Moorish Science Temple and How it functions- Cozmo El

What truly happens inside the Moorish Science Temple of America? In this illuminating conversation, Brother Cosmo L pulls back the curtain on the inner workings of this distinctive religious-cultural institution founded by Noble Drew Ali.

The Temple's primary mission—"uplifting fallen humanity"—takes on rich, layered meaning as Brother Cosmo explains how this applies not just to women (as commonly understood) but to all Moorish people who lost their place "out of the fold of the family of nations" by accepting labels like Negro, black, and colored. This restoration of true identity and nationality forms the foundation of the Temple's work.

Brother Cosmo demystifies the Temple's governance structure, explaining how the Divine Constitution and Bylaws empower Grand Sheiks to "make law and enforce law" while maintaining accountability through a system of checks and balances. The concept of "conjunctive law" emerges as a crucial mechanism ensuring that all temple activities remain faithful to the Prophet's original teachings—every new law or custom must trace back to foundational texts like the Circle 7 Koran.

Particularly fascinating is the Temple's unique legal status as both a religious society governed by divine law and a "juristic entity" or body politic that interfaces with broader society. This distinctive arrangement, established through incorporation under Hurd Statute 32-36, provides Temple members protections that ordinary religious organizations cannot offer. As Brother Cosmo illustrates with the COVID-19 example, this status allowed members exemption from various civic mandates.

For those considering joining, Brother Cosmo offers practical wisdom: research temples carefully, look for environments where love is evident and questions are welcomed, and remember that while approximately 100 temples exis

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

what's going on? What's going on? Everybody out there is ron brown, lmt, the people's fitness professional, aka soul brother number one, reporting for duty. I am here with the brother Cosmo L, and we're going to talk about the Morris Science Temple and how it functions. This is extremely, very, very, very, extremely, very, whatever, important to me, something that I can look at.

Speaker 1: 0:48

You know the Constitution and bylaws and the additional laws and figure that out on my own somewhat. So I'm just not completely clear on how it goes. You know you hear things from different temples, different Moors, and some Moors you know mores and, um, some mores, you know, see it one way, some more see it another way. So I want to, you know, get how you see it now. Okay, so I'm going to just go with the general question before we go into the constitution and bylaws and things like that. So, more science, the more science. I want to ask first the Morris Science Temple was created for the upliftment of fallen humanity, right, mm-hmm? Yes, sir, now that is the summarized version, right? Do you have anything else that you can add on to that?

Speaker 2: 1:43

All right. Well, I'd like to rise high giving perfect praise to Allah, give honor to my illustrious and industrious forefathers, the Honorable Marcus, masai Garvey and Noble Jew Ali. We give honor to the Honorable credit to the credible peace and goodwill to all humanity. I want to again thank you for bringing me on to your broadcast to talk to your viewers about this particular subject, which is a much needed subject to speak on these days. As you said, there's various measures. We say measures or portions of understanding, understanding. So I believe it's like you said, or I understand it's like you said in our 101 questions for Moorish Americans. It says for what purpose was the Moorish Science Temple of America founded? And it says for the purpose of uplifting fallen humanity. This is the base purpose, this is the purpose. However, how we do that is, I think, what will be unraveling today, which is in our Constitution and bylaws and other our Circle 7 Quran and other documents that go a little bit more in depth humanity is the primary goal.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Now, when we say uplifting fallen humanity, some may say fallen humanity is the woman.

Speaker 2: 3:12

Fallen humanity is the what.

Speaker 1: 3:14

The woman. Okay, so would you say that is correct?

Speaker 2: 3:23

Islam. Well, no nation can rise higher than their woman, and so that is one of the. I like to look at things in layers of understanding, not absolutes, because there's many layers of understanding, and one of them if you look on the front of the questionnaire, the 101 questions for Moorish Americans I don't know if they can see that You'll see Prophet Noah Juwali holding a woman.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Right.

Speaker 2: 3:53

And on her is written humanity. All right, it's written humanity. But then you also notice a little baby bump Right. She perhaps may be pregnant. So, being that, our nation fell, our nation fell. And the nation is always symbolic of the woman, because without the woman there is no nation. Even in Arabic, the word for nation is um, um and the word for mother is um, um and the word for mother is um. So they're pretty much the same thing. But it's not just limited to the woman constitutional fold and out of the fold of the family of nations, by accepting chattel terms such as Negro, black, colored, ethiopian, so on and so forth. So it is the woman, because the woman is the nexus or the origin of the bloodline. But it's not limited to just the definition of the woman.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Okay, okay, that's peace. Now let's go into how it functions. If you can kind of like give me a general idea and then we can like just to summarize like a picture of how it's supposed to function, the temple all right.

