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Five-Percent Nation

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The Nation of Gods and Earths, sometimes referred to as the Five-Percent Nation, the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, or the Five Percenters was founded in Harlem in 1964 by Clarence 13X, known to his young disciples as Allah (the Arabic term for God) or the Father. The Five Percent angered religious and political leaders, who viewed the group as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which was already viewed by traditional Muslims as heretical. The Nation Gods and Earths teaches that the "Original Blackman" is God, the "Original Blackwoman" is the planet Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the Gods and Earths, black people can transform and possess their true potential.

The Foundation

The group was founded by Clarence 13X (born Clarence Smith). Clarence 13X was a Korean War veteran who served as a Private First Class between October 1952 and October 1954, receiving Korean Service Medal with a Bronze Service Star and a United Nations Service Medal, and served until 1960 in the United States Army Reserve.[1][2]

Clarence 13X was also a member of the Nation of Islam and attended NOI Temple Number Seven in Harlem, New York, where Malcolm X was a minister from 1960 to 1963. Multiple stories exist as to why Clarence 13X left Nation of Islam, some have Clarence refusing to give up gambling; others have him questioning the unique divinity of Wallace Fard Muhammad, whom the NOI believed was the True and Living God, or questioning his position due to the fact that Fard was part Caucasian. The story, regardless of version, states that Clarence was then disciplined by the NOI and excommunicated in 1963. This expulsion (which is also questioned because it is also said that Clarence left on his own free will along with two others, Abu Shahid and 4 Cipher Akbar[3] who agreed with Clarence's questioning).[4] In December 1964, after leaving the NOI, Clarence was shot in a basement called the Hole that moonlighted as gambling den. After surviving the shooting, Clarence took on the name Allah and, according to some, boasted that he was immortal.[3] He then began to teach others his views based on his own interpretation of NOI teachings. He found success beginning in late 1964 with the disenfranchised youth on the streets of Harlem, which, unlike the original NOI, included whites and Latinos.[1][5][6][7][8][9]

Clarence 13X taught the NOI lessons to his group of young followers but instead of teaching them to be Muslims, he taught them that they were God like him. Women in Allah’s nation are called Earths because the Earth is the planet on which God uses to produce life. NGE, then, is more of a culture than a traditional religion. In fact, the group itself does not call itself as such. It believes that it makes no sense to be religious or to worship any deity outside of self when members themselves are the Supreme Being, both collectively and individually. In addition to the lessons of the NOI, Clarence 13X taught a system of numbers that he developed called Supreme Mathematics that can be compared to the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. In this system, the numbers from zero to nine all represent principles and concepts. For example, one is knowledge, two is wisdom and three is understanding. Coming together to discuss the Supreme Mathematics is the most popular ritual of the NGE. Whenever Gods and Earths meet, they speak about the Supreme Mathematics and 120 lessons. This dialog is called building in Five-Percent vernacular. Building is the eighth degree of the Supreme Mathematics, and it means to add on to the cipher. Gods and Earths can build their minds, which means to elevate or add on to the knowledge one has. Building also refers to the building of their physical bodies, their financial status, or to intuitions.

Gods and Earths hold Universal Parliaments in various cities—usually once a month—to build on their interpretation of the Supreme Mathematics, lessons, and to discuss business concerning the Nation. These Parliaments usually take place in public parks and in schoolyards.

Teachings

Basis

The members of the Five Percenters view themselves (men of their Nation) as their own god (both individually and collectively as the Original Man).[5] Five Percenters sometimes refer to themselves as scientists, implying their search for knowledge and proof, and not beliefs in theories.[10]

The teachings of the Five Percent Nation are passed on through oral tradition, much like the griots of west Africa. The advancement of a Five Percenter is based on his or her memorization, recitation, comprehension, and practical application of the Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet—lessons written by Clarence 13X—and also the 120 Lessons, sometimes referred to as degrees, a revised version of the Supreme Wisdom lessons of the NOI, originally written by Wallace Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad.[1][7][11]

Origin of Five-Percent title

The term Five Percenter comes from NOI doctrine that 85% of the people are blind to the knowledge of themselves and God, while 10% of the people know the truth but teach a lie; included in this 10% are Christian preachers that teach that God is an unseen being. The remaining 5% are the poor righteous teachers that do not believe in the teachings of the 10%. They know and teach that God is the Blackman [sic] of Asia. Black in NOI doctrine includes anyone non-White and Asia refers to the whole planet.

