Cultural Appropriation and Misappropriation of the Five Percent

RZA and others during Hajj to Mecca

     Language is the heart of a culture. It is the vehicle that enables us to transmit and receive ideas, stories, principles, values, and traditions that shape our identify and define every aspect of our way of life. It is one of the most important parts that determine how we live. 

     As a Five Percenter, we possess a unique language that represents the heart of our culture. Our language is constructed from our Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet, 120 Lessons and a variety of colloquialisms, idioms, proverbs and lingo that were all born within our Five Percent community. There is no other group of people on the planet who can make this claim. Since our formal 1964 inception in Harlem, NY, many people have been exposed to our unique language and other elements of our culture, based upon their proximity to us. However, that proximity did not, and still does not, make them us. Just like living around Dominican neighbors, learning some Spanish phrases, listening to Dominican music and eating Dominican food does not make someone Dominican. If someone were to claim to be Dominican, based upon their proximity, it would be cultural appropriation. Cultural misappropriation is when this same claim is used to make products and/or provide services to package, commodify and monetize Dominican culture. The same analogy applies to any culture, including my culture of the Five Percent. 

    In the 1960s, the first Five Percenters were sometimes confused with being Muslims and practicing the religion of Islam. Part of the confusion is because the founder of the Five Percent Nation was once a Muslim by the name of Clarence 13X and a registered member of the Nation of Islam's Temple #7 in Harlem, NY. In 1964 he renounced his Muslim beliefs, left the Nation of Islam and ceased using the name Clarence 13X. He began to use the name "Allah." Allah, in collaboration with a few close companions who also renounced their Muslim beliefs, began to create our unique language that shaped our identity, defined and communicated Five Percent culture. To distinguish ourselves from Muslims and their belief system, Allah also encouraged us to change and/or create names from our Supreme Mathematics. For example, Bilal or Jihad came to be known as ABG7. Following this change, names for Five Percenters like Wise, Ralik, Supreme, Mecca, Mathematics, Sha-Asia, Queen, Equality, and etc. became common throughout NYC communities. Names that no other group of people on the planet were using to define themselves.

     As our movement began to grow throughout NYC boroughs among the youth, a cultural cross pollination began to occur where the proximity to Five Percenters within households, neighborhoods, schools, and other public and private spaces exposed people to our unique language and other cultural elements. Those who were Christian began to learn about and practice aspects of our special diet. While some of them stopped eating pork chops, most would not go as far as reading product labels to see if they contained pork byproducts. Some Muslims started hearing Five Percenter lingo and began to use some of it when they communicated. Yet the "Allah" that they worshipped was still a spirit, not the Black man's Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm and Head. For most people, exposure to our unique language and other cultural elements was not something that they completely embraced. For them, hearing us greet each other with "Peace God" was no different than someone saying "Hello." They didn't, and still don't, interpret that statement as a bold declaration that we are not tethered to a religion that worships an invisible entity outside of ourselves. 

      With the growth and expansion of the internet and social media, it has become harder for everyday people to distinguish who is a Five Percenter from those "who used to be" [never was], those who have been in proximity to us, and those who try to moonlight or cosplay as the Five Percent. It is difficult to address cultural appropriation. There is also no legal mechanism in place to address cultural misappropriation. While some everyday Five Percenters often dismiss this as insignificant or unimportant, as a Five Percent public figure I have a different experience and point of view. Everyday people are not contacted by the international/national press for a statement when something related to the Five Percenters is in the news. Everyday people are also not receiving inquiry emails, DMs, and messages every day from people around the world about Five Percent culture. That is my reality. I literally see the global implications of not addressing cultural misappropriation every single day.

                        Da God, 2008                                Experiments with High Explosives, 2012

     If I were to ask someone, "Did you receive more gold?", the average person has no idea what I'm asking them, its cultural context, and what their answer implies. If I made the casual comment about something being, "14 million square miles" or "a fine mist", most people would be completely lost. Even phrases like "wisdom knowledge", "born universal truth", "cee I power her, her power I cee", and "all the above" would go over someone's head. These are just some examples of our Five Percent language that is uniquely constructed from our Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet, 120 Lessons and a variety of colloquialisms, idioms, proverbs and lingo that were all born within our community. Imagine 'trying' to learn this language without community. Imagine believing that you can get all of this in a YouTube video, social media posts, or a book.  

This May 2026 will be 18 years since I co-authored/published my first book with my educator Raheem titled Da God. To my knowledge, Da God was THE FIRST BOOK ever written using the unfiltered language of Five Percent culture. Here was its summary:

"Da God represents a New Era within The Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE)/Five Percenters! Da God is the first of a series of 'Living Mathemanuals' that are designed to transcend the abstract, intellectualized concepts of the Gods and Earths (NGE)/Five Percenters). Da God takes you into the real life of 'Be God Allah'; giving an honest, unapologetic view of his world and his struggle with defining his 'God Centeredness' in a Society that doesn't support this worldview.

This MASTERSCRIPT has simultaneously set and raised the bar in regard to NGE Literature and represents the first literary model of practically applied NGE Nomenclature."

Da God, 2008

   Because this book was intentionally written in our language, we coined the phrase Mathemanual; a book immersed in language constructed from Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet, 120 Lessons and a variety of colloquialisms, idioms, proverbs and lingo that were all born within our Five Percent community. For many people, including newborn Five Percenters, Da God read like a foreign language, because it was. It was our attempt to communicate a cultural worldview that was fleeting due to the growth of the internet, social media and antisocial behavior. Four years later in 2012 I authored/published the next Mathemanual, a novel titled Experiments with High Explosives: The Chronicles of a Big-Headed Scientist. Experiments with High Explosives is a book told through the perspective of a man striving to make sense out of his relationships and the relationships that he observed. Through exploring these thoughts & feelings, I sought to empower the reader to consider their ideas about love. 