Speaker 2: 5:26

Well, I would like to employ the words of prophet noah joe ali from uh, the moorish literature booklet, um, and uh, the moorish leader's great, historic message to america.

Speaker 2: 5:39

We don't have audio tapes or video tapes of prophet noah joe ali, but we do have writings of his and writings that were authorized by him from the Moorish guys, so on and so forth. So I just want to read this couple of brief paragraphs right here. And it says in connection with the aims and objectives, rules and regulations of the Moorish Science Temple of America, I deem it proper to submit a brief statement of our organization covering its inception, rise and progress of the Mohammedan religion, which I hope will be satisfactory to you and be a means of causing you at all times to adhere to the principles of love, truth, peace, freedom and justice in our relations with mankind in general. I further justice in our relations with mankind in general. I further most anxiously hope that this brief statement will help you to clearly see your duty and wisdom of at all times upholding these fundamental principles, which are desired for our civilization and of our prosperity, such as obedience to law, respect, loyalty to government, tolerance and unity, and so in these two brief paragraphs.

Speaker 2: 6:49

It says a lot and he set out to clarify I'm not going to read the whole thing, but he set out to clarify the purpose of the Morris Science Temple of America, beyond what we're talking about, beyond just fallen humanity. And so it says we organized as the Morris Temple of Science in the year 1925 and were legally incorporated as a civic organization under the laws of the state of Illinois November 29th 1926. The name of the Morris Science Temple was changed to the Morris Temple of Science, was changed to the Morris Science Temple of America in 1928.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Excuse me, I don't mean to cut you off, uh-huh, but what did you just the last thing you just said, right, uh-huh? This is in Morris literature, right here? Yes, okay, this is. This is in moorish literature, right here? Yes it's in the moorish leaders.

Speaker 2: 7:49

Historic message to america. So first it incorporated as a civic organization in 1925 under the moorish temple of science, and then it was changed in 1928, in accordance with the legal requirements of the Secretary of State of Illinois, to the Moritz Science Temple of America. The objective of our organization is to help in the great program of uplifting for the humanity and to teach those things necessary to make our members better citizens. Now, this is important. A national organization with a Rotarian complexion as it relates to branch temples became obvious with the increasing number of inquiries from men and women in different sections of the country concerning the purpose of our organization. There are branch temples in 15 different states at this time, and this is the last paragraph I'll read, states at this time, and this is the last paragraph I'll read Since the work of the Moorish Science Temple of America was largely religious, the religious organization has been legally changed.

Speaker 2: 8:52

Hi, how you doing? What are you reading? I'm on a live right here teaching. You're welcome to listen though. However, since the work of the Moorish Science Temple of America was largely religious, the organization has been legally changed to a religious corporation and the affidavit filed properly in cook county, so on and so forth.

Speaker 2: 9:10

So, um, the morris science temple of america was primarily to teach people to become better people, to be better citizens, how you doing, and. And. It says that it had a Rotarian complexion. Most people might be familiar with the Rotary Club, which it teaches ethics and community service. All right, peace, thank you, peace, bye-bye. Uh, it had its purpose, was similar to the purpose of uh, more science, of uplifting fallen humanity, but Rotarian complexion. The complexion meaning that it has a character similar to that, which means that there's national characteristics, national standards, national ethics that are shared by all the various branch temples and auxiliaries across the nation, so that you would be able to go to any more Science Temple of America and receive basically the same standard of character, ethics and teachings. That's the Rotarian aspect of it. However, as we'll see later on, there is ability for temples to be different, and that comes from some laws that are in our Circle 7. A lot of people think each temple has to be an exact replica of the other temple, and that's just not how Prophet Noah laid it out.

Speaker 1: 10:50

Right, so let's go into where I see that. And it says OK, so act. One in the divine, divine constitution and bylaws says the grand Sheik and the Chairman of the Morish Science Temple of America is empowered to make law and enforce law with the assistance of the Prophet and the Grand Body of the Morish Science Temple of America, the Assistant Grand Sheik is. The Assistant Grand Sheik is to assist the Grand sheik in all affairs if he lives according to love, true peace, freedom and justice. And it is known before the members of the morris science temple of america. So, just as you said, right, this is how I, this is how I, I, you know, I, I would draw it up.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Right, so the Grand Sheik and the chairman of the Mori Science Temple is empowered to make law, right, so, just from that alone, they can make law in their own temple however they see fit, but it has to go in accordance with love, truth, peace, freedom and justice, see fit, but it has to go in accordance with love, true peace, freedom and justice. And, uh, uh, of course, it has to go along with the grand body of the morris science temple of america. Okay, islam.

