A Century of Circle Seven: Preserving Our Koran

More Than an Anniversary

The 1926 publication of the Circle Seven Koran reached its one-hundredth year in 2026. That fact should cause every Moorish American to pause.

A century is more than a measurement of time. It represents generations of readers, teachers, families, and institutions entrusted with preserving the teachings placed into our hands. While the outside world prepares to commemorate 250 years of the United States, Moorish Americans have our own important milestone to recognize.

The question is not merely whether we own a Koran. The question is whether we understand what we have inherited.

The Circle Seven Koran gave Moorish Americans a written body of instruction addressing nationality, spiritual development, conduct, human nature, and our relationship with the Creator. It remains central to understanding the work of Noble Drew Ali and the movement he established for the uplifting of fallen humanity.

A Book Must Be Opened to Be Preserved

Preservation does not mean placing a book on a shelf where it remains untouched. A living text must be read, discussed, marked, questioned, and passed forward.

Califa Media’s hardcover study edition of the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America was created with this purpose in mind. Its writing margins allow readers to record observations, lessons, family notes, and questions that may later benefit their children.

Study should also extend beyond one publication. The Constitution and By-Laws of the Moorish Science Temple of America helps readers examine the organizational responsibilities accompanying the spiritual teachings. Likewise, C(O)ver Your Head: A Pictographic Chronicle of the Moslem Turban demonstrates how Moorish identity has been expressed through dress, history, scripture, and visual culture.

Together, these publications help transform cultural interest into disciplined inquiry.

Giving the Next Generation More Than a Name

Many people were assigned bywords such as Negro, Black, or colored before they were old enough to question what those descriptions meant. Noble Drew Ali offered something entirely different: a nationality, a divine creed, and a program through which a people could regain knowledge of self.

That restoration cannot depend entirely upon temples, organizations, or public teachers. It must also take place inside the home.

A family Koran containing handwritten notes, important dates, and the reflections of parents and grandparents can become an inheritance. Califa Media’s commemorative Circle Seven bookmarks were created in that same spirit, marking the centennial while encouraging readers to return repeatedly to the text.

The Next Hundred Years Begin With Us

The Circle Seven Koran survived its first century because Moorish Americans continued printing, carrying, teaching, and defending it. Its second century will depend upon whether we do the same.

Purchase the books, but do not stop there. Read them. Compare them. Write in them. Discuss them with your family. Support Moorish American publishers who keep these works available.

We are not simply collecting old literature. We are preserving instructions intended to guide a nation.