Drink Champs, June 14, 2025

     Recently RZA was featured in a YouTube interview discussing various aspects of his life and goes into depth about his journey with Five Percent culture and experiences with religion. In this interview, RZA taking a Shahada was discussed. A Shahada is a public declaration of faith in the Muslim religion and is one of its Five Pillars. This declaration that, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" is typically performed in a mosque/masjid before an Imam and serves as the foundation of the other four pillars of Islam: Salah [five daily prayers], Zakat [giving charity], Sawm [fasting during Ramadan, and Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca]. To be clear, in Five Percenter culture we don't have a tradition of taking Shahada, practicing Five Pillars or other religious practices like getting Baptized, Christenings and etc. If someone chooses to practice any of those religious traditions, that is a personal choice and should never be interpreted as speaking for or acting on behalf of our nation of the Five Percent or Allah Youth Center in Mecca.

     While some things in that interview were clarified about where RZA stands regarding the distinction between culture and religion, there were other things still left unclear to outside onlookers. Much of that interview was a conversation taking place before a virtual audience of mixed company [outside onlookers]. That mixed company was exposed to language spoken in and referencing our Five Percent culture that most outside onlookers do not understand. I think that it is important to understand that whichever way that RZA chooses to define himself is his prerogative. What is not a prerogative is what we say and do within the context of Five Percent culture. In other words, a woman cannot simultaneously be the Earth and work as a prostitute. We cannot claim that we are not a "poisonous animal eater" yet eat creatures from the bottom of the sea. We also cannot say that we are the true and living God and simultaneously pray to an entity/person outside of ourselves. There are certain differences between a culture and a religion that are simply irreconcilable. From my experience seeing and being around RZA, it's not uncommon for him to say and do things that are, or appear to be, a contradiction. I remember in the late 90s attending our Five Percent Nation's annual Educational Show & Prove and when RZA pulled up with Poppa Wu [Freedum Allah] and some Wu-Affiliates he was wearing a gold necklace with a huge cross pendant. Eventually a heated exchange took place where some Gods had RZA cornered outside of the event demanding an explanation for showing up wearing that religious symbol, especially around the children who might get confused. I think all of us may say and do things that are, or appear to be, contradictive. RZA is no different. When this occurs, the questions that I always ask are: 

• What are we doing to become better for ourselves, others, and our planet Earth? 
• How can we support others and/or what support do we need? 

    These questions don't dismiss actions that are, or appear to be, a contradiction. These questions are meant to critique something and refocus the conversation on what we are actually doing. It opens up a conversation for potential collaboration as opposed to criticism and contention. While I can relate to the frustration some of us experience when seeing confusing representations of our culture, I also understand the importance of how we choose to appropriate our time and resources to address it. I think that some of us spend too much time and resources talking about what we see as a problem and not enough time and resources creating actual solutions. 

    Culture is the sum total of all of our people activities that is centered/rooted in our language. And as I shared, our language is uniquely constructed from our Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet, 120 Lessons and a variety of colloquialisms, idioms, proverbs and lingo that were all born within our Five Percent community. As Five Percenters, we strive to be thoughtful about what we say and do, how it aligns with our culture, and the results of our words and actions. If we are honest, we would also acknowledge that some days we do better than other days. We are always a work in progress. Our way of life is not a religion nor are we religious. We are not missionaries spreading a gospel and we don't try to convert people to follow what we know. We don't have a house of worship; we create community outreach and youth advocacy spaces to serve as cultural anchor institutions in our cities. We are intentional about teaching those who are sincerely invested in learning our culture. Others will still learn, just being exposed to how we live. We are not followers and we don't have a hierarchal structure with a leader. We teach leadership and that people should only follow to the extent of learning to lead themselves. There is no other group of people on the planet who can make these collective claims. 

Peace,

Saladin #Atlantisbuild

New Executive Order will require Allah School in Mecca to be inventoried and reviewed by July 1, 2026

       According to the Official Website of the Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, on January 1st, 2026, he signed into law Executive Order 04 [LEVERAGING CITY-OWNED LAND TO ACCELERATE HOUSING] due to the housing shortage in New York City. Executive Order 04 created a fast-track process to identify and utilize city-owned land for housing development (AKA: economic development). For that purpose, Mayor Mamdani established an interagency Land Inventory Fast Track Task Force (the “LIFT Task Force”). According to Executive Order 04, "The LIFT Task Force shall consist of representatives from Mayoral agencies offices, and affiliated non-profit corporations, including the Department of Citywide Administrative Services [NYC DCAS], the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Buildings, the Office of Management and Budget, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and representatives from other agencies, offices or entities affiliated with the City designated by the Chair." This LIFT Task Force will also seek participation and cooperation of additional public and other entities as the Task Force Chair deems appropriate. Some of those additional entities that were identified are the New York Public Library, the Queens Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Housing Authority, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Empire State Development Corporation. The Executive Order goes on to state the duties of the LIFT Task Force below:

      In addition to the city-owned property inventory that must be completed no later than July 1, 2026, the review of (adjacent) Capital Projects that impact city-owned properties, and consulting on land use changes, it is important to consider what this can mean to citizens and our communities. More specifically, what can this mean to the Allah School in Mecca [2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd] -an undeveloped city-owned parcel that has served as our national headquarters? I spoke with the NYC DCAS and they confirmed that this city-owned parcel will be reviewed and inventoried along with all other city-owned properties via Executive Order 04. Following Executive Order 04, Mayor Mamdani also signed into law Executive Order 5 that creates the SPEED Task Force. The SPEED Task Force is tasked with identifying and developing city department policies, procedures, and processes for Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development [SPEED] in NYC. According to Executive Order 5, these recommendations will be shared with Mayor Mamdani no later than April 11, 2026. 

