Shaykh Hajj Hesham Jaaber, 1968

1917

Dr. Thomas Drew, the "Egyptian Adept Student" UPDATED 9/2/16

In his groundbreaking article, "Before the Fez," Fathie Abdat demonstrated not only that Noble Drew Ali, the famous founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America, had probably been born in Virginia--not North Carolina, as tradition held--but also that he had gone by the name Thomas Drew, not Timothy Drew, as was commonly believed. Moreover, even if he had not started his Newark-based movement in 1913, Abdat showed that Drew was verifiably preaching in the streets of the Tri-state region as "Prof. Drew, the Egyptian Adept."

However, despite Abdat thoroughly documenting Drew's travels using government records and city directories, there were still some lingering doubts as to whether or not the Thomas Drew from his research was indeed the same person as Noble Drew Ali.

Today, however, I am confident that they were one and the same.

My confidence primarily comes from my recently finding multiple newspaper articles about a "Dr." Thomas Drew from Virginia who was working as a mystic and using practices, teachings, and biographical claims that are very much consistent with those that are associated with both "Prof. Drew" and Noble Drew Ali.

Here is a sample.

Another reason that I am so confident that this Thomas Drew was the man known as Noble Drew Ali is the fact that Moorish Americans--in other words, followers of Noble Drew Ali--were the very individuals who left the clues that helped me find these articles. I discovered these clues in a manuscript that was written over a half century ago and contained information given to the author by individuals who were affiliated with the Moorish Science Temple of America.

I will be discussing this new fascinating evidence, as well as many more untold pieces of the history of Islam in America, in my forthcoming second volume of "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States", subtitled "The African American Islamic Renaissance", due out in early 2017.

For those who have already seen my dissertation, be aware that the book will go FAR beyond the dissertation in terms of presenting previously unknown information and analysis. For this book, I have dug very deep, and I hope that it will contribute to a new appreciation of the diversity, complexity, and depth of African American Islamic history.


UPDATE 9/2/16: 

I have obtained some new information about Noble Drew Ali's following and practices during the early 1920s. At that time, as far as this information suggests, he was claiming to be a "Moslem" and for his practices he used an "adept chamber"--both of which are concepts that would exist in the MSTA. However, I have not yet located any references to "Moors" or "Moorish Science" from this period.

Interview with early members and Grand Sheiks of the MSTA

1961

1921

*click to enlarge*

New York City, 1893

The official story of Alianza Islamic

A few years ago I wrote an article about Alianza Islamica, one of the first US Latino Muslim organizations. I based my information almost entirely off of a 5 hour interview with Ibrahim Gonzalez, who has since that time passed away. Unfortunately, at that time I was unable to get interviews with any of the other founders of the AI. But just a few months ago, I was finally able to get in touch with Ramon Ocasio and Yahya Figueroa, and they informed me that several of the "facts" I had published about the AI were incorrect--and they felt a need to correct them. Yesterday, Mr. Ocasio published online a great essay that serves as that corrective.

See it here or here

Update 1/1/17. See also this recently posted video:

Letters to the Sage now available

Purchase on Amazon 

After nearly three years of research and preparation, "Letters to the Sage" is finally available for purchase. Here's the official book blurb:

Thomas Moore Johnson, the Sage of the Osage, was a small town lawyer in western Missouri whose international correspondence was largely a result of The Platonist, a short-lived but influential journal he published intermittently from 1881 until 1888. Johnson rarely traveled far from Osceola, his birthplace, where he served as mayor for several terms, but through correspondence he became a key figure in the late 19th century American awakening of interest in Western esoteric traditions.

During the 1880s Johnson was instrumental in the nationwide expansion of two esoteric organizations, the Theosophical Society (TS) and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. Although Theosophy had developed a primary interest in Indian spiritual traditions, Johnson’s Platonist attracted the attention of TS leaders and members around the world. Johnson was a member of the American Board of Control of the TS as the Society began to establish branches throughout the United States. But within a short time he became more seriously committed to a secret society with a focus on Western rather than Eastern wisdom traditions, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

Letters to the Sage, Volume One offers readers and scholars a rare glimpse into the relationships, organizational struggles, and intellectual and spiritual explorations of several of the key figures and locations in the early years of America’s occult revival. Containing over 200 letters from dozens of American and international cities, as well as what is perhaps the earliest known evidence of the organized study of the Tarot, Yoga, and Sufism in the United States, this is an essential book for those interested in the history of the American Midwest, esotericism, religion, and philosophy.

