Title: 1st Supreme Grand Sheik and Chairman —Moorish Science Temple of America
Temple: Temple No. 1, Chicago, Illinois
Successor: Brother W. Morris El
- E. Mealy El was the first Supreme Grand Sheik and Chairman of the Moorish Science Temple of America, appointed by Noble Drew Ali in the living flesh — chosen, tested and confirmed before the entire grand body
- Held every major office in the Moorish Science Temple of America between January 1927 and his passing in 1934 — each one given to him directly by Noble Drew Ali
Because Edward Mealy El refused to break, the movement Noble Drew Ali built did not break with him — and the ancient identity the European Nations spent centuries trying to erase was not lost with it.
Here is how one man, chosen by Noble Drew Ali, made that possible…
The One Noble Drew Ali Chose
Edward Mealy El joined the Moorish Science Temple of America, Temple No. 1 in Chicago, Illinois, on January 1, 1927.
He arrived as an unknown.
But Noble Drew Ali would make clear within months exactly who he was to become.
By June 1, 1927 — only six months after joining the Moorish Science Temple of America — Noble Drew Ali had approved and appointed Mealy El as 1st Assistant Chairman of the Moorish Science Temple of America. The appointment did not come down quietly.
It carried the unanimous consent of the entire grand body — every member of the movement affirming what Noble Drew Ali had already decided.
By August 1, 1928 — eighteen months after walking through the door — Mealy El held a third title: General Chairman of the Moorish Science Temple of America. Two months before the first national convention. Still under the Prophet’s direct watch.
Each elevation was deliberate. Noble Drew Ali did not elevate by accident.
The Seat Next to the Prophet
At the 1st Annual National Convention of the Moorish Science Temple of America — October 15 through 20, 1928, less than two years after Mealy El joined — Noble Drew Ali appointed Edward Mealy El Supreme Grand Sheik and Chairman.
This is the highest office in the movement. The appointment took place in the first setting of the Supreme Grand Council, the governing body Noble Drew Ali himself had established to ensure the movement’s continuity.
At the same convention, Noble Drew Ali appointed Brother W. Morris El as Assistant Grand Sheik — naming, in the same act, the man who would carry the office forward at Mealy El’s passing. The succession was not left to chance — Noble Drew Ali built the line himself.
The following month, at a public meeting at 3140 Indiana Avenue in Chicago, Noble Drew Ali made it plain before the entire membership in three statements:
“He was the Supreme Grand Head, Brother Mealy El was the Supreme Grand Sheik, next to me, The Prophet. And that means all the temples in this government. And there’s but one Moorish Science Temple of America and that is mine. Noble Drew Ali.”
Called to Sacrifice
In February 1929 — three months after the public affirmation — Noble Drew Ali appointed Mealy El Shepherd of His Flock, and told him to feed his lambs and his sheep.
That same month, Noble Drew Ali called Mealy El to the office on a Sunday night.
He asked what Mealy El was doing. Mealy El told him he was between work, waiting on repairs.
Noble Drew Ali told him to stop looking.
No more work of any kind.
Come to the office every morning at 9:30 or 10:00.
The work was getting heavy.
Someone was needed to help carry it.
Noble Drew Ali was clear: there was no salary attached.
Noble Drew Ali told him: if you are willing to sacrifice with me, I will see that your rent is paid, your expenses are covered and that you have a little spending change.
Mealy El agreed.
He surrendered outside employment and reported to Noble Drew Ali’s office — just as instructed.
Returning from a trip to the other temples, Noble Drew Ali told Mealy El to study the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Questionnaire and the Divine Constitution and By-Laws — to be perfect in all subjects so he could act intelligently along all lines of procedure.
Twenty minutes later, in the same office, Noble Drew Ali looked at him and said:
“I find all of them want to sit in my seat. But at my absence, that is your station. And if you leave, lock the desk and put the key in your pocket. Everyone wants to sit there because there is where the money is. But I know who I want to sit there. I know who I want to handle my money. And if you leave for any length of time, give the keys to Brother C. Kirkman Bey until you return.”
