The Final Call

Eastern Region student minister addresses Black Shriners Jubilee

By Daleel Jabir Muhammad | Last updated: Dec 14, 2017 - 3:01:04 PM

What's your opinion on this article?

Student Minister Hafeez Muhammad (middle) addressed the annual Jubilee Day Ceremony for the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine. Photo: Noble Kenya Smith

NEW YORK— The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine recently held its 124th Annual Jubilee Day Ceremony which commemorates the founding of their social, charitable and fraternal community founded by John George Jones in Chicago in June 1893.

This year’s event was the first time a Muslim Minister from the Nation of Islam spoke at their sacred celebration. Student Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, the East Coast Representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, was the keynote speaker this year. He taught on the history of the Prince Hall Masons to members of the five Temples present from New York and Canada. Student Min. Hafeez was invited to speak to the Nobles and the Daughters of the Greater New York Area in Amityville, Long Island, by the Illustrious Potentate Mujaheed Bey of Medina Temple No. 19 in Harlem, New York.

Student Min. Hafeez delivered a message of encouragement and reminded attendees of what Min. Farrakhan shared during a Saviours’ Day convention, “that we must not fear for the future because the future is ours” and the need to unite as Black Muslims, Black Shriners and Black people to build our own schools, businesses, and communities.

“Minister Muhammad’s message reminded us of our Islamic tenets and principles that include self-improvement, caring for one another, charitable works, and trying to live an upright life. His message of honoring women reminds me of the greatness and the royalty from which we came from along with how we can grow as a unit and as a family with our male counterparts,” said the Illustrious Commandress of Medina Court No. 11 daughter Jasmine T. Hansley.

Noble Phillip Howard, the Imperial Deputy of the Desert of New York and Canada, added, “I was overwhelmed by the depth of Dr. Muhammad’s knowledge of our founder and the history of the fez but more importantly he left us with a lesson on how we must treat our women. He gave us examples and an understanding of how the family process should take place with the duties of the man submitting to God and our wives submitting to us when we’re submitting to God.”

Noble Howard went on to say, “This has been the most powerful Jubilee Day Ceremony that I have ever seen for over 35 years that I have been in this organization” and that “the lesson on how a woman studies a man to help him or to hurt him will resonate with me for a long time.”

As the Deputy of the Desert, Noble Howard said he will make it his business to bring Minister Hafeez Muhammad back on an annual basis as a professional development speaker. We really need this type of a powerful orator who keeps it self-explanatory and straight to the point, he explained.

Noble Percival Dyer II, Illustrious Potentate of Al Maseer Temple No. 251, said, “my idea of bringing Minister Muhammad to the Jubilee Day Ceremony was to be more inclusive of other religions and not just exclusive to Christianity. Now since hearing Dr. Hafeez the other Temples want Dr. Muhammad to speak at their celebrations in the future.”

Noble Kenya Lamonte Smith, First Ceremonial Master, said he was grateful that Brother Hafeez accepted the invitation to speak at the ceremony. “I’ve known him and the work that he does throughout the city for over 25 years. He funeralized my aunt, Dora Muhammad, who was the wife of Clarence 13X (founder of the 5 Percent Nation) and when he spoke it was like my uncle speaking. When he spoke of Freemasonry raising from a dead level to a living perpendicular, it was awesome.”