Universal Parliament, P.S. 154 Harriet Tubman elementary school 
[November 28th, 1982]

     In my 2024 article Anchor Institutions and the Fate of Allah School in Mecca I shared that it was always assumed among our (Five Percent Nation) members that our Allah School in Mecca [2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd] is a parcel that was gifted to us by the Lindsay Administration with a 99-year lease. However, it was discovered that no legal document exists to substantiate that claim of a 99-year lease. While some Five Percenters have argued that Allah School is Defacto ours because of our historical use, we are not the legal property owners. This parcel is classified as a miscellaneous religious facility owned by the NYC DCAS. In that 2024 article I went on to share some of the unique challenges that we face based upon this lack of ownership. Challenges that some of us dismissed at the time. Challenges that are now at the forefront due to the January 1, 2026, passage of Executive Orders 04 and 5. 

     To clarify some of these challenges that we face, in my article Are we winning the battle of Reputational Warfare? I wrote, "Striving to achieve more, individually and collectively, may require us to be more intentional with how we appropriate our time and where we invest our finances and resources. Investing our time, finances and resources to create a tangible project to better serve our community is more valuable than sitting around recording 4-hour reaction videos about people. Being more selective about the company that we keep is equally important. This may require us to disassociate from folks who are clearly making us look bad, tarnish the reputation of our community, and destroy the positive relationships that we are striving to build. That disassociation may also need to carry over into the digital space. Being consistent about celebrating our achievements and disassociating from negativity will enable us to slowly course correct the Ghost Brand trajectory that we are currently on. Like with any defunct brand that lost its growing success yet still maintains some old loyal customers, Allah's Five Percent has been similarly falling out of significance yet still maintaining some old loyal adherents to what we teach. This is due to our lack of positive public facing representation, successful youth outreach, and real community development." This analysis was based upon the fact that there are no professional revenue-generating workshops, classes, or projects being facilitated at Allah School every day. We have no grant-funded youth advocacy/community outreach programs being offered in the neighborhood. We have no collaborative initiatives with area organizations and institutions that are available on-site or virtually. Nothing is being offered by/for women and girls, even though women represent 75% of the professional non-profit workforce in the U.S. and the Allah School is a non-profit with allegedly no women board members. 

     In a more recent 2025 article Political Financial Illiteracy: How much does a Policy (Law) cost? prior to Mamdani's election, I further elaborated on the changing NYC Administration, what that could potentially mean to our nation (of the Five Percent) and Mayor Zohran Mamdani creating, amending, or repealing any NYC Policies (Laws) that he would like to implement -such as Executive Orders 04 and 5. I shared these words below;

"Building relationships with any Administration is the key to collaboration and maintaining cultural assets. Being prepared to show and prove our value as a community asset, cultural resource, and historic site will always be the difference between what we build or destroy. We have to ask ourselves, where do we stand regarding the Policies (Laws) that will be created, amended, or repealed during Mamdani's Administration? What will this cost our nation, and the community of Harlem, where we call our headquarters home? Are we at the table or positioning ourselves to be at the table to help create, amend, or repeal these Policies (Laws) to help better serve our nation and community? If we are not at the table, that is evidence that we are on the menu, either as an appetizer, entrée or a dessert. I am unaware if any Five Percenters were actively involved in Mamdani's campaign or if any Five Percenters saw the election result signs in advance and made contact with his campaign to begin building those relationships. Are any Five Percenters striving to be a part of his new Department of Community Safety?" 

     Since Covid-19, I have consistently written/spoken on the subjects of historic preservation, controlling our IP (Intellectual Property), and various procedures and programs that we can use to maintain our cultural continuity. Times are clearly changing and while some of those insights are still being dismissed, some folks are now starting to see the importance of changing how we do things, when to share our time, and where we should invest our finances and resources. I get the impression that some of us are waiting around to react to what happens instead of being proactive. As I am not in NYC or a resident in the Harlem community, there is only so much that I can do, based upon physical proximity, and how open some nation members actually are to receive what I have to share. 

     Some time ago I shared that it was not a great idea when I learned that a few Five Percenters met with city officials under the Eric Adams Administration to share a slide presentation about our ideas for developing their city-owned parcel: 2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd [Allah School in Mecca]. I thought it was premature because we had no capital funding to do it and we still do not have the capital funding in the bank to do a multi-million-dollar economic development project. It was simply an idea that we shared with no funding or even Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with partnership businesses or organizations who support this project. If there is a record of those Five Percenters meeting with city officials' pre-Mayor Mamdani, it can be used by the current Administration to show a timeline and our incapability to develop their city-owned parcel. If there is no record of those Five Percenters meeting with city officials' pre-Mayor Mamdani, it still puts us in a vulnerable position with the LIFT Task Force review happening no later than July 1, 2026. We are especially vulnerable if none of us were actively involved in Mamdani's campaign, are actively communicating his Administration or actively involved with any of his departments such as the Department of Community Safety. Mamdani's Administration simply may not know who we are. With a quick Google or YouTube search, his Administration will get some answers. Answers that I am not sure that we would like concerning how collectively engaged, organized, and competent we are. If his Administration did further research by contacting surrounding anchor institutions such as P.S. 154 Harriet Tubman, P.S. 92 Mary McLeod Bethune or housing developments such as the St. Nicholas Houses to learn who we are, I am also not sure that we would like their answers. Even if some city officials wanted to pop-up at the Allah School on a random Tuesday just to check out what is going on, they won't see anything of socioeconomic value, especially with 50% of their parcel inoperative [CommonUnity CENTER]. None of these things are favorable for us. 

