The Great American Prophet

Timothy Drew (1886–1929), known to followers as Noble Drew Ali and also as the Prophet. Drew Ali taught that all blacks were of Moorish origins but , had their Moslem identity taken away from them through slavery and racial segregation. He advocated that they should “return” to the Islam of their Moorish forefathers, redeeming themselves from racial oppression by reclaiming their historical spiritual heritage. He also encouraged use of the term “Moor” rather than “black” in self-identification. The Race game is a game were as only the group claiming White can win, because once the top spot which is white has been allocated all other groups will be inferior by the nature of the rules of the race (game). Many of the formal practices were derived from Muslim observances. Rigorous obedience to the Prophet’s regulations is required, and certain foods are forbidden. The Moor’s sacred text is the Holy Koran, which was distinct from the Qurʾān of orthodox Islam . Moorish American's considered the text to have been divinely prepared by Allah to Drew Ali. The work begins with a long narrative spanning from the Fall of Man to the Resurrection of Jesus; it includes moral instructions by Drew Ali and closes with a prophecy of the imminent “uplift of fallen humanity.”

Noble Drew Ali and his member's 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." The following year he officially registered Temple No. 9.

There he instructed member's 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 of America by developing a cultural identity that was congruent with Drew Ali's beliefs on personhood. 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.

The leader of a particular temple was known as a Grand Sheik, or Governor. Noble Drew Ali set up his headquarters in Chicago in 1923. His esoteric spiritual philosophy was constructed from Islamic, Christian, and Freemasonic sources. The Moorish Americans wore turbans and fezzes; they replaced their surnames from slavery with "El" or "Bey"; they created their own nationality cards and flag; and they called themselves "olive-skinned Asiatics," descendants of Morocco, instead of Negroes or colored people. In 1927, Ali prepared their sacred text, the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple, also called the Circle Seven Koran, to teach his followers their pre-slavery religion, nationality, and genealogy. To support his case for a Moorish-American identity, he emphasized two important points: first, black Americans were really "Asiatics," the descendants of Jesus; and second, the destiny of western civilization was linked to the rise of the "Asiatic" nations—Asians, Africans, Native Americans, and African Americans.

In the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple,Noble Drew Ali also argued that Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom, and Justice were the Islamic ideals that his member's should emulate. However, in the late 1920s, corrupt businessmen joined the Moorish-American community. They embezzled a fortune from its small businesses and the Moorish Manufacturing Corporation and began to plot the prophet's death. His downfall began on March 15, 1929, when his business manager, Claude Greene, was murdered in Chicago. Noble Drew Ali was arrested and incarcerated for the murder and died mysteriously after he had been released on bond, several weeks later. The Moorish Science Temple of America survived in factions after Noble Drew Ali's death . The Moorish American community received official recognition for its Islamic linkages to Morocco from the Moroccan ambassador to the United States in 1986.

HADITHS

The Holy Prophet Noble Drew Ali told the Moors, "I brought you everything it takes to save a nation take it and save yourself." When He said that, the Prophet was holding up a Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America and a Questionnaire to show us the books we need to save ourselves with.

Bro. I. Cook-Bey, G.G. (Emeritus) of Ill, said that the Holy Prophet Noble Drew Ali told the Moors that "the Europeans went to the Moroccan government, and asked for permission to come over here (to the United states) to develop this land, and they were given a 50 year mandate to do so. Then the Europeans went to an old Sheik and asked him to give them some people to help them to develop this land. The Sheik told them to take those Moors, because they are not going to do anything."

Bro. I. Cook-Bey. G.G. of ILL. (Emeritus) told Bro. R. Love El, G.S. of the M.S.T. of A. and Bro. C. Tyson-Bey, (Past) Chr. of the M.S.T. of A. about the time, when the Holy Prophet Noble Drew Ali and Bro. C. Kirkman-Bey went to the Pan American Conference in 1928. At that time, the Holy Prophet went there and represented the Moors, and there was an Indian Chief representing the American Indians. The Conference was in Havana, Cuba, and the nations of both North, South and Central America were present. Secretary of State Hughes of the United States represented the United States at this conference. Bro. C. Kirkman-Bey was the interpreter for the Holy Prophet at this conference. Bro. I. Cook-Bey said that when the Holy Prophet and Bro. C. Kirkman Bey's ship was tied up at the dock, the Cuban army was standing on the dock, and Bro. Kirkman-Bey said something to them in Spanish, and the army came to attention, then he and the Holy Prophet came down from the ship. At the conference, Bro. C. Kirkman-Bey addressed the conference in both Spanish and Arabic, and when the Secretary of State of the United States heard Bro. Kirkman-Bey speak, he said, "That's a dangerous man." Up to that period of time, the United States received a 50 year mandate for this land. At this conference, the mandate for this land was given to Prophet Noble Drew Ali. Bro. G. Cook-Bey, G.S. (Emeritus) of Temple One said that Prophet Noble Drew Ali showed us the mandate in the Adept Chamber

Bro. I. Cook Bey, G.G. of III. (Emeritus) heard the Holy Prophet say, "I remember when I was on the soul plane. I remember, when I was Noah. Noah was a carpenter, and he built the Ark. When the flood came, men came swimming out to the Ark, and knocked on the door, and said, "Noah, Noah, let us in," and I told them, "The door is locked, and an angel came, and took the key away."

Bro. J. Blakely-Bey said that the Holy Prophet said, "The European is going to have to pay our people off for the work that they did in slavery, and pay off in compounded interest."