Speaker 2: 12:15

You know, and we can even get a little more clarity when we go to our circle seven, because a lot of times you do have sheiks that would say, yes, we can make law. However we want to make law, as long as it's with the assistance of the prophet and the grand body. But notice the key where it says the assistant grand sheik is to assist the grand sheik in all affairs if he live according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice Sheik in all affairs if he live according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. So there's a clause there you have to be living according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice in order for your assistant Grand Sheik or your grand body or anybody else to obey the laws and to obey that position. That's a criteria and unfortunately, sometimes that seems to get lost in undying loyalty and support for a grand sheep but not realizing that, hey, if they're not living according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. So let's go to chapter 47.

Speaker 1: 13:18

I don't mean to cut you off. I don't mean to cut your flow. Chapter 47,. I don't mean to cut you off. I don't mean to cut your flow. Chapter 47. Chapter 47. Circle 7. Okay, we're going to get there right, but before we get there right, I want to go into living according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. How can you tell, or how are you able to tell, if the person is living, you know, through love, true peace, freedom and justice.

Speaker 2: 13:50

Islam. Well, there are. Number one, it's just basically living a righteous life, basically live in a righteous life. And there are more laws in the general laws and supreme laws that either we can go into or say for another time, that outline what a Moorish leader should be like, right, what a Moorish leader should be, how a Moorish leader should teach what's a good Moor, what's a bad Moor. These things are all outlined in other documents. However, I think by reading this chapter here it'll it'll bring a little more light.

Speaker 2: 14:32

Chapter 47, key 12, or Holy Instruction 12. It says these holy and divine laws are from the prophet Nobujewa Ali, founder of the uniting of the more science temple of america. These laws are to be strictly preserved by all members of the more, uh, by all members of all temples of the more science temple of america. That they will learn to open their meetings and, guided according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. Now every subordinate temple of the grand, major temple is to form under the covenant of love, truth, peace, freedom and justice and create their own laws and customs in conjunction with the laws of the Holy Prophet and the Grand Temple. I, the prophet Noble Juwali, was sent by great God Allah to warn the Asiatics of America to repent from their sinful ways before the great and lawful day. So in this key, we find that the way that you measure whether the laws that the Grand Sheik and chairman is producing is based on if it's in conjunction with the prophet's laws. So whatever laws that are going to be created, there has to be some. It has to be traced to the prophet, there has to be some provision inside the either the Circle 7 or divine constitution and bylaws, general laws, additional laws, to trace that law back to. And this is one of the ways that you can tell that a Grand Chic is demonstrating according to the law, because otherwise, if Moores would just be able to create any type of thing and a Grand Chic would just have ultimate power to say whatever. So you have to trace it back to a provision of the profit in order for one to know, all right, this Grand Chic is legitimately passing laws according to our customs. So for those that want to understand more about that, they should look into conjunctive law and customary law, because this is what we're dealing with here, laws and customs in conjunction. And so the deeper, more, study conjunctive law and customary law, then they'll be able to see if a grand chic is on point, so to speak. The next aspect of that is number.

Speaker 2: 16:53

We can go back to our circle seven, I mean, excuse me, our divine constitution and bylaws, and act three. It tells us love, truth, peace, freedom and justice must be proclaimed and practiced by all members of the Moorish Science Temple of America. No member is to put in danger or accuse falsely his brother or sister on any occasion at all that may cause harm to his or her brother or sister, because Allah is love. So does he falsely accuse Right? Are his actions based on love, truth, peace, freedom and justice? Actions based on love, truth, peace, freedom and justice?

Speaker 2: 17:22

Then you can go to Act 7, where it says it tells you all members must pay their dues, must promptly attend their meetings, and specifically the husband, part Husband, you must support your wife and children. So is he supporting his wife and his children, if he has a wife and a child? So, all through the laws there, they don't just apply to members, but they apply to, uh, grand sheiks are also members, and so, uh, by looking at a person's demonstration of the prophet's laws, you can tell if they're living according to. Now to go into Act One. Can you go in depth?

Speaker 1: 18:01

on Act.

Speaker 2: 18:03

One, yes. So again, it goes back to the making and enforcing of law. In order to understand that, we have to understand what law we're talking about. The law that we're talking about is a couple of things, but the root of it is divine law. Right, divine law within our society. We can't go out and make a law for someone outside of our society to follow. All right, that's the first thing.

