Chapter Three
The WPA Study of the Moorish Science Temple
Some time in 1925 a small Negro wearing a flaming red fez similar to those worn by Turks appeared in empty lots and on street corners of Chicago's South Side to proclaim a startling new doctrine. He was Noble Drew Ali, born Timothy Drew in North Carolina, Prophet of Islam and founder of the Moorish American Science Temple. Little is known of Drew Ali's early history. He is reputed to have been an express-man in Newark, New Jersey, where he founded the first Moorish American Temple in 1913. There is also some evidence to indicate that he had established branches in Pittsburgh and Detroit before he came to Chicago.
Drew's main contention was that the people commonly known in America as Negroes are in reality of Moorish descent and thus Asiatics. Act six of his "Divine Constitution and By-Laws" reads: "With us all members must proclaim their nationality and their Divine Creed that they may know that they are a part and partial of this said government and that they are not Negroes, Colored Folks, Black People or Ethiopians, because these names were given by slave holders in 1779 and lasted until 1865 during the time of slavery but this is a new era of time now, and all men must proclaim their free national name to be recognized by the government in which they live and the nations of the earth, this is the reason Allah the Great God of the Universe ordained Noble Drew Ali, the Prophet to redeem his people from their sinful ways. The Moorish Americans are the descendants of the Ancient Moabites whom inhabited the North Western and South Western shores of Africa."
Prophet Noble Drew Ali did not immediately rally many disciples to his banner, the Moorish star and crescent on a field of red. But he persisted, and at length was able to establish permanent headquarters. Though self taught, he possessed an eloquent tongue, a persuasive manner, and a native shrewdness which enabled him to sway the poor and unlettered people who listened to him. Most of them remembered the race riots of 1919; all of them had experienced discrimination and other wrongs. Drew Ali was offering them pride and dignity. In 1928 a successful convention encouraged Drew Ali to expand his proselytizing activities to other cities. It is difficult to ascertain just how many temples resulted, but those in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Charleston, West Virginia, Lansing, Michigan, and Youngstown, Ohio are fairly well authenticated.
Drew Ali had written and published his "Koran", a slim pamphlet consisting of a curious mixture of the Mohammedan holy book of the same name, the Christian bible, and anecdotes of the life of Jesus - the whole bound together with the Prophet's own pronouncements and interpretations. The Prophet began to do a profitable business in various nostrums and charms he had concocted, among them Old Moorish Healing Oil, Moorish Blood Purifier Bath Compound, and Moorish Herb Tea for Human Ailments.
More and more "Asiatics" flocked to the star and crescent standard. They flaunted their fezzes on the street and treated the white man with undistinguished contempt. The Prophet announced that each devote Moorish American must carry a card bearing his credentials and his real (or Asiatic) name, signed by the Prophet with his seal. Often enough "slave" names were transformed into "real" ones by the simple addition of "El" or "Bey", these being titles signifying Moorish dignity. The membership card and button, when displayed to Europeans, would convince them that the bearer was enlightened and a member of an organization to be feared and respected.
To the Prophet this theory of new-found independence had been a more or less purely ethical or theoretical point, and he had not reckoned on its practical effects among his zealous followers. Alarming reports of street brawls, threats, insults, and minor violence centering around Moorish Americas were brought to his notice. Members were accosting the white enemy on the streets, showing their membership cards and buttons, and proclaiming in the name of their Prophet, Noble Drew Ali, that they had been freed of European domination.
Recalling the downfall of the militant Abyssinians and contemplating the current difficulties of the Garvey movement, Drew Ali issued the following UKASE: "I hereby warn all Moors that they must cease from all radical or agitating speeches while on their jobs, or in their homes, or on the streets. Stop flashing your cards before Europeans as this only causes confusion. We did not come to cause confusion; our work is to uplift the nation."
Drew Ali's leadership was soon contested. In 1929 he became embroiled in a quarrel with Claude Greene, politician and former butler of Julius Rosenwald, who had previously joined the cult. One day Drew Ali arrived at his office to find that Greene had moved all the furniture outside and had declared himself Grand Sheik. A civil war ensued, each faction enlisting support from temples in other cities. Greene was shot and stabbed to death in his offices at the Unity Club on the night of March 15, 1929.
