Noble Drew Ali (who was born Timothy Drew, in North Carolina) (January 8, 1886 - July 20, 1929) was the founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America. He first founded the Temple in Newark, N.J., in 1923 and soon there were branches in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and other major industrial cities of the northeast, especially in neighborhoods that had attracted mass black migration from the South. Traditionally, it was believed that Timothy Drew was born on January 8, 1886 in North Carolina, USA. Accounts of Timothy Drews ancestry variously described his being the son of two former slaves who was adopted by a tribe of Cherokees or the son of a Moroccan Muslim father and a Cherokee mother. However, a paper published in 2014 by F. Abdat in the Journal of Race Ethnicity and Religion has used census records, a World War I draft card, and street directory records to provide new empirical biographical details that challenges previously accepted beliefs concerning Alis roots derived from religious literature of the Koran Questions for Moorish Americans. Abdats article states that Alis real name was Thomas Drew (born Jan 8, 1886) from Virginia rather than North Carolina as popularly believed. Drew was adopted as a young child by an African-American couple- James W. Drew (born Oct 1860) and Lucy Drew (born May 1863) all of whom lived in 411 Princess Anne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia. 1900 United States Federal Census for Noble Drew Ali- see status as adopted son To support his adoptive parents who worked as a longshoreman and a laundress whose wages struggled to financially maintain their biological children, Aadie Drew (born Jan 1898) and Brinnie Drew (born Sep 1899), the teenage Drew took on a variety of jobs including farmhand, laborer and eventually a longshoreman to supplement his family income through the Southern citys rural and industrial sectors. By 1917, Drew reinvented himself as Eli Drew, a porter who worked in Richmond, Virginia. 1916 Drew Eli working as a porter in 1916 Richmond, Virginia also pointing towards his earlier roots in Virginia. Within a year, Drew moved to Newark, NJ where he worked as a laborer for Submarine Boat Corp on Port Newark, contributing to Americas war industrial efforts in the construction of cargo ships . On Sep 12, 1918, Ali appeared before the local draft board in Newark New Jersey as part of the Third National Draft Registration and filled up a card that was historiographically critical since it showed Thomas Drew to be the same personality as Noble Drew Ali as the former was listed as being born on Jan 8, 1886 and lived in 181 Warren St, Newark, NJ in 1918 as traditionally accepted during Alis spiritual phase as Professor Drew, the Egyptian Adept. The 1920 Federal Census traced Drew Ali living in 181 Warren Street, Newark, NJ as a preacher on the public streets together with Louise Atkins Gaines (born June 1876), a fellow Virginian migrant. During this phase as Professor Drew, he restructured the declining structures of Abdul Hamid Suleimans Canaanite Temple in Newark and reinvigorated the religious movement into a Moorish Asiatic entity by 1925 in Chicago. Noble Drew Ali U.S World War I Draft Registration Card 1918 Interestingly, the WWI draft card also revealed that Ali possessed badly burnt forearms, dovetailing with Moorish Science hadith that the young Ali was thrown into a fiery furnace by his adoptive aunt. Drew reported that during his travels, he met with a high priest of Egyptian magic. In one version of Drews biography, the leader saw him as a reincarnation of the founder, while in others, the priest considered Drew a reincarnation of Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad and other religious prophets. According to the biography, the high priest trained Drew in mysticism and gave him a lost section of the Quran. This text came to be known as the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America (which is not to be confused with the Islamic Quran). It is also known as the Circle Seven Koran because of its cover, which features a red 7 surrounded by a blue circle. Drew took parts of his book from the Rosicrucian work, Unto Thee I Grant, and most of it from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, published in 1908 by esoteric Ohio preacher Levi Dowling. In The Aquarian Gospel, Dowling described Jesuss supposed travels in India, Egypt, and Palestine during the years of his life which are not accounted for by the New Testament. Drew and his followers used this material to claim, Jesus and his followers were Asiatic. (Asiatic was the term Drew used for all dark or olive-colored people; he labeled all whites as European. He suggested that all Asiatics should be allied.) Drew crafted Moorish Science from a variety of sources, a network of alternative spiritualities that focused on the power of the individual to bring about personal transformation through mystical knowledge of the divine within. In the inter-war years in Chicago and other major cities, Drew used these concepts to preach racial pride and uplift. His approach appealed to thousands of African-Americans who had left severely oppressive conditions in the South and faced struggles in new urban environments. Drew claimed to have been anointed Noble Drew Ali, the Prophet. He launched into his career as head of the Moorish Science Temple of America. Drew taught his followers to face east when praying, regard Friday as their holy day, and call their god Allah and their leader Prophet. Moorish-Americans are not obligated to follow Islam completely. They pray five times a day, and travel to Mecca only if they choose to do so. Many hymns sung are recognizable as adapted from traditional Christian hymns common in black churches.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:25:03 +0000