Speaker 2: 18:50

Now there's three types of divine law, and if you look it up in Black's dictionary which Moore's like to use there's other dictionaries, but since Moore's like to use that when I refer to that, there's three types of divine law. Number one and I'm not saying this in the order of importance, but number one there's natural law. Many people are familiar with natural law. These are the laws just by virtue of being born, inalienable rights, so to speak, inalienable laws. Then there's divine law, which is revealed law. Then there's divine law, which is revealed law, whereas the prophet says we have the Holy Quran as the word of God, direct revelation. Most prophets have a revelation that they use. Either it's revealed to them or it's revealed to previous prophets and they follow these laws as a guideline for how they set up a prophetic government.

Speaker 2: 19:49

And then the last and most important, which applies to the Grand Sheik in Act 1, is positive law.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Positive law is when someone in a position, such as a grand sheik or some other type of divine position, makes a ruling on a particular issue, and that particular ruling then becomes law, similar to case law in a civic arena.

Speaker 2: 20:16

So positive law is the type of law that the grand sheik is executing, based on the divine law, which is why it has to be in conjunction with the prophet and the grand body, because the grand body has allowed the grand sheik to be a sovereign, in a sense, over them and to hold this position, and so there's checks and balances in place. So the ruling comes from the grand sheik. It becomes law. If the grand body is with it, it does. If the grand body is not with it, it doesn't necessarily mean that it can't still be law, but there's opportunity now for debate and conversation to try to make it a little bit more reasonable, if that's the case, in order to make it more beneficial for the members. So positive law is the type of law which is a form of divine law, but it's a ruling based on revealed law or natural law.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Check. I got to go over that again and write stuff down, All right. So now the law that you were talking about, right, Like you, broke down. You know different types of laws make law and enforce laws with the assistant of the prophet in the grand body of the Moral Science Temple of America. So this might this may be a crazy question, but I have to ask it. This was written when the prophet was alive. He's not alive anymore. Right was alive. He's not alive anymore, right. So make law and enforce laws with the assistance of the prophet. So how do you make laws and enforce laws with the assistance of the prophet if the prophet is no longer here, Unless you use words Islam.

Speaker 2: 22:59

That's a great question. The prophet is alive on the soul plane, uh, but I'm not going to get into no spooky stuff. It's what that we? The assistance of the prophet are the laws that he left right because he set up a prophetic and divine government. So when you need assistance from the prophet, you consult your constitution and bylaws, you consult your general laws, you consult your supreme laws, you consult your additional laws, you consult the laws that are in our circle seven Quran, and again, you make sure that whatever you're doing is in conjunction with that, based on conjunctive law.

Speaker 2: 23:41

So it's not as if the prophet is not here in a physical sense. He's on the soul plane. We all go on to the soul plane and we know, according to chapter one, man is a spirit and a thought of Allah and as long as Allah lives, man cannot die. So in our, in our teachings, we don't say that the prophet is dead, but some people may take that to think that we are consulting with the spirit, not to say that you can't, because you know there are spiritual, there are mysticism to all teachings. However, in this case it's referring to the laws that the prophet left, because what the prophet did was he set up a prophetic government. He set up a divine government, he set it in motion and then he appointed grand sheiks to carry out the and other officers to carry out the functions of that government. So whenever we need assistance from the prophet, it's. It's whatever, it's what he left.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Now, ok, that great explanation I get it. But I think that's where things kind of get tricky, because now it's left for interpretation. So you see, the prophet said this, the prophet said that, and because the prophet did this or said this, I'm doing it this way.

Speaker 2: 25:16

Well, it's just like any other law. I mean, take the laws of the United States, for example. The framers of the Constitution are not here, but you have judges, the Supreme Court, which is put in place to interpret the law, and you have various courts that interpret the law and you have various lawyers that interpret the law. And you have various courts that interpret the law and you have various lawyers that interpret the law. So some laws are really straightforward, they're not in need for interpretation. And I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes in, because sometimes you have people interpreting things which law is more. It's not so much interpretation. Like, if I'm reading a spiritual text, then there's room for interpretation because there's layers of meaning. But when I'm dealing with law, I'm not using an interpretation, I'm using what is known as juristic reasoning. See, each officer has a jurisdiction. The root word in jurisdiction is jurist. So if you're a jurist, then that means, number one, you're learned in the law, and then, number two, to arrive at rulings, you use juristic reasoning. And so it's not so much interpretation. When people start interpreting.

Speaker 2: 26:37

Interpretations are for spiritual matters, to look into the essence of. Well, what does love mean? You know, what does truth mean. What does it mean to use the axe, to use the hammer? These things can be interpreted in many forms and ways, but when it says that you are to create your own laws and customs, in conjunction, see, this is the key.