     So, what can we do about it? At this point I think it requires radical change. That radical change requires more effort than guys showing up every week to stream a pixelated video for a handful of viewers, dudes posting three-hour videos talking about what other people are doing, or unemployed people just hanging out at the school. It requires more than that to show and prove that we are serious about the socioeconomic growth and development of Allah School. Especially at this critical time when the city-owned parcel that we have occupied all of these years is clearly undeveloped and underused compared to all of the development happening around it. As a part of this radical change there are a number of things that I would do, from restructuring the board, exploring historic preservation, grant writing, community engagement initiatives, youth programs, strategic partnerships, and etc. If or when people [men and women] are seriously ready to add-on like this and remove all of the obstacles out of the way that will undermine those efforts, I would be willing to build. Other than that, I'll continue to do the work that I do and continue to share information for those who have the eyes to see, the ears to listen, and the mouths to speak. If something is not radically done to ensure the ownership and socioeconomic development of our Allah School, we risk losing our national headquarters. With that lost, the adjacent "Allah, Justice & The Five Percenters Square" street sign will become a political consolation prize. A sign that will now serve as the only remaining evidence and historical reminder of who we once were in this Harlem community. This is no different than any other street signs that are named after figures who are no longer there. I don't want that, and I am sure many others don't want that either. We need to do something about it then.

Peace,

Saladin, #AtlantisBuild

Knowledge of Self: Who Are You Really?

“We are actually God Beings having a human experience.” -LeVar Burton

     This coming September marks thirty years since I have had Knowledge of Self via knowing 120 Lessons. If you are unfamiliar with what 120 Lessons are here is a video that I shared about The Origin of 120 Lessons and How They Function. Yet and still, knowing this information is just part of my process of gaining Knowledge of Self, as there are many paths of enlightenment. Knowledge is more than just knowing a bunch of facts, having a lot of information, using AI to make intelligent-sounding social media statuses/comments, or posting our personal library online to look smart. Knowledge is awareness; consciousness that comes from the root word "know." When we use the phrase "Knowledge of Self" it begs the question what part of Self do we need to know? In order to do that, we need to first identify The Self. Is the Self our name? Is the Self our nationality, ethnicity, age, or gender? Is the Self our race or religious/non-religious ideas? Is the Self our language, accent, diet, or temperament? Is the Self the car that we drive, our career, income, relationship status, or the clothes that we wear? Is the Self the neighborhood that we live in, our medical and family history, hobbies, or future aspirations? Is the Self our physical body? And if we define the physical body as "ours", what is the Self that owns this physical body? These are "my hands", "my eyes", and "my brain" creating this article, yet what am I that owns these hands, eyes, and brain? Those are big questions that many people have never asked or explored. At the root of all of these parts of ourselves is awareness. Awareness, consciousness or knowledge is the essence of our identity, and it is infinite and intangible. That awareness, consciousness or knowledge is The Self that underlines these multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted aspects of who we are as sapient beings. LeVar Burton simply described this idea as, "We are actually God Beings having a human experience" during a recent Wild Card Interview with Rachel Martin. I would take it a step further by saying that as beings, we are also created with the same matter or star dust that created the physical universe. Our atoms, which are the building blocks of matter and everything that exists within the universe, is the same or undifferentiated. 

We Are Star Dust

     When we start to ponder the above questions about identity, we began to take ourselves to the "ledge" of what we "know" by exploring the limits of our thinking. And this thought process is often rooted in a westernized segregated thinking that betrays the wholistic thinking that classical and indigenous Black/Brown civilizations conceptualized and integrated this into our societies as first world people and the fathers and mothers of civilization. Knowing this ledge or limited thinking is the path of Knowledge [know + ledge = knowledge]. In order to ask "questions", it requires us to be on a "quest" [quest is the root of question]. The further we question and explore, this leads us to the conclusion that The Self, as infinite and intangible awareness/consciousness, it underlines the multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted aspects of who we are as sapient beings. It's a dichotomy because The Self is simultaneously many things while at the same time one. This is what is meant by the word individual; we are an indivisible [inseparable] duality. Knowledge of Self is a never-ending inner journey to explore the multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted aspects of who we are. The purpose of that exploration it is align with our infinite ability to elevate our consciousness, quality of life, sense of purpose, and relationships to others and this planet. This journey requires us to learn about our family, their stories, and how we got here on the map of human geography. It requires us to assess our diets to see what is best for us. It requires us to reexamine the things that we have embraced as principles, values, and social norms. It requires us to go places and expand our lived experiences by seeing something new. It also requires us to be studious by committing ourselves to learning about the past, what is presently happening, and considering how we can positively shape the future. It requires us to better understand the planet and our relationship to its animate/inanimate objects. These, and many other lifelong considerations, are a part of this journey of Knowledge of Self.

     In this journey of Knowledge of Self, there three things that always happen:

1. We learn new ideas.
2. We confirm some things that we always knew.
3. We learn to get rid of old ideas.

     Every single thing that we experience fall within these three categories, and every category requires change. Sometimes that change is easier than others. I remember starting to learn how to identify unhealthy ingredients in packaged foods. Not eating those ingredients was easy. The hard part was oftentimes not having a reference guide in hand to look up ingredients while standing in a grocery store aisle; cell phones and Google did not exist at this time. Some of us find it hard to change our attitudes or habits about things that we always knew were right or wrong. I've known women who had a difficult time leaving an abusive relationship even though they knew it was the right thing to do. Sometimes it is easy to get rid of old ideas, sometimes it is not so easy. This self-diagnostic process helps us elevate our consciousness, quality of life, sense of purpose, and relationships to others and this planet. It is through this journey that we become more aware and empowered to share that knowledge with others, which may include how we were able to change our attitudes and habits.

