It all begins with an idea… and the idea begins a long time ago, with Dr. Clifford E. Hazel Bey! And he would tell you the idea is not his, but is directly from God, thus the Moorish Rite is Divinely inspired. Many called him the founder; but he would always retort, “How can I be the founder of something inspired by the Creator?… if you want to say anything, say I inspired the Moorish Rite … by the Creator’s permission!”

   He made it clear, “The Moorish Rite is not just a fraternal order, it is a divine order.” And he’d often punctuate, “You can put that in stone!”

One day we will.

   One of his early childhood recollections was his grandfather’s mysterious fraternity: “they were all men, most of them very tall, and wore strange red, fez-type hats and knee-high black boots with knives snuggly tucked in the front, and these knives had elastic bands attached so that when they fetched the knives and threw them, the knives would quickly boomerang back into their hands… and they were great with this, sharp-shooters! I loved watching them spear coons, wild turkeys, rabbits, deer, beavers, snakes, even birds and fish. We ate good! And they’d have secret meetings in the woods not far from the river, and as a kid I’d sneak and watch them before my Grand-dad would sneak up on me and shew me away….”

   These were fond memories for him, which he described as distant but unforgettable and impacting. “Some things are very clear, and some things are fuzzy.” And he often pointed out, “Now I don’t know if they were Masons, although I believe they were, but I remember they referred to themselves as Moors, and sometimes even called my Grand-dad, ‘Master’.”

   When asked if his Grandfather and these men inspired the idea of the Moorish Rite, he explained, “No, not at all; but as I got older and began my research on the Moors and their historical roots in Freemasonry, it caused me to remember them … so the Idea of the Moorish Rite, for my part wasn’t creating it, but recreating it, because the Moorish Rite, as I learned through over 20 years of devoted research, existed in the ancient world and long before 1717-1723, which shouldn’t be surprising to any learned Freemason, because the history is there! We learn there’s nothing new under the sun, but a time came when the sun set on the Moorish Empire, and much of the history of the Moors, and especially their Masonic origins, were concealed in darkness. I just aspired to help raise the sun again. And remembering my Granddad’s men was indeed an honest spark and great reward to my research. I knew I was on to something, something big, and something that would impact Freemasonry not only in America, but all over the world… because I knew also that God was in it, and I was not in it alone. And I forever thank God for that.”

He then reflected, “I’d love to think they were Moorish Freemasons, and I have a strong feeling they were, as it would only make sense, but I’ll never know.” Sometimes his reflections were sobering, “Who knows, they may have just been great hunters, these were lean times and people were hungry in the southern rural areas; I mean, it was normal for women to put a big fat coon on the dinner table, baked and dressed in vegetables and broth, like we do turkeys and chickens today, and people would eat and drink merrily. In those days men were providers, and they did whatever was required of them to provide for their families.”