The entire world population can be divided into three groups:

  • The 85%, easily led in the wrong direction hard to be led in the right direction.
  • The 10%, know who the True and living God is, the Sun of Man.
  • The 5%, who are the poor righteous teachers of the poor parts of the plane Earth, once known as Asia. They teach knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, which are true, undeniable facts and actions that are based within that grounding.

Supreme Mathematics

The Supreme Mathematics is a system of understanding numbers alongside concepts and quantitative representations that are used along with the Supreme Alphabet.[11][7] The Supreme Mathematics is actually the highest system of mathematics used to give value to numbers in addition to quantity. The system is properly used to maximize humankind's logic to solve living problems.[1][5] 1 Knowledge 2 Wisdom 3 Understanding 4 Culture of/or Freedom (applied to 40 or more) 5 Power 6 Equality 7 God 8 Build or Destroy 9 Born 0 Cipher

Supreme Alphabet

Main article: Supreme Alphabet

The Supreme Alphabet is a system of interpreting text and finding deeper meaning in the original Muslim lessons—or question and answers—written by Elijah Muhammad and Wallace Fard Muhammad by assigning actual meanings to the letters of the Roman alphabet. It was developed by Clarence 13X after splitting from the Nation of Islam, after which he developed his Supreme Understanding.[1][5][7][11]

Universal Flag

The Universal Flag is the group's official trademark, which consists of a sun, moon, star, and the number seven. According to its doctrine, it represents the Original Family as the following:

  • Seven— The number held sacred in many ancient and modern traditions. In Supreme Mathematics, the number seven represents Allah.
  • Sun—Another symbol of the male, the Truth, and the Light. The points around the sun symbolize the expanding universe.
  • Moon—The crescent moon symbolizes wisdom and women.
  • Star—The five-pointed star symbolizes knowledge and children as the beginning of a new sun.

The eight-pointed star represents the Nation of Gods and Earths’ Lessons of Self-Awareness:

  1. The Supreme Mathematics
  2. The Supreme Alphabet
  3. 1–10
  4. 1–36
  5. 1–14
  6. 1–40
  7. Actual Facts
  8. Solar Facts

It is said that if one knows the 120, then one knows the above degrees.

Influence and interactions

City Hall

The Five Percenters established a headquarters in the Harlem section of Manhattan. The Allah School in Mecca, previously known as the Street Academy, was founded in 1966 through the Urban League with the help of the Republican mayor of New York, John Lindsay, and his assistant, Barry Gottehrer. The agreement reached between Clarence and the Urban League was a payment of one dollar a day. The school's location of 2122 7th Avenue was perceived to be lucky: in the Supreme Mathematics, the number seven represents Allah, to which the digits of the address 2122 are the sum. The first programs instituted in the school contained 10 to 30 kids, state certified teachers, and three street workers. Graduates of the street academy would transfer to an academy of transition and then on to college preparatory school. Clarence disagreed with the program originally instituted at the Urban League, and so the curriculum was later turned over to him to manage, while the daily programs switched to math, English, and self defense.[1]

There is another academy, the Allah School in Medina, located in Brooklyn.

Conflicts

The schism between Clarence and the NOI led to numerous confrontations. The murder of Clarence in 1969 remains unsolved, but it has been blamed on a number of different culprits ranging from the FBI and the New York Police Department to the Nation of Islam. The murder was a blow to the movement, but according to the direct orders of Clarence before his death, some of Clarence's earliest disciples, a group of nine men who were called the First Nine Born carried on the teachings, and an acting leadership role was assumed by his good friend, Justice. In the years to follow, the Five Percenters gained a varied reputation, from being known as outstanding members of and contributors to their communities who at one time, quelled a potential rebellion when Martin Luther King was assassinated to being called an unruly group of Black teenage thugs—even categorized as a gang by some.[1][6]

