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The Moorish Science Temple of America

Published September 1 2017 | Updated July 8 2018

Overview

Sheik Robert Webb-Bey, Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey, Chairman Terrence Hopkins-Bey

1928—2017
102

Historical Note

The Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA) is a religious organization founded in 1913 by Noble Drew Ali, born Timothy Drew. Among many beliefs, he asserted that Black people are descendants of the Moors who governed North West Africa. As such Black people, or "so-called Black people" as the Moorish community phrases it, are not Black but Moorish Americans "Moslems" of Islamic faith. Noble Drew Ali was reported to have stood on street corners in Chicago proclaiming: "Come all ye Asiatic of America and hear the truth about your nationality and birthrights, because you are not negroes. Learn of your forefathers ancient and divine Creed. That you will learn to love instead of hate." In addition to the assertion of a specific national identity, the MSTA was founded instill national pride and spiritual upliftment at a particular point in American history when "so-called Black people" were searching for a sense of belonging in the midst of the Great Migration and shifting national politics.

Read more on the Finding Aid
"My father was basically trying to find liberation for himself as well as his people. He was raised in the gang life, the gang atmosphere in the city of Philadelphia. In trying to search for truth he became frustrated and this frustration in a sense boiled over..."
"You have a lot of hearsay. You have a lot of individuals taking a stance that's not based on the orthodoxy as established by Prophet Noble Drew Ali. And often it's an outside view approaching an interpretation of the teachings of Prophet Noble Drew Ali."
"But seeds do not unfold into life, they manifest. So it has to go through stages to grow and unfold as does the bud unfold to show the flower. So while we're here on the earth, we're learning. We're learning to love instead of hate."
"Prophet Noble Drew Ali likened himself unto Prophet Confucius (all spirits are one). Prophet Confucius saw himself as a 'transmitter and not a creator.' [...] He [Confucius] proclaimed that he was a 'transmitter and not a maker' and that Holy Prophet Noble Drew Ali's publishing of The Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America is also a transmission of ancient lessons..."
"Who were you before you were enslaved? That's a question that we have to ask and now we have history books where we have so many cloaked names...."Black" was manufactured."
"As an eight to ten-year-old boy, I'm talking to him about us not being Negro, black, or colored and doing physical demonstrations as far as grabbing a crayon, a black crayon, and saying look; this is not us. "
"...we may say they changed forms or they veiled their form which means they just took off this earthly garb that the spirit uses to function on the earth plane, the manifest, and moves on to a higher level of vibration."

External Resources

  1. The Official Website of the Moorish Science Temple of America
  2. New York Public Library Archive of the MSTA
  3. Ali's Men Publications
  4. Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey's Response to a 2007 Chicago Reader Profile of the MSTA
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Temple 11 Archive

December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Temple 11
December 2016
Kameelah Janan Rasheed

 2259 N 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey Holding Photograph of Moorish Banquet
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA

The notation on the image reads, "Adept Banquet Temple No.11 Moorish Science Temple of America, Inc. May 12 1945"

Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey Holding Photograph of Elder Moors
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey Holding Photograph of Moorish General
Unknown
Philadelphia, PA
Unknown
Sheik Azeem Hopkins-Bey Holding Photograph of the First Annual Convention of the Moorish Science Temple of America
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Left Wall on Second Floor of Temple 11
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Kameelah Janan Rasheed

Wall features photographs of members and leaders of the Moorish Science Temple of America as well as a large reproduction of Eduard Charlemont's 1878 painting The Moorish Chief

Large Portrait of Noble Drew Ali resting on Air Conditioner
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Right Wall on Second Floor of Temple 11
December 2016
Philadelphia, PA
Kameelah Janan Rasheed

In the upper left corner is a framed image of Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of the powerful Saud family of Saudi Arabia. Saud's image appears on the second page of the Holy Koran across from a photo of Noble Drew Ali himself.

In the upper right corner is a popular photograph of Noble Drew Ali. The notation on the image reads, "Prophet Noble Drew Ali Founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America 1925 R.D. Jones Photo (c)"

In the lower right corner is a mask of a Moorish American man wearing a fez.

In the lower left corner tacked to the wall is a reproduction of Prophet Noble Drew Ali [standing center] and temple members, at religious service of the Moorish Science Temple of America, circa late 1920s).

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Rasheed, Kameelah Janan. "Temple 11 Archive." Mapping The Spirit, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, 8 Jun. 2017, Web. 1 Mar. 2025. <http://mappingthespirit.com/stories/msta/temple-11-archive>