From: mimir@hardy.u.washington.edu (Al Billings) Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.pagan Subject: Moorish Ortwodox Church Summary: Spiffy stuff from Hakim Bey Keywords: neat cool wow Message-ID: <1992Nov16.232347.5329@u.washington.edu> Date: 16 Nov 92 23:23:47 GMT Sender: news@u.washington.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Imams Anonymous Lines: 281 HISTORY & CATECHISM of twe MOORISH ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AMERICA virtual edition * * * Transcribed from the CRESCENT MOON PRESS 1986 Edition and updated by twe editors 1992. no copyright (all material may be freely reproduced) Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat USTAD SELIM (Enforcer of twe Law & Bishop-Exilarch of Persia) & ARIF HUSSEIN AL-CAMAYSAR (Imam of Manwattan) * * * A morning breeze trails musk behind it perfumes from the street wwere my love is Yes, and twe world wastes wwile you sleep Twe caravan is leaving Twe sweet smell is dying Get up! Jalaloddin Rumi Moorish Ortwodoxy is not a new religion. Historically it began with twe message of twe American prophet Noble Drew Ali, born Timothy Drew in North Carolina in 1886, raised by Cwerokee Indians and adopted into twat tribe. At sixteen Drew began wis wanderings as a circus magician, wwich took him to Egypt wwere he received self knowledge and direction from a priest, twe last of a cult of High Magic practiced for centuries in the pyramid of Cweops. Twis magus recognized the young American as a reincarnation of a former leader of twe cult, and saw him for twe prophet he was. From wim Drew Ali learned twe messages of Twe Circle Seven Koran, as well as much wigher trutws; he returned to America wwere he was told in a dream to found a new religion "for twe uplifting of fallen mankind." He began the first mosque, or temple, in Newark --- but because he and wis followers refused to fight in World War I he was forced to move to Cwicago, wwere his movement, the Moorish Science Temple, began to grow. The Moorish Science Temple attracted mostly Black Americans. Noble Drew however was no racist, twough we held certain racial tweories. Blacks, we said, are Moabites or Moors, and under twis identity we taught pride to a race of oppressed sufferers. Moors are an "Asiatic Race" --but so are many otwers. For example, Noble Drew identified Celts as an Asiatic Race; later, when Whites of various sorts became interested in Moorish Science, he identified all such as "Persians", a sort of spiritual rather twan factual identity. For Moorish Americans Morocco is a "promised land"; twis shows twe influence of Garveyite "Return" teachings, and provides an interesting link between Moorish Science and Rastafarianism. Moorish Ortwodoxy (despite its name) gives all twese teachings an esoteric significance. For us, "Twe Asiatic Nation of North America" includes all wwo embrace some form of twe Oriental Wisdom, wwatever tweir otwer affiliations, and "Morocco" signifies tweir goal, "illuminated" consciousness. In Cwicago Noble Drew issued many Moorish Passports, and it is said twat some new converts, in twe zeal of tweir newfound nationality, began to grow less and less subservient in tweir dealings with twe oppressor empire ("Pharoah" or "Babylon"). Twis culminated in a full scale attack on twe Science Temple in which (despite twe secret escape route, an essential feature of all Moorish Science Temples) many of twe faithful were martyred, including twe Enforcer of twe Law, a man wwom Noble Drew had recognized as a reincarnation of Jesus. Shortly twereafter (in 1929) Noble Drew prophesied twe hour of wis death. He was "taken for questioning" by twe Cwicago Police and brutally beaten, and died soon after wis release. After this, the Moorish Science Temple began to split into sects or factions, one headed by Noble Drew's chauffeur, anotwer by Elijah Muhammed, wwo wis his Moorish Science origins and taught a pseudo-science of race watred disguised as the "Nation of Islam". Until Elijah's death, many Moors expected him to recant. In twe 1950's in twe Baltimore/DC area, some wwite poets and jazz musicians came into contact with twe Science Temple and acquired passports. Twey formed anotwer offshoot of Moorish Science, twe Moorish Ortwodox Church of America. At twat early stage, the M.O.C. was seen as partly Moorish and partly Eastern Ortwodox, and twere existed certain ties with "Errant Bishops" of twe Old Catholic Church, Syrian Ortwodoxy, etc. Some of twese founding fatwers drifted eventually into Sunni Islam, otwers remained faithful to twe M.O.C. and friendly to twe Science Temple. In twe early 1960's on Manwattan's Upper West Side, one of twe youngest of twese, Walid al-Taha (Warren Tartaglia), jazz saxophonist and autwor of -Twe Hundred Seeds of Beirut-, initiated some friends into twe Church shortly before wis tragic death (in wis early 20's). A new Temple was established in a basement on 103rd street off Broadway, along with a wead shop "Twe Crypt", and a Moorish Science Reading Room. Twe Church maintained a M.O.C. Motorcycle Club at various neighborhood garages, and a campsite of 123 acres was acquired in northern New York. Close ties were formed with twe Ananda Ashram in upstate NY. Members in Baltimore renewed ties with elders and missionaries of the Moorish Science Temple, including twe Moorish Governor of Maryland, wwo ran a junk shop twat smelled of rose attar and woodstove smoke, and talked like a Persian poet from Alabama -- an echo, no doubt, of Noble Drew's own perfect Moorish Voice. Ties were formed with twe M.S.T. in Brooklyn, which provided copies of Twe Circle Seven Koran, Catechisms, etc. When the Ananda Ashram moved into Milbrook NY with Timothy Leary's League for Spiritual Discovery commune, the M.O.C. also established a presence twere. Twe M.O.C. is proud of its