Meet America’s first Muslim: It’s a real scream

Timothy Drew (a.k.a. Noble Drew Ali) In his speech before the University of Cairo, President Barack Obama said that Islam "has always been part of America's story,‚" adding that Muslims have "enriched‚" the United States since the time of its founding. Mr. Obama's statement raises a question that few historians, let alone elected officials, have raised in the past.

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Who was the first American Muslim? Some maintain that this forgotten figure was a Moorish slave who was transported to South Carolina in 1587? This is problematic since not one scintilla of historical evidence can be used to support this assertion. Historical evidence, however, does exist to show that Ayuiba Suleiman Diallo and Omar ibn Said were transported to the New World as slaves in 1731. But this evidence also shows that these slaves were returned to Africa in 1734. A few Muslim writers maintain that America's first Muslim was a Native American named Mahomet. The basis of this claim is that the name of Mahomet bears a resemblance to the name of the Prophet of Allah. The same argument, of course, could be employed to establish that Mahomet was a Mahican or a Mahayana. If Mahomet doesn't qualify, others argue, the title must belong to Peter Salem, a former slave who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. This noble figure, we are told, must have been a Muslim since "Salem‚" bears an etymological resemblance to "Salaam,‚" the Arabic word for peace. Such arguments could be used more convincingly to contend that this stalwart figure's home was Salem, Massachusetts. When all attempts fail to produce one believing Muslim who lived in colonial America, Islamic revisionists turn to legend and the story "Old Tom,‚" a 19^th century slave on a Georgia plantation, who purportedly proclaimed on his death-bed: "Allah is God and Muhammad is his prophet.‚" Of course, there isn't documentation to show that "Old Tom the Mohammadan‚" ever lived, let alone uttered shahadah being giving up the ghost. Who was America's first Muslim?

INTRODUCING TIMOTHY DREW

Islam did not arrive in the New World with a boatload of black slaves or Muslim missionaries. It did not emerge from the cotton fields or the halls of ivy. Islam made its first appearance in the form of Timothy Drew, an African American conman and two-bit snake oil salesman, who popped up on a street corner in Newark, New Jersey circa 1910 as the "Savior Prophet of Allah.‚" Timothy Drew is not a subject of black history month. He has not been the subject of a PBS documentary nor a critical biography. Most history professors, even at prestigious black universities, know little about him. But few African American leaders have cast a larger shadow. Without Drew, there would be no black leaders such as Elijah Mohammed, Malcolm X, Mukasa Dada, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, or Louis Farrakhan; no organizations such as the Black Power Movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Death Angels, or the New Black Panthers; no rap and hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy, Ice Cube, KRS-One, X-Clan, or Lauryn Hill; and no Barack Hussein Obama. By 1913, Timothy Drew, now known as Noble Drew Ali, managed to convince hundreds of Newark Negroes that they were not the descendants of African slaves, but the sons and daughters of Berber Moors, the very Moors who had introduced slavery to the Ivory Coast. In 1913, he opened what is reportedly the first mosque in America - - the Holy Moabite Temple of the Science of the World, also known as the Canaanite Temple. "The Moors were living up and down the Mississippi River before the European man came to them,‚" Drew told his flock. "The bananas were large and the grapes were four-in-hand. It took two men with hand sticks to carry a bunch of grapes.‚"¹ No one within the Moorish Science Movement came to realize that the Prophet Muhammad viewed the black race with contempt and referred to Negroes as "raisin heads‚" several times in the Hadith (I:662; 9:256).²