Drew Ali, arrested as he sat with his wife and a group of followers celebrating (authorities charged) the murder of his rival, was defended by Attorneys Aaron Payne and William L. Dawson, cult members who later gained political prominence. The Prophet, from prison, issued a message to his flock: "To the Heads of All Temples, Islam: "I, your Prophet, do hereby and now write you a letter as a warning and appeal to your good judgement for the present and the future. Though I am now in custody for you and the cause, it is all right and it is well for all who still believe in me and my Father-God Allah. I have redeemed all of you and you shall be saved, all of you, even with me. I go to bat Monday, May 20, before the Grand Jury. If you are with me, be there. Hold on and keep the faith, and great shall be your reward. Remember my laws and love ye one another. Prefer not a stranger to your brother. Love and truth and Peace I leave all. Peace from Your Prophet, Noble Drew Ali."
This proved to be Drew Ali's final proclamation. Released on bond, he died under mysterious circumstances a few weeks later. One theory is that he succumbed to injuries inflicted by the police during his imprisonment, another is that he was set upon by partisans of Greene after his release and beaten so severely that he never recovered.
After Drew Ali's death Attorney Aaron Payne attempted unsucessfully to hold the group together. Several of the Prophet's disciples announced that they alone were the rightful inheritor of Drew Ali's leadership. John Givens El (formerly the Prophet's chauffer) and Ira Johnson Bey (who had been imported from Pittsburgh to assist in quelling the Greene revolt) each conceived the idea that the dead leader's spirit entered his body. Johnson, a man of action, invaded the office of Mealy El, another aspirant, and demanded recognition as Grand Sheik. Mealy El demurred and received a terrific mauling. Johnson then dispatched his henchmen to kidnap Kirkman Bey, who claimed possession of Drew Ali's last will and testament.
Kirkman's wife, correctly surmissed that her husband was being detained in Johnson's apartment, directed the police thither. A gun battle ensued in which two policemen and one Moor were killed. Sixty-three Moors were arrested, and Johnson was committed to the State Hospital for the criminally insane where he subsequently died. John Givens El also was apprehended after he forced his way into Attorney Payne's home in search of Drew Ali's papers.
Givens too, was sent to the insane asylum, but was released several years later. In 1941 he was heading a Chicago temple on East 40th St. and still asserting his claim to the title of Grand Sheik of all Moorish American Science Temples. Givens was one of six contestants, each one a temple leader and each one designating his own temple as Temple No. 1.
Services in each temple observe (with minor deviations) the pattern established by Drew Ali. First, a minor sheik, a shiekess or the chairman reads and explains Drew Ali's verion of the Koran. Then follows a more elaborate discourse by the Grand Sheik (in some temples called the Governor), the whole ceremony being punctuated at intervals by Christian hymns with the words Allah, Drew Ali, and Moslem substituted for God, Christ, and Christian. Friday is observed as a holy day of rest, "because on a Friday the first man was formed in flesh and on a Friday the first man departed out of the flesh and ascended unto his Father-God Allah, for that cause Friday is the Holy Day for Moslems all over the world." (Divine Constitution and By-Laws)
Since Drew Ali considered Marcus Garvey his forerunner (in a relationship analogous to John the Baptist and Jesus) and paid tribute to him both in his "Koran" and in sermons, Moorish Americans frequently laud and quote the Jamaican organizer.
January 8, the Prophet's birthday, is a special occasion in all temples. Full Moorish regalia is worn by those members who can afford it, and there is likely to be feasting and distribution of gifts as in Christmas celebrations in Christian churches. A number of unconverted guests are invited; the customary speeches take on a more evangelistic tone. Expositions of the teachings and principals of the Prophet are offered in a more simplified form for the benefit of those still under the influence of "The Folly" (Christianity).
The leader of each of the bickering factions has striven in vain to build up an organization as powerful (and as lucrative) as the parent body disrupted by internal warfare and the death of Drew Ali. According to Attorney Aaron Payne, the Prophet in one year amassed a fortune of $36,000 and commanded a membership of 12,000 [in Chicago alone]. Politicians respected and courted him, and Oscar de Priest, Congressman, was reputed to have joined the cult.
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