 Endogenous vs Indigenous

     Endogenous means originating within or an inward origin. Indigenous means originating in an outward place. As awareness/consciousness incarnated within a physical form, we are endogenous before being indigenous to any place. The mind [intangible] proceeds the body [tangible]. Anything that has an outward manifestation first originates within. This includes our audible voice. Before anyone can hear what we are thinking or what we are saying, it is first internally communicated through the inner voice. That voice that you are presently hearing inside of your head as you read this sentence is the inner voice. That voice, that we call the inner monologue, internal dialogue or self-talk, is the non-audible inward expression of awareness/consciousness. Where did it come from?   

     The inner voice that we hear inside of our head, that usually sounds like our voice, is not ours. We learned to claim it as ours. It’s actually a combination of ideas from different voices that we have heard throughout our lives. Some of those ideas that we claim are good, some are not. Some are louder than others. The journey of Knowledge of Self is also about processing and unpacking those ideas that we have identified with and claim as our inner voice. Because that self-talk which eventually manifests itself in how we talk about ourselves and others. A person who has low or vacant esteem, who always talk negative about themselves, has been socialized through a combination of negative ideas from different voices that they have heard throughout their lives. Children how have been told their entire lives that they are bad, ugly, or stupid, often adopt that idea as a part of their identity. That is sometimes the loudest voice that they hear inside of their head. And sometimes it requires more than religion, Supreme Mathematics, retreats, programs, psychedelics and etc. to change that. Sometimes people need therapy to help them process and unpack those negative ideas that we have identified with and claim as their voice. All of this is a part of one's journey of Knowledge of Self. Negative self-talk betrays and neutralizes the infinite potential of The Self. If our idea about who we are is limited to our career, relationship status, appearance, religion, etc., we fail to acknowledge the multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted aspects of who we are as sapient beings. It's like having a gift to create visual art within us and never acknowledging or exploring it. Most people have numerous gifts and abilities that they never explore(d) because they don't acknowledge that they are essentially multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted. They only identity with parts of who they are, not the whole.

     Now, just because we do acknowledge this and consider ourselves to be on a journey of Knowledge of Self, it does not automatically mean that we know what to do with what they are learning. That requires wisdom. It is being aware of what we now know, and having the consideration, courage, consistency to use it. There are things that we learn about ourselves, and about others, that require us to change our relationships. That is not always easy. Imagine being in a relationship for many years that you always thought was true, then one day you find out that it was a lie and you were being cheated on. Imagine that this was your relationship to yourself, and one day you discover that you've been cheating yourself. You've been cheating yourself all of these years with ideas that betray your ability to elevate your consciousness, quality of life, sense of purpose, and relationships to others and this planet. Most people are not happy when they find this out. In fact, they become angry at themselves and others who they feel/believe set them up to be cheated on. Everyone who is on the journey of Knowledge of Self experience this kind of heartache. It's traumatic, and everyone doesn't recover from it. Some people stay heartbroken and vow to never associate with certain people, places, or things that trigger this trauma. I know people who had a traumatic academic experience, and their reaction [not response] to that trauma is anti-intellectualism. As anti-intellectuals, they became obsessively skeptical of anything academic and consistently smart shame and show disdain for people whom they believe are educated. It can take people a lifetime to recognize that has not been the wisest way to address this trauma. Sometimes recognizing this lack of wisdom requires therapy. 

     Wisdom is using right discernment [judgment] to apply what we know about ourselves, others and the world around us. As sapient beings, this is one thing that separates humans from animals. With a more advanced brain architecture, we possess a consciousness that enables us to think abstractly, solve complex problems, and experience life through self-aware sensory perception. While animals can demonstrate wisdom, humans have the ability to demonstrate supreme wisdom or a higher degree of discernment. That is, humans who are on a path of enlightenment. Historically speaking, when humans have not had a path of enlightenment, we see a decline of civilization and descent into a primitive state as evidenced in The Dark Ages. You can also see this evidenced in the Information Age where we still see a decline of civil discourse, civic engagement, and civilization even though the exponential growth in technology allows people to access more information than ever before. We see people who would rather produce hours of content talking negative about people, places, and things that they don't like instead of investing that same time and finances to create positive solutions. The irony is, some of these people claim to have Knowledge of Self; which shows a clear disconnect between What We Teach [knowledge] and What We Will Achieve [wisdom]. There can be a number of reasons for this disconnect and someone's inability/unwillingness to create positive solutions. Sometimes the problem IS the actual solution. And to solve some problems it may require us to delicately walk back across a fragile bridge that we burned. I can only imagine the level of humility, courage and consideration required to do this. I also understand that there must be some lessons in this to help us become wiser. 

     All of us are on a journey in life and will face challenges, that sometimes appear insurmountable. Some of those challenges are people, places, and things along the landscape and we will need the mental fortitude [knowledge] and skills [wisdom] to address them. The stories that we tell ourselves, the stories that others tell us, the stories that we agree/disagree with and how we use them either aligns with or betrays The Self's ability to meet those challenges. Those stories either align with or betrays our ability to explore The Self's multidimensional, multilayered, and multifaceted aspects of who we are as sapient beings. Our sense of identity is a fundamental part of that self-work. In a number of Surahs within the Quran, the Arabic phrase "Kun fayakūn/Kun Faya Kun" (كن فيكون) is used which means "Be and it is!" In the book of John 1:1 we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." If we think and tell ourselves that we can't, we won't. Regardless of the support and encouragement that is available to us. If we think and tell ourselves that we can, we will. Regardless of the lack of support and discouragement. Each day is an opportunity for us to be better and do better for ourselves, others and the planet. How we choose to ultimately see ourselves will determine what we do. 

