Ancient Moors (not necessarily so called at the time) originated a system of salvation which other cultures throughout the world freely emulated. Freemasonry was that system. It actually began in Africa and was then carried everywhere else, specific and custom-fit for each land and culture, teaching the people through the norms they could best understand and embrace.
That’s how masters taught the world, with cultural relevance, of course. In the Agricultural Age, the world was far more tolerable than it is today. As the world turned in the Middle Ages, however, world viewpoints diverged and people became increasingly intolerable of one another; especially Europeans and Moors, as this resulted in global conflict. The Moors occupied and governed the Iberian Peninsula, mainly, and other parts of Europe at the time. Freemasonry (not necessarily so called at the time), their primary discipline, was a sacred science carefully maintained by high Masters. The Moorish governments were Masonic. All government officials were Freemasons who governed accordingly. The powers of Europe, unwilling to tolerate Moorish Rule or the Moorish presence in Europe, moved violently against the Moors. And as European forces united to finally defeat the Moors, killing hundreds of thousands, they fractured Freemasonry and altered its course forever.
That you now carry the cultural standards and symbols of other cultures as an identifying marker (Masonically), indicates that you lost your own cultural investment while others have secured theirs. Now you are everything and everyone else, but yourself. Let’s face it; you’ve lost your identity, and you’ve lost your culture. You must understand: Freemasonry archives the preservation of culture and makes it and the people it speaks for, primary and relevant. Moorish culture has not been truly preserved, thus, Moors have been made historically secondary and irrelevant. No one will claim you because you refuse to claim yourself. You are so concerned about Masonic recognition, and yet, you foolishly refuse to recognize yourself while clamoring for everybody else to recognize you! Something is drastically wrong with that picture. Think about it: as Moors/Blacks/Afro-Americans, Africans, etc., we have done everything in the way of social protest and social uplift. We have adhered to everyone’s religion and philosophy and method, we have engaged every form of protest, we have entered politics, and we’ve even tried to reverse racism and become racists ourselves.
We’ve done it all. All, except one thing: Claim a Freemasonic Rite. Now we are finally doing that, and the Moorish Rite will exist as such! The nautical symbolism of the Moorish Rite will honor and recall the legacy of our ancestors who created the maritime sciences and mastered the seven seas. And when the Moorish Rite is established it will be true to Masonic form; all people will be welcome, regardless of race, creed or color. That is the Moorish way. That’s how our ancestors practiced Freemasonry and governed civilization. We will have our style of Freemasonry according to our culture. And we are only doing what others cultures would do and have done. It is only right that we should have a rite to call our own; the Moorish Rite is not only right, it couldn’t be more right! As Brother Hazel says, ‘If you’re not practicing your own Freemasonry; whose Freemasonry are you practicing?’
For more information: http://www.moorishriteonline.net