Hip hop

From the early 1980s to today, many Five Percenters are found among the American East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest, in cities such as New York City, Trenton, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, especially among the hip hop scene. Hip hop artists such as Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Hell Razah, Poor Righteous Teachers, Gang Starr, J-Live, Planet Asia, Nas, AZ, and many others had success spreading the theology of the Five Percenters. This spread, in part, uses the language of Supreme Mathematics, which represents universal law and order, and the Supreme Alphabet, which represents universal principles of life, ostensibly to forge solidarity with the inner-city youth through a common language.[11] The main theme of the Five-Percenter doctrine that can be heard on hip hop records is the teaching that the Original Blackman [sic] is God, the Original Blackwoman [sic] is the planet Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the Gods and Earths, the youth can transform and possess its true potential, which seems to overthrow the overbearing oligarchy by becoming just rulers of themselves.

Many terms that originated as Five-Percenter jargon have been adopted into the hip hop slang as well. For example, the term "G," which today most consider to mean "gangsta," is in fact derived from the Five-Percenter belief that everyone of their Nation is God, or the letter G in the Supreme Alphabet. Other popular terms such as "word is bond," while having significantly older roots than the Five Percenters, were believed to have gained prominence through its use of the term, referring back to the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent's shared 120 Degrees.[1]

Comparison to traditional Islam

While the Nation of Gods and Earths uses terms that are similar to those used by traditional Muslims, the Five Percenters and traditional Muslims have very little in common. Authors have labeled the Five Percenters as an Islamic group because of its origins from within the Nation of Islam, the terms it uses, and because of its practice of not eating pork. However, it does not follow the restrictive laws of the NOI nor does it follow traditional Islamic teachings based on the laws written in the Qur'an or prophet Muhammad's Sunnah. The Five-Percent rebuttal to this has been that it is not a religious movement, and that as self-proclaimed gods themselves, the only one they must submit to is self. In traditional Islam, this is considered a heretical, blasphemous concept and a violation of the most basic Islamic tenets, since it is considered a grave sin to associate any human being or object with God. The official stance of the Five Percenters is that they are not Muslims, nor are they bound to any religious laws. However, it is to be noted that many Five Percenters immerse themselves in Islamic culture as with many other religious cultures.

Furthermore, the Five Percenters, in referring to themselves as Supreme Beings, point out that most, if not all, ancient scriptures allude to the anthropomorphic qualities of the gods of different religions, and that religious teachings over time have strayed away from this concept. The Five Percenters use ancient teachings that predate monotheistic religions to verify their deity status. Another defense for not adhering to modern-day religion is their claim that the teachings of all major prophets have been distorted over time, whether by translation into new languages or by intentional tampering. This can produce bigotry and zealotry in well-meaning believers. Thus, according to the Nation of Gods and Earths, it is better to study as many different religions and cultures as possible, to find the common truths in them, rather than focusing on the differences between them. This way, one finds his or her unique and most productive path to the Knowledge of Self.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Knight, Michael Muhammad (2007). The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip Hop, and the Gods of New York. London: Oneworld Publications.
  2. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - freedom of Information Privacy Act". FBI.
  3. ^ a b Allah, Wakeel (2007). In the Name of Allah: a History of Clarence 13X and the Five Percenters. Atlanta: A-Team Publishing. Cite error: The named reference "ITNA" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ a b c d Jane I. Smith (1999). Islam in America. Columbia University press. pp. 101–103, 206.
  6. ^ a b Mattias Gardell (1996). In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Duke University Press. p. 225.
  7. ^ a b c d Juan Williams (2003). This Far by Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experience. Amistad/HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 286–288.
  8. ^ Aminah Beverly McCloud (1995). African American Islam. Routledge Publishing. pp. 59, 60.
  9. ^ Knight, Michael Muhamad. The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip Hop, and the Gods of New York. London: Oneworld Publications, 2007. Chapter 16
  10. ^ Ronald L. Jackson & Elaine B. Richardson (2003). Understanding African American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations. Routledge Publishing. pp. 174, 179.
  11. ^ a b c d Jeff. Chang (2005). Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-hop Generation. St. Martin's Press. pp. 258, 259.
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