Moor vs. Moroccan

Key 14: Why are we Moorish Americans? Because we are descendants of Moroccans and born in America.

Some may ask the question then why aren’t we Moroccan Americans? It’s simple. The name Moor is much older than the name Moroccan, and we are an Ancient people. Act 6 states that the Moorish Americans are the descendants of the Ancient Moabites, who inhabited the Northwestern and Southwestern shores of Africa.  The Prophet was a man who understood not only the historical context, but also the art of linguistics. Namely, the fact that the term Moroccan truly makes us sound foreign to this land, and native solely to Morocco. While Moor or Moorish relates more to the old linguistics when the world was thought of not as Countries and continents but rather as Kingdoms and Empires.

Moor is more relatable to us as a people by others outside of our own nation and race. Moor is a term that to others outside of our race denotes Olive dark skin, wooly hair, and African descent. This is evident when we look at the laws of Virginia from the late 1600s and early 1700s. For example below we have an act from October 1705-Chapter XLIX. An act concerning Servants and Slaves which reads:

“XI. And for a further Christian care and usage of all Christian servants, Be it also enacted, by the authority aforesaid, and it is hereby enacted, That no Negros, mulattos, or Indians, although Christians, or Jews, Moors, Mahometans, or other infidels, shall, at any time, purchase any Christian servant, nor any other, except of their own complexion, or such as are declared slaves by this act: And if any negro, mulatto, or Indian, Jew, Moor, Mahometan, or other infidel, or such as are declared slaves by this act, shall, notwithstanding, purchase any Christian white servant, the said servant shall, ipso facto, become free and acquit from any service then due, and shall be so held, deemed, and taken: And if any person, having such Christian servant, shall intermarry with any such negro, mulatto, or Indian, Jew, Moor, Mahometan, or other infidel, every Christian white servant of every such person so intermarrying, shall, ipso facto, become free and acquit from any service then due to such master or mistress so intermarrying, as aforesaid.”

Notice that there is no mention of the term Moroccan because our people who were here at that time weren’t using that term to describe themselves.  Moor on the other hand is a term that has been associated with us as a people for far longer than even the term black and Negro. In fact, Black as a term denoting to us as a people isn’t even used in the law as a descriptor.

The Prophet being fully aware of these things and understanding that the term Moor ties us to an Ancient people that we just happen to be descendant from and politically tied to is preferable to the term Moroccan, which for us would be limiting and, I believe, covetous. It would also give Morocco the state the ability to deny us as its citizens as we can’t prove that we are from that particular country, but what we can prove is that we are the descendants of the OLD Moorish/Moroccan Empire by its dominion and inhabitation which extended from Northeast to southwest Africa, across the Great Atlantis, also the present North, South, and Central America and also Mexico and the Atlantis Islands.

This I believe was the downfall of a great Moorish American in Grand Sheik Frederick Turner El. The adoption of a foreign name such as Moroccan led to a more foreign mindset. We believe that the Great Grand Sheik took his eyes off of the domestic affairs and through his newly formed Moroccan organization focused too much on International Affairs. By the time he raised his head again his numbers had dwindled from thousands to a few, and there was a new rival on the scene with an idea focused solely on domestic affairs and what was going on in the community and nation, which was none other than the Nation of Islam. G.S. Frederick Turner El moved away from the term Moor and Moorish American and chose to be known as a Moroccan American and thus suffered the loss of the ear of the people.

Prophet, Noble Drew Ali gave us a name with value and context in Moorish American: Descendants of Moroccans, but not Moroccans, and born in America. We are Moorish Americans; A new nation descendant from an Ancient Empire founded by the Moors. You are today what your forefathers and foremothers were without a doubt or contradiction: NAMELY MOORISH.

Peace,

Mahdi L. McCoy El

Moor vs. Moroccan