Some highlights of the book's contents: 

• Details about the organizational development of the TS and HB of L in the U.S.
• The 1887 'ordinance' Johnson sent out to establish the 'Sufic Circle' as a branch of the Hermetic Brotherhood.
• Evidence for the earliest known organized practice of Yoga in the United States.
• Information about previously unknown Rosicrucian groups and teachers in 19th c. America.
• A full list of the HB of L's teaching materials and details of the process of the distribution of the materials.
• Letters from H.S. Olcott and Thomas Burgoyne.
• 1880s discussions of the Tarot and Eliphas Levi.
• Previously unknown HB of L practical occult teachings.
• The names of dozens of HB of L members and their 'pledge' dates.

For excerpts from the book, click here

Joscelyn Godwin's comments (click to enlarge):

Reviews of HCTIUS V1

This post will contain reviews or links to reviews of "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims Before 1975". I will continue to update this post as more reviews come in.

-Review from Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

Since 9/11, scholars such as Thomas Kidd, Robert Allison, Denise Spellberg, Ussama Makdisi, Michael Oren, Heather Sharkey, and Christine Leigh Heyrman have explored the relationship between Islam and the US. Historian Bowen (Univ. of Denver) shifts directions and examines white American conversions to Islam, explaining how inherited European perceptions of Islam affected early US attitudes. He makes use of such concepts as “deterritorialization”—the globalizing effects of the breaking down of territorial and conceptual borders—and “reterritorialization”—the hardening of territorial boundaries, for context. The author roots much of the growing interest in Islam in the expanding religious landscape of the 19th-century US "occult revival" and the transcendental and theosophical movements, which were more accepting of non-Christian movements. Although nativist groups emerged, Bowen notes that more Americans gradually identified with but not as Muslims. He traces his narrative to 1975 by studying such converts as Alexander Webb and Louis Glick, the influx of Muslim intellectuals and college students in the 1940s, and the post-1965 revision of immigration laws, which allowed more US contact with like-minded emigrants from the Middle East. In summary, Bowen challenges the notion that American conversions to Islam are only recent and shows that they have a longer pedigree than imagined. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.
--M. S. Hill, Liberty University

-Excerpt from review from Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions

Although it is quite easy to get lost in the extensive number of names, esoteric religious groups, and Muslim organizations that Bowen discusses in his work, thus making the work probably too detailed for undergraduate use, this reviewer highly recommends the book for graduate students and professors interested in an under-explored aspect of American religious history. The work is also ideal for any scholar interested in studies on religious conversion.
--Jacob Hicks, Florida State University

-

A reorientation...

Last night I publicly revealed for the first time a discovery that I've recently made about African American Islamic history. I believe that this find is much more significant than anything I have so far uncovered, and, in my opinion, it will completely shift our understanding of not only African American Islam, but also of American--not just African American--religious history. This will all be fully outlined in the forthcoming second volume of "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States": "The African American Islamic Renaissance", due out in early 2017.

I would like to leave here just a symbol of this discovery.

Muslims, 1932

Click to enlarge

Call For Artists & Writers

Announcing 

Crescents: Early American Islamic Currents 

An Independent Art Book & Visual Experience

focusing on the origins of Islam in America

Crescents will be an online showcase & printed document of content related to the study & the artists encouraging all forms of media; essays, illustration, graphic design / digital art, 3d renders, poetry, motion graphics, video, music & artifacts including but not limited to the following subjects: the Moorish Science Temple of America, Noble Drew Ali, The Canaanites Temple, Abdul Hamid Suleiman, Muslim immigrants to America (pre-1930), early Sufi thought & movements in America, enslaved Muslims/Moslems, early converts to Islam (European, Asian, South American & American Moors), the Ahmadiyya movement, the Sufic Circle / Order of Sufis, Duse Mohamed Ali, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, Abdul Said Ahmed, Satti Majid & Alexander Russell Webb. 