Speaker 2: 27:02

And again it goes back to conjunctive law, because conjunctive law has rules, all right. So in conjunction mean it has to align with a law or a custom that already previously exists, either from the prophet or through our customs and usages. So, and then it has to also be within the standard of standard English. You know you can't just take words out of context and expect someone to who actually knows English and knows how the English language works, and have anybody accept any anything. So the conjunctive law, the assistance of the prophet and the grand body are again checks and balances that are put in place so that a grand sheik cannot run them up, or a grand sheik and chairman cannot run them up okay, that is peace, all right, great answer.

Speaker 1: 28:04

Uh, so the grand body? Okay, how does the grand body work? Work so, like I don't understand the grand body, right? Um, being a part of the movement, my main objective was to uplift fallen humanity. I wasn't thinking about like the grand body, nothing like that. You know, I was thinking about uplifting myself first and then, you know, the community around me, so I wasn't really thinking too much about. Yeah, you know who is the grand body actually, and yeah, okay does the grand body act like? Like the congress and american government?

Speaker 2: 28:52

islam is um government, islam. I wouldn't really mirror the civic government with the religious government or divine government, I should say. But what I will say is that the Grand Sheik is like the executive, you know, because they're they're making the law Right. The grand body would be more like the Senate and or House of Representatives, because they they have different functions in, say, the US, but it's the grand body of sheiks, and so you have grand sheiks, you have sheiks, and so all of these ones who are appointed now have the ability to review laws and to have their input.

Speaker 2: 29:48

And it's important because you know, say, for example, when you have conventions and you have a lot of different bodies these days, you know it's not just one body, you have various bodies and so you have various conventions.

Speaker 2: 30:03

You know, but whenever, say, one comes to a convention per se this is where, say, if you have seven temples and you're having a convention with seven temples, it's important to have the grand body's input, because each environment a lot of times requires different things.

Speaker 2: 30:22

You know there are nuances and because each grand sheik has the ability to make law and enforce law when we come together, whether it be a grand body or a council, to create laws that might cover all of the body. It's important that everyone has, or all of the sheiks have, input and in some cases even the members you know, members are where we come from are able to petition and able to have some input in things that affect them as well, and they're represented through their body of sheiks. So this is pretty much how the grand body works. Say, for example and I've had to have grand body meetings where someone may disagree with the ruling that I put down and we call the grand body together and we meet and the grand body would deliberate until there was some type of resolution to it, and then that would be the standard at that point the standard at that point.

Speaker 1: 31:33

Okay, so from my understanding, you're not able to the members. So that was my main concern. That was my main concern for a while. Like you know the members, why aren't the members in power at all to even vote? You know, that was my main concern. Do you have any, uh, anything to say about that?

Speaker 2: 31:58

islam. Again, it goes back to creating your own laws and customs. Uh, in some temples, uh, members aren't allowed to vote, however, uh, and in some temples, members are able to form committees and they're able to again present fact findings and things to their body of sheiks, which would then take it. So it's almost like a referendum in a sense. They have a say so and then it goes through their sheik and then their sheik takes it to the grand body and then the grand body basically decides on that. And so in some temples and ours members are involved.

Speaker 2: 32:48

How is is based on how the prophet laid it down and customs that we can create to help members be more involved. Um, you know, cause? All members are active and not passive. So a member is not a passive position, uh, but their involvement and their activism is not the same as an as an officer or an administrator, just like in any, any society in the United States, members can have petitions and can write lists and create referendum and ballot measures that are then taken to to be voted on.

Speaker 2: 33:33

So there's still room for members to be involved, and I doubt very seriously whether they can vote in some of these other temples or not. That their voice is just totally silent. I know some members and they're not going to be heard one way or another, and that's where it's important for the grand sheiks and the body to not just be caught up in the position. But magistrate and subject is in the uh. There's a lesson in the circle seven known as magistrate and subject, and it outlines how a magistrate or how someone in a position of being able to give rulings what they should do and uh, and how they should do it and the spirit in which they should do it, and how they should not admire the title as much as they should what the title can do for society.

Speaker 1: 34:42

Indeed, indeed, hold on. Got to do that right. There, drop a bomb, all right. So, there, drop a bomb, all right. So, uh, there's a question here. We got the brother ab the light of ben bay. Uh, how many temples do we have across the states?

