, p. 92.
  10. ^ a b Nance, Susan. (2002) “Mystery of the Moorish Science Temple: Southern Blacks and American Alternative Spirituality in 1920s Chicago”, Religion and American Culture 12, no. 2 (Summer): 123-66, accessed 29 Aug 2009
  11. ^ a b c Paghdiwala, Tasneem (November 15, 2007). "The Aging of the Moors". Chicago Reader 37 (8). http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-aging-of-the-moors/Content?oid=999633. Retrieved October 13, 2009. 
  12. ^ Chicago Tribune (1929) and Chicago Defender (1929).
  13. ^ Chicago Defender (1929).
  14. ^ Paghdiwala, p. 23.
  15. ^ Wilson, p. 29.
  16. ^ Gomez, Michael A. (2005) Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas, Cambridge University Press, p. 219, accessed 29 Aug 2009
  17. ^ Chicago Tribune, May 14, 1929.
  18. ^ Gomez, Michael A. (2005) Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas, Cambridge University Press, p. 260, accessed 29 Aug 2009
  19. ^ Nance (2002), p. 635-637
  20. ^ Chicago Defender, January 1929.
  21. ^ Chicago Tribune
  22. ^ Gale
  23. ^ Chicago Defender, July 27, 1929.
  24. ^ McCloud, p. 18; Wilson, p. 35. The Chicago Defender, whose news articles had turned critical of the Moors, said that "it is believed that the ordeal of the trial together with the treatment he received at the hands of police in an effort to obtain true statements are directly responsible for the illness which precipitated his death" (July 27, 1929).
  25. ^ Scopino
  26. ^ Quoted by Paghdiwala, p. 24. Also quoted by Nance (2002, p. 659, note 84) with a reference to "Cult Leader Dies; Was in Murder Case", Chicago Defender, July 27, 1929.
  27. ^ McCloud, p. 18. Gardell, p. 45.
  28. ^ "Patrolmen Jesse D. Hults and William Gallagher", Officer Down Memorial Page
  29. ^ Chicago Tribune, September 1929. Washington Post, September 1929.
  30. ^ Hartford Courant.
  31. ^ Prashad, p. 109.
  32. ^ Ahlstrom (p. 1067), Abu Shouk (p. 147), Hamm (p. 14), and Lippy (p. 214) all state that Fard claimed or was considered by many Moors to be the reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali.
  33. ^ Ahlstrom (p. 1067) and Lippy (p. 214)..
  34. ^ Paghdiwala, p. 26.
  35. ^ Nance, p. 659.
  36. ^ [1]
  37. ^ McCloud, p. 17.
  38. ^ Hamm, p. 16.
  39. ^ Nash (p. 167) says Fort did join the Milwaukee temple. Hamm (p. 25) states otherwise: "Fort tried to join the Moorish Science Temple in Milwaukee but Temple elders refused to have him."
  40. ^ Chicago Tribune, "El Rukn street gang joins drive to register voters", August 25, 1982, p. 17.
  41. ^ Shipp, New York Times (1985).
  42. ^ Blakemore, et al. (p. 335) says that "The Moorish Temple has always denied such a connection."
    See also Nashashibi ("In 1982 the El Rukns dropped their affiliation with the Moorish Science Temple and moved closer toward a more orthodox understanding of Sunni Islam.")
    See also the 1988 court case, Johnson-Bey et al. v. Lane et al. ("The sinister El Rukn group is a breakaway faction from the Moorish Science Temple ... apparently it no longer has any connection with the Moorish Science Temple.").
  43. ^ Main, Chicago Sun-Times (2006).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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