We are currently seeking submissions of art and essays, both scholarly and non-scholarly.

Send all art/offerings/inquiries to crescents@treeoflifes.be

Send all essays/inquiries to crescents.rit@treeoflifes.be

Crescents website

'The British Birth of the Occult Revival, 1869-1875'

This is an unpublished paper written in 2014 that was apparently lost by the journal to which it was submitted. Although the research for this paper served as the foundation for a section in Chapter 2 of my book A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Vol. 1: White American Muslims before 1975 (Brill, 2015) (publisher website), the present essay contains a few pieces of information not included in the book. Also, this essay contains references to another unpublished essay I wrote (‘Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie’s “Papers on Masonry” and the Spread of Islamic-Identity Organizations in the U.S. and England in the Late Nineteenth Century’), which was supposed to be released in an edited volume that has been put on hold indefinitely. Much of the research for that essay was used in Chapter 4 of A History. Finally, it should be mentioned that I have not edited the present essay since the time I originally submitted it, so it may contain some writing and research flaws.

Download the paper HERE

Grand Sheik Frederick Turner-El SCLC FBI file records

In 2015, the FBI released online its file on the SCLC.

Surprisingly, the file contains a few references to MSTA leader Grand Sheik Frederick Turner-El, who was briefly investigated by the FBI in the mid-1960s after he called up the SCLC and expressed his concern over a 'great slur' being used on Martin Luther King, Jr. The short investigation reveals small details in Turner-El's interesting life. Perhaps the most important piece of new data in this document is the revelation that Turner-El may have possibly traveled with his missionary mother for eight years (1920- ca. 1927) in the Middle East.

I have collected the pages on GSFTE and put them online to download here.

My interview on New Books in Islamic Studies

http://newbooksnetwork.com/patrick-bowen-a-history-of-conversion-to-islam-in-the-united-states-vol-1-white-american-muslims-before-1975-brill-2015/

Mapping Memories of Madagascar

Wendy Wilson-Fall's new, important project. From the website:

Researcher: Wendy Wilson-Fall, Africana Studies
Project Description: This digital humanities project was born out of the realization that mapping would be a great way to document the geographic locations of the family narratives and plantations tied to planters who bought Malagasy slaves between 1719 and 1721, as discussed in my book, Memories of Madagascar and Slavery in the Black Atlantic (Ohio University Press, 2015). As I came to the end of that book project, I also realized that I could perhaps learn something more from a visualization of the human geography of the Malagasy migration experiences of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
For these reasons, I turned to Lafayette’s digital technology staff  at the Skillman Library.  Several discussions with the Director of Digital Technologies, Eric Luhrs, helped me to understand more about the digital humanities, and I was encouraged to work with a newly hired Digital GIS Visualization specialist, John Clark.  John and I spent many hours and had numerous meetings to discuss the possibilities that a digital humanities approach could bring to further exploring the subject of African American narratives about Malagasy ancestors.  We also spent a lot of time talking about and researching American trade in the Indian Ocean.  Eventually, we applied for a series of grants.
Through support from a Mellon Grant for Digital Humanities that was awarded to Lafayette, we joined other colleagues who had embarked on digital humanities projects. We organized a meeting with Reber Dunkel, formally a professor at  Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Reber is well versed in local Virginia history and was instrumental in helping me to gather information from families in the Ashland-Hanover area. Second, I reached out to interested students, and in June 2015, two student assistants, Jethro Israel and Clara Randimbiarimanana ( a student from Madagascar), John Clark and I traveled to the Peabody Essex Museum library in Salem, Massachusetts to spend several days poring over ship logs, captains’ journals, and business notes from the sailing community of New England during its heyday of Indian Ocean trade. This effort led us to the current stage of the project: exploring the conditions and networks that would have made it possible for Malagasy sailors and merchants to travel with American ships to the United States between 1790 and 1850.
- See more at: http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/madagascar