Speaker 2: 35:03

I don't know the exact number. Um, there are temples forming all the time, uh, so uh I what I would say is that there's four major, say grand bodies. If I were to calculate, you have maybe about 25 temples under one, maybe 15 under another, maybe another 15. So I mean you have over a hundred temples. However, the Prophet Noah, before he passed, had only set aside 15 temples at the time where he wrote the Moorish leader's historic message to America.

Speaker 2: 35:45

So it's important that all of the temples that form are traced back and have a genealogy to the temples that are set aside by the prophet. Uh, noble Jew, Ali, uh and or, uh. And these days and times, grand sheiks that may have, um, uh, may not necessarily be with those temples, but may have come out of of those temples and have formed their covenant under love, truth, peace, freedom and justice, Whether that be due to discrepancies of how things were being ran or you know, however, that formed. They have the opportunity to form government and incorporate into the more science temple of america under chapter 47, key 12, but they have to have a genealogy okay, so four grand bodies correct uh, roughly, because you know you have the, the grand body, that grand body, and then you have the grand body that was under it's, under Braswell Bay, now temple number one.

Speaker 2: 37:00

Then you have the Emilia Hill grand body and you know you've had other, you know variations from the Inc. R Jones Bay. These are in a sense, fractures or divisions within the movement, but again, the prophet allowed for that. So it's not for me to come and say, hey, you're doing this or you're doing that. Only thing I look at is are you tracing what your actions and what you're doing back to the prophet? There? Only thing I look at is are you tracing what your actions and what you're doing back to the prophet? There are a lot of people who are fighting over the divisions, of which one is the original temple and which one can be traced back. But this is a very important thing. I like to tell them it doesn't matter, and it matters in a historical sense, that you should be able to trace yourself back to the original temple. However, what if the original temple is wicked?

Speaker 1: 38:07

And I'm not saying that the original temple.

Speaker 2: 38:10

I'm not saying the original temple is wicked and I'm not saying that the original temple. I'm not saying the original temple is wicked. But what I'm saying is just because something is original doesn't mean that that's the litmus test for it to be the one to follow. You have to look at the works of these temples Good works coming out of all the temples these days, in different areas, despite what some might claim to set themselves up to be the sole one that everyone should follow. But you look at the works If the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. So if they're good works coming out from the temple, then that's what's most important. And how is it benefiting the members? Are the members being taken care of? Are the members benefiting? Are their children, Are they protected? Are they unmolested from other citizens and from big government and other societies? These are the things that are most important. But from a historical standpoint, there is a root and there are divisions from that root okay now this is a great question.

Speaker 1: 39:17

This was a question I was gonna ask. Thank you for coming out. Rush 24 fit. How do you know which temple to go to? Oh yeah, you said you just. You just answered that already you just answer that you just answer that okay well.

Speaker 2: 39:31

Well, to give a little more commentary on that is number one. You, you do your research, you know. You do your research again into the works of the temple and see if that is right for you. The sheep know the sound of their, of their shepherd's voice, so not all temples are going to resonate with everyone and that it's not designed to be that way. It's designed to have a Rotarian complexion if Moors are demonstrating right, meaning that no matter what temple you're from, you should be able to go rotate with other temples and still perform your duties as a member and as a good Moorish Muslim.

Speaker 2: 40:15

However, look into the temples and see if the temples are right for you. Are they teaching? And I'll say this it's just like when, in the Christian church, study to show yourself approved. You know that's what we used to say. Don't just take what the Grand Sheik says or what the preacher says out of the Bible or any other document.

Speaker 2: 40:37

Read for yourself and if something's not lining up and you have some questions, then ask some questions. If someone is upset about you asking questions, then maybe that's not the place for you. You want to go where you can ask questions, you can get an understanding and, most importantly, you can be at peace. And I've been to some temples that you know. When I've walked in and the ethers were very dark, you know, and I would say, hey, well, who's going to want to be a part of this? And then I've been to temples that are very vibrant and you can not only feel the light, but you could see the light, and so we're going to be attracted to love. If there's love at that temple, then that's a good temple. If there's no love in that temple, then naturally one is going to recoil from that.

Speaker 1: 41:40

For sure. Now there's another question here what is the criteria to open a temple?

Speaker 2: 41:48

Islam. Well, again, the criteria is it depends. Some people believe that you know you have to be given a charter in order to open a temple, and this is simply not the case. Number one it tells you every subordinate temple in Key 14 of the Grand Major Temple is to form under the covenant of love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. Create their own laws and customs in conjunction All right. So remember, you have to have a genealogy. There has to be an appointment of a grand sheik that actually comes from a temple. You can't just jump up and do this right. I mean you can, but in order to have that connection you have to have a genealogy of an appointment. And then, when we go to chapter 48, it tells us that we go to key four any subordinate temple that desires to receive a charter. So that means you can have a subordinate temple without a charter. You can either desire to have one or you cannot have one.

