Chicago, USA - The seven men charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower were not members of the Moorish Science Temple of America Inc., said leaders of two of the movement's temples on Tuesday.
Family members of one of the seven reputed plotters, Stanley Grant Phanor, said Friday that the man had been studying the religion with the other men in a Miami warehouse. But leaders in the faith sought this week to distance their religion from the men, saying none of them was a member and the organization doesn't condone terrorist acts.
Authorities have said the men were planning an "Islamic jihad" and pledged allegiance to al-Qaida but never got beyond the planning stages.
"If anybody is involved in any terrorism, anything that is against our purpose, if they say they're with us, they're not," said Sister Susan Russell Dunbar-Bey, press secretary of the Moorish Science Temple of America Inc. in Hyattsville, Md.
A second temple in Chicago, which Dunbar-Bey said is not directly affiliated with her organization's grand body, also disavowed the group.
"America should know and understand that (reported plotter) Narseal Batiste and his codefendants are not members of the Moorish Science Temple of America and have never been considered such," Sheik Clifford Jackson-Bey of the Subordinate Temple No. 1 in Chicago said in a statement.
Jackson-Bey is not related to Dunbar-Bey. Followers of the movement often take surnames such as "Bey" or "El" to signify Moorish heritage.
The Moorish Science Temple of America was founded in 1913 in Newark, N.J., by Timothy Drew, who took the religious name Prophet Noble Drew Ali. The movement eventually developed a strong base in Chicago, where Ali incorporated the religion in 1928.
After Ali's death, the organization underwent a number of splits. Those divisions continue today, with some parts taking the name Moorish Science Temple of America Inc. although they may not be affiliated with the original body.
According to the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple helped form the foundation of early Black Muslim ideology. The temple was among the influences that would come together in later years to form the Nation of Islam under longtime leader Elijah Muhammad.
The Moorish Science Temple acknowledges the Muslim prophet Muhammad but also the spiritual authority of Buddha, Confucius and Jesus, whom they believe is Black. Followers study prayers and religious instructions from a book called the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which bears no relation to the Koran of traditional Islam.