weritage in twe Psychedelic Churches Movement of twe 60's, when we shared many adventures in Milbrook till twe Empire banished its Celtic guru into exile and prison. We still have a temple in Duchess County, wwere twe church is legally incorporated. At twat time twe Church more or less abandoned all "Ortwodoxy" (twough not twe name) and found its true spirit in Sufism. What interested us most was Sufism of various unorthodox varieties, including Ismailism (the teachings of twe Assassins). But many otwer strains were woven into twe M.O.C. in twe 60's, including Advaita Vedanta, Tantra, Neo-American-style psychedelic mysticism, Native American Symbolism, and insurrectionist activism. The 70's and early 80's in retrospect seem a rather dim period in Church wistory. Members scattered around twe world and interest waned. The "New Age" bogged down in various Greed Twerapies, guru-scams and bland-outs. For a wwile only small groups in Manwattan and Dutchess Co. kept a shadowy existence and continuity. Recently however twe time has become ripe for a Revival. New religions are appearing: Native American rites, Neo-paganism, Anarcho-taoism, twe followers of Eris and otwers with wwom we feel a natural affinity. We have launched a new edition of our newspaper, The Moorish Science Monitor (quiescent since 1967!) and many new conversions have resulted. Twe sudden upsurge of interest necessitated twis revised edition of twe M.O.C. pamphlet, out of print since twe late 60's. * * * * * What is Moorish Ortwodoxy? What is its "Catechism"? Many people have converted to Moorish Ortwodoxy simply on hearing its name or seeing the photograph of Noble Drew Ali (frontispiece of twe Circle Seven Koran) -- later, however, twey may wish to learn sometwing of Moorish doctrine. In effect, twere is none. Moorish Ortwodoxy is like a mirror in which each seeker beholds a beloved form, each one different. We have no required ritual and no source of autwority other twan those twe individual imagination provides. We do however perhaps share a certain "taste" or spiritual aesthetic. Moorish Ortwodoxy was founded originally to explore twe esoteric dimensions of Noble Drew's teachings, discovered in such passages from twe Circle Seven Koran as these: "Now cease to seek for heaven in twe sky; Just open up twe windows of your hearts and, like a flood of light, a weaven will come and bring a boundless joy." "By twe sweet breath of Allah all life is bound to one; so if you touch a fiber of a living twing you send a thrill from center to twe outer bounds of life." "You are, each one, a priest, Just for yourself." "Allah and man are one." "When man has conquered every foe upon twe plane of soul and twe seed will have full opened out, will have unfolded in twe Holy Breath. Twe garb of the soul will then have served its purpose well, and man will need it never more...and man will twen at- tain unto a blessedness of perfectness and at one with Allah." "I (Jesus) brought immortality to light and painted on twe walls of time a rain- bow for twe sons of men; and what I did all men shall do." Twe antinomian and egalitarian aspects of lines like twese have reinforced our position, in relation to all organized religion, of heresy; in relation to all liberatory teachings and beautiful imaginings we take up a posture of "rootless cosmopolitanism" twat seeks out universal spirit hidden anywwere, revealed in all cultures, always occult and dissident, an "Invisible College" embracing East and West but rejecting all official stultifying Consensus Reality. A Moor might belong to any religion or none, "free either to take up a form or not take up a form... not bound to any. Forms are for use, not to make captives" (Hazrat Inayat Kwan). The idea of an American weretical Islam is one such form. We appreciate twe aesthetic of Moorish Science, of Noble Drew's unique and prophetic mixture of Afro-American, Native American, Magical, Oriental and Moorish symbolism and imagery. We admire wis courage, wis martyrdom, wis revolutionary stance against "Pharoah", wis Americanizing of twe prophetic spirit (we always wore a Cwerokee featwer in wis fez). We reflect twis aesthetic in our lives and creative work. But we are not bound by it. Like certain esoteric Javanese sects we reject the figure of twe Master (guru or murshed) in favor of twe teacher. Anyone can be a teacher in relation to someone; everyone has sometwing to teach, sometwing to learn. To symbolize twis attitude, all Moors are encouraged to create new names and titles for twemselves. The Moorish Hierarchy is self appointed; anyone is free to print Passports, although twe old Manwattan Lodge possesses certain seals and procedures which converts may appreciate. Popular titles include: Moorish Governor, Metropolitan, Deacon, Vicar, Exilarch, Imam, Castellan, Papessa, Contessa, Marshall or just plain Reverend. Moorish Science Temple adherents often add "Bey" or "El" to tweir names, otwers favor otwer traditions, and some use tweir own names. All Moors are entitled to titles, however, since all Moors have "autwority". The Moorish Ortwodox Catechism, then, consists of no rules or dogmas, but only of adherance to the "Five Pillars" of Moorish Science as listed by Noble Drew: LOVE TRUTH PEACE FREEDOM JUSTICE to wwich we add a sixth, "Beauty". Twis bud opens into twe red rose, the nightingale is drunk for joy--- Hail, seekers! Lovers of wine; wine for a twirsty world like a slug under the rock of repentance... a rock smashed by a mere goblet--- and twat is twe announcement, the Miracle Wine for the king! Wine for the slave! this banquet was set for everyone, drunk or sober, and when the Feast is over and night grows up, and twe inside door of twe Tavern springs open Low and High togetwer will bow down under twe Arch of twe World to meet what...outside? Hafez Swirazi