Speaker 2: 42:58

So the myth that you have to have a charter is not the case. So some are under charters. You're given a charter and commissioned from another temple. Others are appointed grand sheiks and prefer to create a subordinate temple without a charter. Both of these are valid, but again, the key is having an appointment, having your appointment papers from a body that can directly trace themselves back to the prophet through a grand sheik, or mainly through a grand sheik, or supreme grand sheik or something of that nature. So it starts with an appointment. You have to and the reason why is because it says you have to.

Speaker 2: 43:47

These laws are to be strictly preserved that they will learn to open their meetings and guide it according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. So you have to learn how to open your meetings. You have to learn how to guide the meetings according to love, truth, peace, freedom and justice. You have to learn of the laws and the customs, because this is what you're going to be duty bound to uphold. And you have a lot of not a lot, but you have some people who have opened Morse organizations and temples and they don't teach out of the Circle Seven.

Speaker 2: 44:19

They don't use the constitution and bylaws. They don't use general laws, they don't use supreme laws, and so they're maybe in the spirit of Mor, more science, but it's not going to have that Rotarian complexion and it's not going to have the same result. Some more think the prophet didn't finish it and that is their job to finish it, you know. But if they were to study the laws, they would see that everything they're trying to achieve, there's a provision for them to do that and it is finished. It's already been laid out, and if we honor our forefathers and what we were left, like every other people do, then we would be able to achieve greater unity, greater success and greater upliftment of fallen humanity for our people.

Speaker 1: 45:12

Islam. All right. Now I have a couple great ideas for the Grand Body Brother. They are in accordance with the Prophet's words and suggestions. How do I go about connecting with as many temples, if not all, to build on it?

Speaker 2: 45:30

Well, the first thing I would ask is if the brother is a part of a of a temple, you know, because that's that's the first requirement. Imagine, let's just and I'm just going to use this example Because a lot, of, a lot of brothers are gleaning and studying from the outside. There's a lot of information out there right now where you can get all of these documents and you can read and you can study and you can have great ideas that will actually benefit the movement, and this is true. But what I want to read is something that the prophet wrote in Moorish literature, and this is why I say that it's one part of a temple. It's called the voice of the prophet and it says if you have race, pride and love your race, join the Moorish Science Temple of America and become part of this divine movement. Then you will have the power to redeem your race, because you will know who you are and who your forefathers were, because where there is unity there is strength. Together we stand, divided we fall. Come good people, because I, the prophet, sent to redeem this nation from mental slavery, which you have now need, every one of you who think that you can better your condition. This is a field open to strong men and women to uplift the nation and take their place in the affairs of men.

Speaker 2: 47:04

So it's not just enough to have the knowledge, even though they're great ideas, but you have to take your place in the affairs of men, though. They're great ideas, but you have to take your place in the affairs of men, especially if you want to contribute to the administrative level of government in the Moral Science Temple of America. Imagine someone who is not a member coming to, let's put it in terms of employment, let's say, someone who is not in management of McDonald's, and they say hey, I have some good ideas on how you should run McDonald's. You know the board is going to be like well, you know who are you. Well, you know we understand that these are great ideas, but you know why don't you become? You know, come through the process and become a part of this so that you can implement these ideas properly, and so you know. But you can just contact temples and talk to people, but it's important to join.

Speaker 2: 48:09

The prophet said if you have race pride, join. And so we need to join and take our place in the affairs of men as a body politic and under political unity to actually effectuate change, especially within the more science temple of America. You know, demonstrated under the minister of culture for a while until I accepted a grand position. Uh, because, as much criticism that I had with certain aspects of the temple, I realized that, you know, a lot of people just abandoned the temple when they see that there's some issues and things going on. But I realized, hey, you know, I need to be a part of this so that my voice and my ideas and measure and understanding can resonate and the good ideas that I have will have an opportunity to be heard, not only by my body but by others who are willing to listen.

Speaker 1: 49:13

Gotcha Indeed, indeed. Great answer, great answer. We have a few minutes left before we cut out. You know I want to continue doing the Moral Science Temple and how it functions. We should do a part two and keep building on this, because I think this is a very important piece that people don't really understand too. And keep building on this because I think this is a very important piece that people don't really understand, especially myself. And you clarified a lot this evening, so I don't know if Okay, we have Okay. Would the Moorish Science Temple of America be incorporated into the said government?

