veiled4allah: Black Hebrew Israelite or Moors in Miami (they're not Muslims)

Juan Cole brings up an interesting question: just what religion are the suspects in the terrorism arrests in Miami?

They're not mainstream Muslims:

It seems pretty obvious that they are just a local African-American cult which mixed Judaism, Christianity and (a little bit of) Islam. It seems to be a of vague offshoot of the Moors group founded by Dwight York. I heard on CNN that one of them talked of being Moors. And Batiste, the leader, called whites "devils" in the tradition of the original Nation of Islam and York's Moors. Now CNN is saying one member said they practiced witchcraft [likely meaning Haitian voodoo or perhaps Santeria-like rituals]. One former member is called Levi-El, suggesting he might be associated with the Black Hebrew movement or an offshoot. Now a relative of one of the members, Phanor, said that they wore black uniforms with a star of David arm patch and considered themselves of the Order of Melchizadek. I wonder if it is "Seas of David" or "C's of David", with "c" meaning commando or some such?

CAIR brings up some other points:

When asked by CNN why group members refer to themselves as "soldiers," "Brother Corey" said: "Because we study and we train through the bible, not only physical -- not only physical, but mentally." Group members also worship in a "temple," not in an Islamic mosque.

It mentions:

The group bears some resemblance to the cult of Yahweh ben Yahweh, which operated in the same part of Miami, Liberty City, in the 1980's.

Wikipedia has some useful information about the Nation of Yahweh cult that CAIR is referring to.

The groups that Cole and CAIR are referring to are generally classified as Black Hebrew Israelites.

I wrote about this a few years ago in my review of the book Black Zion:

The second trend is black Jewish groups who have their own interpretation of Judaism and declare themselves to be Jewish according to that. These latter groups bear much the same relationship to Judaism as the Nation of Islam does to Islam. They tend to call themselves "Black Hebrews" or "Black Israelites" to distinguish themselves from contemporary Jews. They believe that black people are the true Children of Israel by descent and that white Jews are either the products of intermarriage or (in some interpretations) are imposters who are "not really Jews"; some interpretations also consider whites (including white Jews) to be a separate and inferior creation. This is similar to the NOI's interpretation that black people are the true Muslims and that whites are a separate and inferior creation. Some Black Hebrew groups adhere fairly closely to mainstream Jewish rituals and practice, others follow their own interpretations of the Torah along with the teachings of their founder. Again, this is similar to the NOI and offshoot groups in terms of how much to how little they adhere to orthodox Islamic rituals and practice.

These groups, as well as the various offshoots of the Nation of Islam, are quite fascinating, but they are definitely not mainstream Islam, or mainstream any other religion. Instead, they represent a unique development within the African-American community.

Meanwhile, Knight-Ridder reports Indictment of suspected terrorists contains little evidence of plot. It's beginning to look like this is more hype than substance. It sure makes people afraid. One could ask why our own government rather than terrorists is trying to make us afraid here, though.

Later: Via the Telegraph and the London Times, there is some speculation that the suspects are members of the Moorish Science Temple, which Cole had alluded to as well. The MST predates the Nation of Islam but is part of a larger cluster of African-American movements (I discussed a bit of this as part of a broader discussion of Muslims in corrections). Like the Black Hebrews groups, these are unique to the African-American experience and are outside of mainstream Islam or mainstream Judaism - note to the Telegraph: referring to the MST as an "Islamist" group basically strips that word of any meaning whatsoever.