Peace,

Saladin

"Crack-Kim Great God Allah" and the Value of Community Partnerships

A.I. generated image of Fat Joe as "Crack-Kim Great God Allah"

     On a recent episode of the Joe and Jada Podcast, Rapper Fat Joe made this bombshell claim, "I come from a projects called Godsville. Right? So also, it was like the Mecca of the Five Percenters. I was the God Crack-Kim Great God Allah. I’m telling you what it is, right. You gotta think…" The reactions from members of the Five Percent ran the spectrum from doubled-over laughter to outright anger. While no one has confirmed the validity of that story, I can see the possibility for a variety of reasons. It's possible that some Five Percenters said it as a joke to play upon the cultural identity politics in that neighborhood. There is some unfortunate history of Boriquas and other Spanish-speaking people being "othered" within the Hip Hop community and among Five Percenters, even to this day. Fat Joe has often talked about being "the fat little Puerto Rican kid" growing up around mostly Black people. It is hard for me to imagine Five Percenters seriously calling Fat Joe by the "righteous name" of Crack-Kim Great God Allah. Because the names that we choose are supposed to be righteous. From my experience, even the most street Five Percenters still hold this culture with some level of sacredness. Also, righteous names don't exist in a vacuum. With a name comes a cultural identity, familial relationships, and active Five Percenter community engagement. Within our culture we are expected to expound upon our chosen righteous name when among other Five Percenters. If our name is Power, we are expected to show and prove the reasoning for choosing that name and what it means, sometimes in an open public forum among a body of Five Percenters. None of these Five Percenter cultural elements or social norms were mentioned by Fat Joe. This leads me to think that it's not as real or serious as he suggests. Now if he goes back on the Pod naming his enlightener, talking about parliaments/rallies that he attended, what degrees that he knows, who he taught, etc., then I think we could take his conversation more seriously. What I do think is serious, and deserves discussion, is the fact that people even associate Five Percenters with criminal behavior. 

     Since our 1960's inception within the streets of New York, Five Percenters have been labeled as a gang and classified as a STG (Security Threat Group) due to incidents of violence and gang-related activity within some correctional facilities across the United States. While there did exist and does exist those who commit crimes and simultaneously claim to be Five Percenters, that is not our cultural way. The labels of being a gang or STG has always been a point of contention by those of us who are upstanding citizens within our communities, the same way that upstanding Muslims, Christians and Jews do not condone terrorism by those who profess to be members of their group. As a globally recognized face of the Five Percenters, I have worked extremely hard to challenge those mischaracterizations by being a positive productive example. Yet in too many cases to mention, there are alleged Five Percenters who continually add credence to these negative claims by not living up to our cultural values of being civilized and teaching civilization. One such example is our recent expulsion from the second primary school within our community that allowed us to utilize their space to hold our monthly Universal Parliaments and events.           

     In an April 24th, 2024 article Anchor Institutions and the Fate of Allah School in Mecca I wrote, "While there are brothers who consistently show up in person/virtually once a week to talk for hours about our culture, there are no professional revenue-generating workshops, classes, or projects being facilitated at Allah School every day. We have no grant-funded youth advocacy/community outreach programs being offered in the neighborhood. We have no collaborative initiatives with area organizations and institutions that are available on-site or virtually. Nothing is being offered by/for women and girls; even though women represent 75% of the professional non-profit workforce in the U.S. and the Allah School is a non-profit. Additionally, according to a recent April 23rd Five Percenter Newspaper Facebook Group Post and my follow-up confirmation with School Officials, we are now in jeopardy of losing P.S. 92 Mary McLeod Bethune as the current location of our Universal Parliaments and the upcoming Show & Prove. A petition is being circulated by the surrounding school community to stop us from utilizing the space due to adult Five Percenters loitering, urinating, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and being noisy on school property." As of June 2025, and confirmed by school officials, we are now banned from utilizing P.S. 92 Mary McLeod Bethune due to alleged Five Percenters loitering and the use of illegal substances near school grounds. The first school in our community that we were banned from prior to this incident is P.S. 154 Harriet Tubman. During the summer months our monthly Universal Parliaments and events are generally held outdoors in Medina (Brooklyn). As we move into the colder months, we will need to find new indoor accommodations to gather. Equally important is putting an effective policy and procedure in place that can stop us from continually losing access to community spaces and sabotaging our relationships with important community partners. That only gives credence to the negative lawless claims that people have about us. While this is definitely unfortunate, it is also an opportunity for us to do better and live up to our cultural values of being civilized and teaching civilization. 

"We don't talk about nobody.  Because religious people fight against one another.  You can’t tell 

me they don’t because they do." -Allah, The Father (November 15, 1967 Interview)

     

     When I began this website twenty years ago, my mission has been to inspire, empower, and educate my readership through my documented work about various sciences of life from "a" Five Percenter perspective, not a perspective of "THE" Five Percenter. Because of my growing digital footprint, global visibility and international work, I was thrust into a domain where I am now viewed as one of the most recognizable figures and foremost authorities on the Five Percent Nation. This has never been something that I have aspired to, yet I have learned to accept being this public figure. It took me a long time to even fully embrace social media because I was averse to the concept of 'having followers'. This so-called "celebrity" as folks call it, has also taken time getting used to. When random people recognize and stop me in airports or different cities to share how my work has positively impacted their lives, I am still caught off guard and reminded of what this really means. To me, I am simply doing my part to add more beauty to this world to help repair what I see is broken. Nothing more and nothing less. What I have struggled with getting used to are the trolls that any celebrity deals with. It's hard to understand the constant fixation people can have on someone else. It's hard to even imagine how disruptive that would be to the work that I do. When I assess my time, I don't see the value in using it to sit around and talk about people. Yes, just like anyone else I could see trolls attacking celebrities, I just never saw myself in a celebrity category so I would rationalize that it is not the same thing when it happens to me. I was clearly in denial. Once I began to honestly acknowledge it, I also began to consult with other celebrities on how they deal with it. What one particular celebrity shared with me was a game changer. They said, "People project their own insecurities on you. Sometimes people try to bait you into responding to some sh*t because your attention validates their importance. In a weird way they're looking for a cosign. They might be jealous or feel like they're less than you! You are an important person who is doing important work. I just keep it moving and don't even respond. They not on your level and don't even exist in your world for a reason, so keep it that way by not inviting them in." 

