Johnson-Bey v. Lane

The appeal and cross-appeal in this prisoners civil rights case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 present issues of religious freedom. The plaintiffs, three inmates at the Illinois state prison at Menard, belong to the black Islamic sect known as the Moorish Science Temple of America. That it is a bona fide religion is not questioned, although three-fourths of its temples (congregations) are inside prisons. The Moors, as adherents to the Moorish Science Temple are called, have their own version of the Koran and a list of prophets that includes, in addition to the prophets recognized by orthodox Islam, Buddha, Confucius, and the founder (in 1913) of the Moorish Science Temple, Prophet Noble Drew Ali. The Moorish religious observances include the wearing of the fez. Two groups vie for leadership of the sect: one in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, headed by Grand Sheik/Moderator Brother R. Love-El, and one in St. Louis headed by Grand Sheik Jerry Lewis-Bey. (The suffixes "El" and "Bey" refer to the African tribes from which the Moors believe black people are descended.) The plaintiffs now concede that only the Mt. Clemens group is legitimate. The sinister El Rukn group is a breakaway faction from the Moorish Science Temple, see Faheem-El v. Lane, 657 F. Supp. 638, 642 (C.D. Ill. 1986); apparently it no longer has any connection with the Moorish Science Temple.