Before I get into this section, let me first say that I have no ill will towards any of the Moorish Science Temples of America or any of their members. The Temple, as a large part of the Divine aspect of the Moorish Divine and National Movement, is very important to multitudes of Moors across North America.
In 1925, Noble Drew Ali organized the temple as a religious organization, created to spread the faith of Muhammed. At least, that is what is said in "Our Authority". Today, it is still a religious organization. A common misconception today is that the Moorish Science Temple of America is the government of the Moors. Yet, there is not one Moor who can show you where Noble Drew Ali said that the temple is the government of the Moors.
In 1974, R. German-Bey dissolved the original Illinois MST of A and re-incorporated in D.C. Even though Noble Drew Ali said to keep our affairs out of the colonial courts, years of internal power struggles which have been fought in the colonial courts have allowed the courts to cause more discourse by creating two Moorish Science Temples of America. One is incorporated in D.C., while the other is incorporated in Illinois.
There are several reasons why the temple cannot be the government:
The first reason is that, since 1974, the temple in D.C. is a corporation/citizen created under the laws of District of Columbia. Most of the temples, incorporated or not, are organized under the laws of the states. In other words, the Moorish Science Temple of America Inc., with its tax I.D. number, is a franchise of UNITED STATES. Anything that has an EIN or TIN is a U.S. person under United States code. It is the same as a social security number.
The second reason is that the temple is not structured to be a government. It was originally structured as a religious/civic organization whose mission is to propagate the faith of Mohammed. Also, the Divine Constitution and By-laws are not set up to run a government with all of the different positions needed to run a government. It merely governs the affairs of the temple, and has no power outside of the temple.
A third reason is that there are too many temples claiming to be the government. There is not one temple that is able to govern all Moorish Science Temples of America. That would require all of the grand shieks and grand governors to set aside their egos to allow for one man to govern all of the temples.
Since the MST of A is a person created under the laws of UNITED STATES and STATE OF MARYLAND, the temple and all of its assets belong to the UNITED STATES corporations. All of its members are, also still under the jurisdiction of the U.S. corporation and the states. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you or has been misled themselves.