GIRDLES AND SNAKE OIL

The male members of the temple were required to wear an official red fez (available for $3.00), a girdle (priced at $5.00) and a robe (at the cost of $5.00).³ Women were obliged to cover their hair at all public gatherings and to augment their headpieces with a blue and oval Moorish pin (sold for $3.00). All members were encouraged to add "Bey‚" or "El‚" to their names in order to signify their Moorish descent on their membership cards (renewable yearly for $1.00). The reception of such membership cards, Drew told his flock, represented relinquishment of their U. S. citizenship. "By being born here doesn't make you a citizen,‚" Drew told his disciples. This claim resulted in the refusal of many temple members to comply with the Selective Service Act of 1917. The new American Muslims were obliged to attend Friday worship services and to make payment of the monthly dues of $2.00 for men and $1 for women. They were encouraged to purchase Noble Drew's magical elixirs - - Old Moorish Healing Oil, Moorish Blood Purifier Bath Compound, and Moorish Herbal Tea for Human Ailments for a nominal fee.⁴ "My remedies,‚" Drew proclaimed, "will cure you of anything you weren't born with.‚"⁵

THE NEW MECCA

The Newark temple became so successful that the Prophet opened branch temples in Harlem, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Flint, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Norfolk, and Louisville, Kentucky.⁶ In 1925, Drew relocated to Chicago, where he established the central shrine of the movement on Indiana Avenue. "Chicago, Illinois is going to be our new Mecca,‚" he said.⁷ By 1926, when the Moorish Science Temple became a legal corporation, the movement had garnered more than 32,000 adherents. Within the next three years, a host of other temples - - 36 in all - - were established throughout the country. The temples were governed by Grand Sheikhs and "Grand Sheikhesses‚" [sic] who had been appointed by Noble Drew. One such "Grand Sheikhess‚" turned out to be Pearl Jones Ali, the aunt of one of the Noble Drew's wives.⁸ By 1929, the Chicago branch of the Moorish Science Temple boasted 12,000 members; the Detroit branch 10,000. The movement operated grocery stores, clothing shops, and The Moorish Voice, a national newspaper.

WHO'S MUHAMMAD???

A Muslim from the Middle East, who happened to stumble into one of Drew's Moorish Temples on a Friday night, would have thought that all Bedlam or Parnassus had been let out. The temple members with their red fezzes, yellow pantaloons, and curled slippers, knew nothing of the five pillars of Islam. They prayed standing upright with two fingers lifted on one hand and five on the other. They were ignorant of the exordium and even the basmalah. They claimed that the Prophet Muhammad was a black man, even though various hadiths spoke of the whiteness of the Prophet's skin. They fancied that the holy city of Islam was Morocco, not Mecca. They upheld shocking shirks, such as their insistence that Noble Drew was the divinely ordained prophet of Allah - - a heresy in Islam which taught that the age of the prophets had ended with the death of Muhammad. And they presented themselves as "angelic gods,‚" even though the words of the shahadah - - Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Llah ("I testify that there is no God but Allah‚") - - represented the basis of Muslim belief.

FAME, FORTUNE, AND POLYGAMY

Such matters appeared to be of little concern to Drew and his followers in October 1928, when the first national convention of the Moorish Science Temple took place in Chicago. By this time, Drew's movement boasted more than 100,000 followers, and his annual salary was listed at $36,000, a fortune at the time.⁹ The Prophet received additional stipends for his living expenses, including the mortgage payment for his luxurious trappings on Chicago's south side, and the salaries for his chauffeur, maid, butler and other domestic attendants. He kept several wives, a host of concubines, and fathered, at least, twenty children.¹⁰ When he tired of one wife, he would quietly "divorce‚" her and "marry another.‚" He also kept four women at the same time and paid for each to live in separate homes

