Moorish Science Temple of America

The Moorish Science Temple of America is a religion largely based on Christianity with significant borrowings from the Islamic faith. It was founded by Noble Drew Ali in 1913, with the first temple established in Newark, New Jersey. "The Holy Koran of The Moorish Science Temple," which Ali published in 1927, combined the Koran, the Bible, Marcus Garvey's and his own ideologies.

Noble Drew Ali, born Timothy Drew in 1886 in North Carolina, was among the first individuals to introduce Islam to African Americans through the Moorish Science Temple. Ali's followers believed he had been ordained a prophet by Allah. Ali's central teaching was that all black people were of Moorish (i.e. African) and thus Muslim origins. He advocated a "return" to Islam as the only means of redemption from racial oppression.

...