     Those within our community know that Fat Joe AKA Crack-Kim Great God Allah is not a farfetched concept. There is a reason we have the phrases Jive Percenters & Five Pretenders. I've had knowledge of self for thirty years now and have seen many versions of folks with one foot in the street and the other foot allegedly in Five Percenter culture. I have also seen those who are positive productive examples of what this culture can offer any human being. Like with any community, you have those who are striving to do better and others who are not. I also understand that we can want people to do better, yet nothing will change until they honestly want to do better for themselves. We make knowledge born and they must save themselves. Sometimes the ones who could benefit from our assistance the most are the least likely to openly receive it, for various reasons. All we can do is be there if/when people are ready and put up guardrails to prevent them from injuring us and others when they are not ready. I do not know what new indoor accommodations will be secured for our Universal Parliaments and other Nation events going forward. I also do not know what kind of effective policy and procedure can be put in place that will stop us from continually losing access to community spaces and sabotaging our relationships with important community partners. What I do know is this is an opportunity to do better. And sometimes what we see as a setback is a settlement or agreement to do something much greater! It is up to us to make that happen.

Peace,

Saladin

Three Years Later; Where are the benefits NOT OWNING this trademark?

Official Registered Trademark, December 21, 2021 

     Three years ago on this Winter Solstice date, December 21^st, 2021, I successfully registered the elements of the Universal Flag for our Five Percent Nation as a class 41 licensed trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As I shared in my article, What are the legalities of our Universal Flag?:

"By law, you cannot trademark a flag, so this trademark was not defined or described as a flag in the USPTO application. This trademark defined, described, and included all of the elemental arrangements of our Universal Flag. This ensured that it could be trademarked not as a flag, while simultaneously protecting our flag in the public domain from any similar elemental arrangements that would infringe upon our registered trademark. In other words, this gave us legal protection/recourse to address any individual/company who was using our federally registered trademark without our licensed permission or any individual/company that wanted to create something similar to our trademark, such as a rainbow-colored emblem like ours with a #6 in the center." 

To learn more details about that initiative I would encourage you to read the article What are the legalities of our Universal Flag? Today I wanted to take the time to build upon that experience, what has happened since that time, and what I think we can expect to see moving forward.

     When I first announced that initiative it was embraced with a great deal of support and attacked with disdain. Some Nation members shared that I was wrong for not presenting this initiative to them personally, and/or to the larger number of Five Percenters collectively for their input before acquiring this IP. These are things that I considered yet decided against it in the interest of time and to prompt an immediate call to action and National response from our members. So instead of talking about it I made the proactive decision to be about it by investing the time and finances to secure the trademark for us. When I received the official document from the USPTO, it is hard to express the prideful feeling of bringing it to our people to say, "Here, this is an invaluable asset that I acquired for us to advance our Nation!" While some members appreciated the socioeconomic foresight of securing this IP, others did not. 

     Following the successful December 21^st, 2021, registration of this trademark, I sent the above January 7th, 2022 Universal Flag Board email to various Five Percenters [men and women] in different regions across the country. As stated in this email:

“My reasoning for initiating that IP initiative was to put in place ‘legal safeguards’ for us to control our national narrative and maintain our cultural identity. Prior to this, anyone could use our Universal Flag and there was nothing we could legally do about it. Now that our Universal Flag is our registered trademark, no entity [entertainers, businesses, institutions, organizations or media sources, etc.] has the legal right to use it and can/will face legal consequences for misuse and abuse of it.” 

I emphasize the words “us”, “our”, and “we” in this email because this trademark was never for me. Because I initiated the trademark process, my name originally appears on the application. Yet, as shown in the above email, I sought out a diverse group of Five Percenters [men and women] to form a committee that the trademark ownership would be transferred to and managed for our Nation. This never happened and what unfortunately followed was mass confusion, misinformation campaigns, and a fumbled bag by Nation members to secure an invaluable national asset and legally protect our cultural identity in the public domain. It was disappointing then and is disappointing now to see the same Nation members unable to publicly defend themselves and secure our financial future. I learned a lot from that experience, especially around organization.

Stymie Beard, Little Rascals Gang

       When striving to organize any group of people around an idea, there usually exists an element that can stymie that group's ability to build. Stymie means "to present an obstacle to" or "stand in the way of'." Sometimes this obstruction is rooted in legitimate concerns for the safety, welfare, and progress of the group -as we often saw demonstrated by the sharp-witted Stymie from the Little Rascals who helped solve his gang's problems. Sometimes folks are not like Stymie and their obstruction is illegitimate, thus undermining the safety, welfare, and progress of the group. Whether legitimate or illegitimate, everyone has a rationalization behind why they choose to support/not support an idea. In presenting our Nation with an actual registered trademark, something tangible and not just an idea, it forced many people to communicate their rationalization(s) and confront their own contributions, role, and responsibilities to our Nation. It was not the fact that what I did for us was inherently wrong; every pioneer and innovation is viewed as wrong by some people who never did it before. For many people, this was the first time that they even thought about what it means to officially register the elements of our Universal Flag as a licensed trademark. Very few people asked me questions to gain an understanding about what we were now in possession of. Most people honestly did not even know what we had or the difference between a trademark, copyright, or a patent. It was obvious when they clumsily used these words interchangeably while trying to present themselves as knowledgeable to explain their stance. Some people unrealistically argued that if Walmart or any company were selling products with our Universal Flag on it, we should find them and teach them. Others protested by saying things like, "we are not under the government", "Universal Shaamgaud didn't do it, do you think you are smarter than him", "It doesn't matter, it [the Universal Flag] is for everybody" and etc. It was evident that the rationalizations people made, to justify why they did not want ownership of this invaluable asset, were not legitimate and clearly motivated by something deeper. 

