[Editor’s Note: This article was published online on Nov. 23, 2010; and The Final Call will continue to publish articles written by our late and dear Mother Tynnetta Muhammad.]
“O thou who wrappest thyself up, Arise and warn, And thy Lord do magnify, And thy garments do purify, And uncleanness do shun, And do no favour seeking gain.”—Holy Qur’an, Surah 74, verses 1-6
Following our visit to the International Shriners Administration building and temple mosque facilities in Tampa, Florida, most of us returned to our respective homes while I continued my journey to Chicago and then onto Detroit, Michigan, the place of my birth. I was inspired to reach out to other family members and my extended circle of relatives which was accomplished, in part, with great success. In continuing my research on the Masonic Order and some of its correspondence to other organizations, including the Nation of Islam in America, some of the brothers and sisters in Detroit organized a tour to the main Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan. There were many mysterious features about this building, one of which was its complex of over 1,000 rooms of which we only visited a few. As we took the elevator to the fifth floor, our Masonic guide, who was a 33rd degree Mason, pointed out that we were really on the tenth floor and that beneath the building there was a labyrinth of underground tunnels. I had the feeling that we were participating in a drama of at least 1,000 years of history that predated the Middle Ages and the stone master guilds of Europe going back to the Crusades and beyond.
Having been taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad some of the significance of the early degrees of Masonry that leads to further initiations into the Shriners and the 33rd degree, all of us felt exceedingly blessed to know some of the secrets taught in their ceremonies and that our Divine Teachings represent the Supreme Wisdom covering the full 360 degrees of universal knowledge that is traced back to God Himself. The greatest secret that has been kept from the public for thousands, millions and even trillions of years has been the Secret Knowledge of God Himself. According to the Divine Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who was taught by his Master Teacher, W. Fard Muhammad, this Secret Knowledge of God was kept hidden in a circle of Divine Scientists numbering 12 going as far back as 66 trillion years. It is written in one of our nation’s lessons that the Son of man has searched for that mystery God for trillions of years and was unable to find a mystery God. So they have agreed that the only God is the Son of man. So they lose no time searching for that that does not exist.
The Supreme Wisdom Teachings established upon the Coming of Master W. Fard Muhammad, who revealed Himself to the public for the first time in 1930, brings us the answer to man’s great quest to know the Reality of God. Thus, in the Master’s first public appearance, He broke the silence on this question and provided us with the true answer. He broke the secret on the identity of God that had been concealed from the public for trillions of years. In His Person, He declared that man is God and God is man; and we need not look for another! By His Coming and Presence among us, He broke up the need for the continuation of the circle of 12 Scientists and brought to the world in His sublime Presence, the Reality of God face to face. This is the foundation of the Supreme Wisdom Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, giving us a full and thorough Knowledge of God and of Self.
Whatever we study or learn in any degree program is under the Supervision of Almighty God, Allah, Himself, who is neither a spook nor a mystery. His actual coming broke up the circle of all secret societies and what they represent giving way to a progression of publications and organizations and investigative studies that is now revealing the secret of all ages and of all times. Master W. Fard Muhammad has been symbolized under two biblical characters, in particular, that of Jonah on the one hand and King Solomon on the other. We have generally spoken more on the sign of Jonah and his history in connection to our Lost-Found Nation of Islam in America. To a lesser degree, we have spoken on the history of Solomon and his relationship to the Master’s coming and the raising of our dead nation and people to life. In modern Masonry, the principle theme of the (Craft) evolves around Solomon’s Temple and the figure of Hiram Abif and his being slain or assassinated by three ruffians, Jubelo, Jubela, and Jubelum. Few have associated this ritual of Hiram Abif’s slaying and the Temple of Solomon with the atonement message associated with Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood. Perhaps even fewer have drawn parallels from this ritual service to our own “Holy Day of Atonement” Celebration instituted by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan as the figurative head of the Aaronic Priesthood at the Million Man March.
God willing, we will discuss more of these details in upcoming articles. I close with this quote from the book, “The Hiram Key” by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, concerning the Temple of Solomon: “The Holy of Holies is known in Masonic ritual as the sanctum sanctorum and it is completely empty except for a small, rectangular box of shittim wood known as the Ark of the Covenant, containing two tables of stone bearing the Ten Commandments of the god Yahweh. The Holy of Holies was in permanent darkness except for once each year on the day of Atonement when the high priest entered with the blood of the national sin offering, the scapegoat. … According to later Jewish tradition, this room was used by the Priests and Levites (hereditary priests) alone and it contained a gold covered cedar tree alter placed square in front of the doors and, of course, outside the Eastern doorway stood the two pillars, Boaz and Jachim.”
“And for the sake of thy Lord, be patient. For when the trumpet is sounded, That will be–that day–a difficult day, For the disbelievers, anything but easy.”—Holy Qur’an, Surah 75, verses 7-10
To be continued.
