Prophet Noble Drew Ali

Timothy Drew (1886–1929), known to followers as Noble Drew Ali and also as the Prophet, founded the Moorish Science Temple of America, in Newark, N.J., in 1913. Drew Ali taught that all blacks were of Moorish origins but had their Muslim 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. Many of the group’s formal practices were derived from Muslim observances. Rigorous obedience to the Prophet’s regulations was required, and certain foods were forbidden. The group’s sacred text was the Holy Koran, which was distinct from the Qurʾān of orthodox Islam and which members considered to have been divinely revealed 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.”