In order to support this initiative, some folks had to justify in their minds why they and others [including the Universal Flag designer Universal Shaamgaud himself], have never done it before. For some folks it was simple; "We are at a point in our Nation's history where we need to own it." For others, it was not that simple. They had to justify a lot in their minds to accept this gift from me. Some people were simply mad that they didn't do it first, and to accept it was to acknowledge my contribution and give me the credit for doing it, even though it was for all of us. Some people were never going to acknowledge it and give me credit, especially those who always had/have something negative to say about me privately and publicly. Some folks felt like me acquiring this IP was me looking down on them and saying that they didn't have the intelligence or skills to do it on their own until I came along. To them, they would rather starve than eat what was being shared them. All of them experienced some level of cognitive dissonance or the discomfort of holding contradictory thoughts. For many, those contradictory thoughts were 1.) We own our Universal Flag 2.) Proof that we don't legally own the Universal Flag because I got the registered trademark for us. For some, they struggled with additional contradictory thoughts. None of what I am sharing is mind reading or speculation. People actually communicated these kinds of sentiments privately and publicly when this initiative was presented to them. With all of these things going on in some people's minds, some folks came up with a whole bunch of illegitimate reasons why they did not want this for our Nation. These kinds of rationalizations are called "defenses mechanisms" in the world of Psychiatry; strategies that people use to avoid certain thoughts/actions that are unwanted. What was so unwanted? Me, and/or me doing this for us. The only legitimate reason that I heard from a few people is that our collective body of members were not ready for that level of responsibility to represent/protect ourselves in the public domain as legal owners of this IP because they didn't know what we actually had. I anticipated this and that is the reason that I secured it first so that we had it in our possession. It was better to have it, and learn how to use it, than to not have it and watch people keep using it. Some folks accused me of doing things wisdom knowledge, or backwards, which is untrue. I knew all about it, did it, and shared the best part with others; that is knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Others who knew nothing about possessing a registered trademark felt like they were forced to do things wisdom knowledge, which is also untrue. All they needed to do is now invest time to learn more about what was now in their possession to use for the benefit of our Nation; that is also knowledge, wisdom and understanding. They were in a perfect position to learn more about what they now legally owned and how it could be used. Not that day, weeks, or even months later. It could have been a year to that date that folks finally educated themselves enough about owning this invaluable asset and how to actually use it. 

     2021 was a pivotal moment in our Nation's history. It was post-Covid, we were "displaced" from our community as I shared in my article Anchor Institutions and the Fate of Allah School in Mecca, we were poorly represented in the public domain and facing dire socioeconomic circumstances. At the date of this writing, all of things have only gotten worst and no one has come forward with anything tangible that addresses all of these National issues. I think failing to accept ownership of our registered trademark was a missed opportunity for us to use this invaluable asset to legally protect our image/narrative in the public domain, improve our collective quality of life, and create multi-capital for our Nation's growth and development, in perpetuity. I would love for someone, or others, to come along and legitimately prove me otherwise. Not with economic development presentation pitches with no capital investment, crochet crown and lapel pin fundraisers, or livestream/podcast monologues called 'classes'. I commend folks for at least doing something, yet none of those things are really moving the needle forward. If they were, we would see the evidence in actual attendance, participation, financial investment, and viewership. Unfortunately, we don't see that evidence. And no, I don't see myself as our Nation's savior on some high horse with the answer to solve all of our problems. I am just one person, who shared an excellent idea, that would have surely solved some of our problems. Three years later, how have we benefitted from not owning this registered trademark? I honestly cannot think of one example. You might be wondering what ended up happening to the IP huh? Well, let me tell you a story, it's called The Magic Stone

The Magic Stone

     Once upon a time there was a people living in a distance land, struggling from a famine that ravished their entire village. Food was scarce, sickness was common, and people suckled cactuses to get what little water that they had. One of their family members seeking to assist his people set out on a perilous journey beyond the borders of their homelands. After a year of roaming the lands, the family member came upon a quarry of magic stones that possessed limitless power to change one's circumstances. Excited, the family member began to make his way back to his village to share one of the magic stones with his people. When he arrived at his village and announced his discovery, a great disturbance arose among his people. While some of his people were thankful, some verbally attacked and threatened to physically harm him. Some of the more superstitious family members began to share legends as reasons why their wisest elders never had the magic stone, so they shouldn't either, despite the desolate condition they were now living in. Others arrogantly dismissed it, boasting that they could have gotten the magic stone themselves, and he was no better than them. Some family members began to spread lies about him and the magic stone, sowing seeds of doubt to turn people against him and his gift. Some family members secretly suggested that he not allow other family members to have possession of the magic stone, while other family members asked him to allow their council to control it. Some family members outright refused the magic stone, believing that he should have asked them did they want it, even though it was clear that their people needed it. After three days of fasting and consideration, he had an epiphany. The next day he came before the village and announced that because his people could only agree that there was no agreement about what to do with the magic stone, he would destroy it. And he did. 

The End

Peace,

Saladin