Speaker 2: 49:57

Would it, would it be?

Speaker 1: 49:59

Would the Moorish Science Temple of America be incorporated into the said government? So I guess the 501C3 question. I think that's what that is.

Speaker 2: 50:12

All right so. So let's understand a couple of things here. We have to understand what, what, what prophet Noah found it number one. And when we look on the back of of the one-on-ones, because it says our work was largely religious and it was incorporated, a lot of people like to think that it's just like every other religious organization. And it's not, because the statute Heard Statute, chapter 32 and 36, which is on the back of the questionnaire. One should read that, Because in that it tells you that once this affidavit and this is not the actual affidavit, it's an abstract of the affidavit but once this affidavit a legal abstract, once this affidavit was filed, and when you read her statute, it tells you it actuallyms for body politic. You'll get things like nation state, res publica, commonwealth, you even get electorate, and so the powers of the most religious organizations are not body politics. So what he did in choosing this statute to create this body politic. When you look up, can religious organizations govern themselves? It's going to say no, but when you look up, can body politics govern themselves, it's going to say yes. So he imbued the Moorish Science Temple of America with the power of self-government of all of those who belong to the society.

Speaker 2: 51:52

So first we have to understand which comes first the society or the organization. Obviously the society comes before the organization and the society doesn't incorporate. An organization is created to act as a jural entity. So the jural society Moritz Schestein's Temple of America is founded on the laws of the Holy Koran of the Moritzstein's Temple of America and the laws of the Holy Koran of Mecca. The societal laws are in here, but because it's a religious society it can't interact in other ways, in certain ways, with the other society, that is, churches separate from states. So there's an entity that is now created, the Moorish Science Temple of America, which becomes the Jural Entity of the Jural Society, the Religious Jural Society. This Jural Entity that was created is the body politic which has self-governing powers and can be likened unto a state or a Commonwealth or a Respublica, and so it's part and partial of the said government. But the society never incorporates. A entity is created through incorporation to now carry out governmental functions and also to act as a third party between our society and the other society.

Speaker 2: 53:27

And let me give you a classic example In the case when COVID happened and the citizens of the United States were all had to take COVID shots and they were coerced into taking COVID shots. And if they did not take these COVID shots, a lot of people were fired. And there were. You know you couldn't. You couldn't go into buildings. You know you were penalized. You couldn't go into buildings. You know you were penalized. And because you were a citizen, they had the right. And because you are subject not just a citizen, but subject they had the right to enforce this on you. They could enforce this mandate on you, but with the Moorish Science Temple of America being a third party and under the freedom of the exercise clause of the Constitution of the United States, under the freedom of the exercise clause of the Constitution of the United States, morissette's Temple of America could exempt all of its members from having to do that.

Speaker 2: 54:27

So, because we're governed under our religious law of Islamism and so, since church is separate from state, civic law cannot enforce onto religious law or divine law. I'll say divine law, because Moores have a lot of problem with religion but divine law. So it's the divine law of our society that enables us. Yes, we're citizens of the USA it says it on the back of our car but we're not subject. We're not subject to whatever the United States of America throws at us, because we have protections under our law and then we have our juror entity to enforce that law via Grand Chic and other officer, or Grand Chic and chairman, to create positive law for us to justify the actions of our members not participating in the other laws from the civic side have to understand that.

Speaker 2: 55:25

And, if I may, one last thing, there's two authorities on the back of this, and so we just had an authority day. This is when the meeting was held, the meeting to establish this, and it was held, and it tells you that our power and authority came from the great Koran of Mohammed. That's an example of the society self-starting and doing what it needs to do without any authorization from anyone except the great Quran, muhammad. However, august 1st, the Jural Entity was created and incorporated through her statute, and so now this is the authority of the entity to act as a state, so to speak, to interact with other states, or to act as a government to interact with other governments. Now, I know I said a lot, but I'll stop there. I hope that brings some clarity.

Speaker 1: 56:40

Islam, thank you for coming out this evening. I really appreciate you for showing up this evening and for the people in the chat. Thank you for watching. Peace to y'all, islam to all the Moors, peace to all the 5%, peace to all the five percent nation, peace to everyone watching um, all the human families on the planet earth, all of humanity. Um, I don't mean to be so quick to get off, but I have another podcast right now, in like four minutes. Thank you, brother cosmo. Uh, l really appreciate you. Islam, I want to come back, not next week but the following week, for part two how the temple functions, how the organization, how the movement functions.

Speaker 2: 57:26

Islam. I trust we meet again. Peace and love.

Speaker 1: 57:29

Peace.