MURDER AND MADNESS

On March 12, 1929, Claude Greene Bey, Drew's personal chauffeur, staged a coup by pronouncing himself the Grand Sheikh, stripping Drew's headquarters of all files and furniture, and setting up a rival temple at the Unity House on the north side of Chicago, where he began to call for assassination of all whites and all Moors who objected to his leadership. Drew imported some thugs, including Ira Johnson Bey, from Pittsburgh to quell the rebellion. Three days later, Greene was shot and stabbed to death in the alleyway behind Unity House.¹¹ Drew, while hosting a party to celebrate Greene's demise, was arrested as an accessory to homicide. Released on bail, Drew hastily promoted David Ford-el, a.k.a. Master Fard Muhammad, as the acting head of the movement on July 20, 1929. It was not a prudent move. Fard was a criminal with 58 aliases. He had served three years in San Quentin before gaining release on May 27, 1929.¹² He purchased a one-way ticket to Chicago, where he joined the Moorish Science Temple. One month later, Noble Drew Ali was found dead at his home. The cause of his death has never been determined. Several of his followers speculated that he died as a result of injuries sustained in beatings from the police; others insisted that he had been murdered by his rivals. An autopsy was never conducted and a full-scale police investigation never conducted. The future of Islam in America came to rest with Fard Muhammad, the acting Grand Sheikh, who had packed up his bags and headed off for Detroit to form the Nation of Islam - - a movement that gave rise to Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali.

DREW'S LEGACY

Timothy Drew - - an uneducated and unscrupulous con artist - - convinced the black community in America that Islam is their native religion and that Christianity represents the oppressive religion of the white man. At present, Islam is the fastest growing religion in America, and 90% of the converts are African Americans. 60% of these African Americans are converted to Islam in prison. Many of the temples that Drew established are now Wahhabist mosques that serve to flame the fire of jihad and to incite anti-American sentiment among the poor and disenfranchised residents of the nation's inner-cities. In response an update.... To Whom this concerns: I am writing in response to the article that Paul Williams wrote about (The first Muslim). Prophet Drew Ali was the founder of The Moorish Science Temple of America, and his work was first started in Newark New Jersey 1913 A.D. Prophet Drew Ali was the first Americanized Prophet sent by Allah to bring the true faith of Islam to his people. He was not an African American nor was he a conman as Paul Williams stated, he was a Prophet of Allah in every way and brought a message of love and peace to his followers. He had 36 Temples and over 100,000 members. What he taught his people was that they were not Negroes, Black, Colored Folk or Ethiopians. He taught them that those names were marks/tags put upon his people during slavery for identification purposes. He taught them that they were Moors/Moorish American Moslems. He taught them that their history didn't began up from slavery, but their beginning started way back to the Garden of Eden. He was sent to teach his people race pride which was something during that time they did not have. I am shocked and applaud that you would allow an article to be written filled with lies and untruths about a Prophet whom you don't have the facts about. When something is printed it should be the truth and you have allowed Paul Williams to write an article full of nothing but lies. I am a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America in Atlanta Georgia and belong to Grand Temple #2. We are being taught by our Chief of Ministers Dr. Ra Saadi El who is a Moorish Historian and Teacher and has in his possession documented facts, dates and proof about our Holy and Divine Prophet Drew Ali, and all that he taught and brought to his people here in North America. Now if you want the truth then you should instruct Paul Williams to seek out the facts first. When I read this article my soul cried out once again because The Moorish Science Temple of America is being portrayed as a joke by those who do not have the true facts. Our Prophet Drew Ali taught Islamism in its purest form and we uphold his teachings of love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. Our Prophet taught love of self, knowing who you are and where you came from. His message from Allah was one of peace, for that is what Islam means peace with yourself, peace with your surroundings and most importantly peace with your Father God Allah. You have allowed Paul Williams to put a mark of shame and confusion upon our Prophet Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America. If you don't do anything else, please seek out the truth with proof about Prophet Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America. And the only way that can be done is to go to the source and that means contacting Chief of Ministers Dr. Ra Saadi El. He is the one who would be more then happy to talk to you about Prophet Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America 1928 portion. Freedom of speech does not mean that one should have the freedom to tell lies and then have them printed. Sis Ruth Sadi El/National Secretary Riverdale, GA Contact Information: The Moorish Science Temple of America – National Home Office P.O. Box 161968 Atlanta Georgia 30321 Toll Free (888) 361-2499 Fax (404) 286-4809

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The Moorish Science Temple of America National Leadership of the Original 1928 Grand Body