In the weeks before Noble Drew Ali passed, Mealy El was called to his private chamber for special instruction on the many ways of life. Mealy El wrote that it was done in a way that made one think Noble Drew Ali was not going to leave this earth — as if he would live forever in the flesh.
The final instructions Mealy El documented took place one night after being called from his home by Noble Drew Ali himself.
Mealy El made his way to the Prophet’s residence. When he arrived, he heard Noble Drew Ali speak through his mighty Godheads.
Then Noble Drew Ali asked him directly — whether he was with him, or whether he was with them.
And Noble Drew Ali further said:
“I want to know the truth from you today. Because I have done too much for you for you to turn your back on me. And if I thought you turned me down after what I have done for you — it would be too bad.”
Mealy El answered.
Noble Drew Ali passed away on July 20, 1929.
Holding the Line
In 1929, within ten days of Noble Drew Ali’s passing, Edward Mealy El authored his first letter to the nation — on the Prophet’s wishes and the movement’s path forward.
A second letter followed in August, on the convention dates Noble Drew Ali had wanted: September 15 through 20.
The 2nd Annual Convention proceeded on those dates.
Mealy El presided as Supreme Grand Sheik and Chairman. Outside groups surfaced — men who had never been designated by Noble Drew Ali, pressing claims on authority they were never given.
The convention proceeded without them.
In September 1930, Mealy El revoked the credentials of every member who had moved against his authority.
Court petitions followed through the 1930s.
Every petition failed.
The authorized Moorish Science Temple of America did not fracture.
The succession line did not break.
Edward Mealy El held it until 1934.
The Guardian He Left Behind
When Edward Mealy El passed away in 1934, the records of Noble Drew Ali’s movement — the original correspondence, the letters written in the Prophet’s own hand, the documents of a nation within a nation — were in the custody of his wife, Sister Delia Mealy El.
What she did with them is the full measure of the strength and resilience of both Mealy Els.
She locked every letter, every record and every piece of correspondence she had ever received about the temple or the Prophet into a large safe in her home at 4813 South Langley in Chicago.
Outside groups of Moors came far and wide for those records — men who had never been designated by Noble Drew Ali, pressing claims on an authority they were never given.
Sister Delia Mealy El refused.
When they had her arrested, she still refused.
The court ruled in her favor. The records remained in her custody.
During the Second World War, the FBI came to question her. After questioning, they delivered their own verdict:
“This is the real Moorish Science Temple of America.”
She guarded Noble Drew Ali’s founding records for half a century — through succession turbulence, through court challenges, through decades when the authorized temple kept its doors closed against a world that had already tried to take everything.
She passed away on December 15, 1984 in Chicago, Illinois.
The records she had refused to surrender did not leave with her. They remain with the authorized temple today.
The Fruits of an Everlasting Movement
Edward Mealy El is the first of eight Supreme Grand Sheiks and Chairmen in the unbroken line of succession from Noble Drew Ali — a line that runs through Morris El, Walton El, Harlan Bey, Lewis El, D. Bailey El, P. Davis El and to Emmanuel Braswell Bey, who serves today as Supreme Grand Sheik and Chairman of the Moorish Science Temple of America.
The letters Mealy El wrote in the weeks after Noble Drew Ali’s passing, the authority the Prophet gave him in private and confirmed before the nation in public, the records Sister Delia Mealy El refused to surrender under arrest — all of it survived…
Edward Mealy El simply refused to break.
And because he sacrificed his livelihood, absorbed the full weight of outside pressure from the schemes of other groups of Moors and protected Noble Drew Ali’s laws and instructions without wavering — hundreds of millions of people across the Americas today have access to the knowledge of their illustrious ancestry — freely available and preserved…
Brother E. Mealy El did his part. Now do yours…