[3] Upon the murder of a rival Moorish Science Temple leader, Drew Ali was arrested (but never charged) and sent to jail; he died on July 20th, 1929, shortly after being released.

[4] Although the Moorish Science Temple of America has largely declined, Drew Ali's legacy is significant because of its influence on the founding and ideology of the Nation of Islam.

[5] Several details of Drew Ali's early life are uncertain, as true information became mixed with that of legend by his devout followers.

[8][10] One version of his life, common among members of the Moorish Science Temple, holds that Drew was raised by an abusive aunt, who once threw him into a furnace.

[4] In 2014, a completely different understanding of Drew Ali's early life was presented with the publication of an article in the online Journal of Race Ethnicity and Religion.

In The Aquarian Gospel, Dowling described Jesus's supposed travels in India, Egypt, and Palestine during the years of his life which are not accounted for by the New Testament.

In these he wrote: The fallen sons and daughters of the Asiatic Nation of North America need to learn to love instead of hate; and to know of their higher self and lower self.

[14] Drew Ali believed that African Americans were all Moors, who he claimed were descended from the ancient Moabites (describing them as belonging to Northwest Africa as opposed to Moab as the name suggests).

Drew Ali crafted Moorish Science ideology from a variety of sources, a "network of alternative spiritualities that focused on the power of the individual to bring about personal transformation through mystical knowledge of the divine within".

His approach appealed to thousands of African Americans who had left severely oppressive conditions in the South through the Great Migration and faced struggles adapting in new urban environments.

[14] It is possible that Drew Ali did actually travel to Egypt and Morocco, but historians believe that after leaving North Carolina, he moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he worked as a train expressman.

On March 15, Green-Bey was stabbed to death at the Unity Hall of the Moorish Science Temple, on Indiana Avenue in Chicago.

[25] Drew Ali was out of town at the time, as he was dealing with former Supreme Grand Governor Lomax-Bey (professor Ezaldine Muhammad), who had supported Green-Bey's attempted coup.

The services were held at the Pythian Temple in Chicago, followed by the burial at Burr Oak Cemetery in nearby Alsip.

[32] However, the governors of the Moorish Science Temple of America declared Charles Kirkman-Bey to be the successor to Drew Ali and named him Grand Advisor.

[33][4] Wallace Fard Muhammad, the founder of Nation of Islam, may have been a prominent member of the Moorish Science Temple of America, where he was known as David Ford-El,[34] however, due to his obfuscated and poorly-documented history, this is disputed by scholars.

[38] In 1986, the Moroccan Ambassador to the United States officially recognized the Moorish Science Temple's Islamic linkage to Morocco through Drew Ali.