Islam & Greetings, Would like the opportunity to defend the integrity of our religious organization and to give light as to what is The Moorish Science Temple of America and what we actually stand for. Presently, Islam is seen as being the most rapidly growing religion within the United States and more so within the Federal and State prisons. In addition to this known fact, there is no Chaplin’s who are qualified and endowed with the true knowledge of the teachings of Islam from a Moorish prospective and able to extend it to those who are followers of Prophet Drew Ali via the Moorish Science Temple of America. The Moorish Science Temple of America 1928 portion is accredited for its intense Islamic teachings that is structured around the philosophies and opinions Divinely inspired by that of its founder Prophet Drew Ali. The Moorish Movement in North America stands as the foundation of Islam and Islamic nationalism in America, via its founder, Prophet Noble Drew Ali, who started his work in 1913 in Newark NJ. The movement reached its peak in 1928, with an estimated 70% of the African American population being involved in one way or another nationwide. From the years 1929-1936, the movement began to fragment, giving birth to other popular organizations and movements, such as the Nation of Islam, the Black Hebrews, and many others. Since the year 2000 America has seen a great interest and resurgence of the movement, but in its 70+-year dormancy there is much confusion as the exact direction of the organization and the original intent of its founder up until 1996; were Chief Minister Dr. Ra Saadi El has contributed the return of the original teachings and practices of Prophet Drew Ali. The Moorish Science Temple of America 1928 portion as been noted in having the only true teachings of its founder with clear, precise and verifiable information along with original documents as earlier as 1913, we presently have the only Moorish Islamic University of The Moorish Science Temple of America. The teachings and practices cannot found within any mainstream schools of higher learning; The University is currently being run as an on-line school via the Internet and telephone conferencing, as well as a complete correspondence course for those who do not have access to the internet or presently incarcerated. We at present have established relations with varies State and Federal prisons as being the only and continuous source of supplying Moorish Islamic Religious educational materials to the greatly growing inmate population who are making great demands in ascertaining the much needed Moorish Islamic reading materials. One of our main missions is to give support to the spiritual growth and development of our followers within their Moorish Islamic faith, and to provide them a solidified understanding to the teachings and practices of their savior Prophet Drew Ali. This can only be done with the guidance of those who are qualified in holding the degrees in the field of Moorish Islamic studies and the faith of Islam from a Moorish Perspective. The faith of Islam practiced by those, who are members of the Moorish Science Temple of America is liken to that of a Sufi degree of Islam. It is important that an accurate understanding be given of the Moorish Science Temple of America Holy Scriptures contents and the meaning of these conceptions, ideas, philosophies are essential. Our Moorish Islamic Ministers have been certificated in meeting all requirements as prescribed by The Grand Body and National Leadership of The Moorish Science Temple of America (1928 portion). We do not represent the R. Jones Bey of The Moorish Science Temple Inc. headquartered in Washington D.C. nor do they represent the entire Moorish Science Temple of America religious community or organizations; there at presently five legitimate active Moorish Science Temple of America grand bodies (organizations) they are able to trace themselves as being in connection with Prophet Drew Ali. We solely represent the true foundation of the Original Moorish Science Temple of Americawhich is that of its founder Prophet Drew Ali. Our Grand Body is the only CCR federal registered contractors for the Federal Prison were our outreach ministry program has received many citations for its outstanding works across the country. We would be glad to speak to you as will has show you proof as to The Moorish Science Temple of America. The Moorish Science Temple of America National Leadership of the Original 1928 Grand Body Supreme Grand Sheik Waleed Naeem Abdul Bey Supreme Minister Chief Minister Dr. Ra Saadi El The Moorish Science Temple of America – National Home Office P.O. Box 161968 Atlanta Georgia 30321 Toll Free (888) 361-2499 Fax (404) 286-4809 Email: info@msta1928.com [url=http://www.msta1928.com]http://www.msta1928.com[/url] [url=http://www.motheriscalling.com]http://www.motheriscalling.com[/url] [url=http://www.rcswslive.com]http://www.rcswslive.com[/url]