The Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters is a global institution founded in Niagara Falls, NY that promotes educational programs, creative arts, cultural initiatives, audiovisual projects and commerce that supports Knowledge of Self and the positive growth and development of youth and families. This space features bi-monthly articles that highlight the social commentary, current events, and creative insights of its Founder, Saladin Allah [S. Quanaah]. #AtlantisBuild #FivePercenter
"Love
transcends emotions; it is the highest degree of Understanding between
two people. Hell is the tempering fire of experience all relationships
go through; in order to remove its impurities and unveil the substance
of our bond. Then and only then will we reveal what's Right!" -Love, Hell or Right (Amazon, Barnes
& Noble, Amazon Kindle)
In 2018 I launched my Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters Animation Series that is now globally available in Volume 1, 2 and 3 on Amazon Direct in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan [incl. closed captions]. This Animation Series is designed to globally inspire, empower and educate people, especially our youth, to think creatively and critically about the world around them.
This recent episode entitled "The True History of W.D. Fard" is the first time W.D. Fard's narrative that chronicles his family dynamics, relationship to Elijah Muhammad, creation of the Supreme Wisdom book and the development of the Nation of Islam has been animated. Enjoy!
Gobot Road Ranger knock-off of Transformer Optimus Prime
Nothing could rival the Transformers when they came out in the 80's. Nothing! And just like with anything good, eventually comes the cheap knock-offs. In this case it was the pitiful Gobots. When the Tonka company heard that Hasbro had that fire coming, they [Tonka] hurried up and dropped the Gobots; one of the biggest duds in toy making history. While Transformers took several elaborate steps to transform into these well crafted sophisticated robots, Gobots took maybe a few steps and ended up looking like a burnt-out sometimes faceless version of what it originally looked like; a Burger King kids meal toy. The bootleg cartoons were just as horrible and torture for a Millennial to watch today. Bottom line is Tonka shoulda stuck to trucks and that's the same advice that many of us should take when it comes to sticking to what we know. Let me tell you about an archetypal Transformer before I get to the Gobots.
A common misconception some people have about The Five Percent is that we are a Muslim group; some religious spin-off, branch or denomination of the Islamic faith. Some believe this because our founder Allah, The Father, was once a Registered Muslim in the Nation of Islam [NOI] under Minister Malcolm X at Harlem's Mosque #7. When he left the NOI in 1963, he also left their belief system, religious hierarchy and name Clarence 13X behind. What he did retain were a series of lessons, 120, that became an integrated part of a unique cultural curriculum. A curriculum which primarily included Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet; an Alphanumeric system of principles and values that was uniquely devised by him. This non-religious curriculum formed the basis of the Five Percent cultural worldview, which contained an original language, standards and customs that the Father and his companions began to teach youth in the streets of Harlem, AKA Mecca, in 1964.
As the Five Percent we honor The Father's legacy, from his upbringing in Danville Virginia, his military service in Korea, his brief time in Mosque #7 and his formation of the Five Percent Nation in the mid 60's. As with the The Father and every human being, all of our experiences were and are important in making us who are and neither experience single-handedly defines our identity. This is important to communicate because some Muslims have a very bad habit of claim-jumping when it comes to successful people like Yahweh Ben Yahweh, Muhammad Ali, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz [Malcolm X.], Dr. Sebi, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, Kool and the Gang Musicians, The Father and etc. who left their religion behind. It's like a high school basketball coach trying to claim credit for a player who became a superstar after they left or were cut from the team. In my mind, if it's multiple players that left or were cut from the program but then go on to do become superstars, the program starts to look questionable; its system, its coaching staff and possibly its athletic director. Five Percenters are like street ball players who questioned that Muslim program, either as former players or those who never wanted to play for that program, in that system or with that coaching staff. Some Five Percenters are highly critical of that program while others really don't give it much thought. Sometimes you have those who can't make their mind up; they want to play for that program yet also play in the street. If they are undecided, the program makes up their mind for them because there are certain restrictive laws that go along with being a part of that program. And if you don't follow the program, you're not eligible to play. You also have those who started playing street ball but then decided to join the program. That's fine, when it's respectfully articulated to those in the street. A problem arises when players who join the program try to act like they're better or even front like they're in the street in order to recruit street ball players to that program. This is like the religious program being NOI Muslims and street ballers as The Five Percent. The above group of undecided/Muslim recruiters are synonymous with a clandestine group called the Allah Team that operated in secret before making themselves public on the campus of Morehouse University in 1998. As can be surmised, this caused friction with the Five Percenters and these undecided/Muslim recruiters called the Allah Team separated themselves from the cipher. While there have always been short lived bootleg versions of us since the 60's, it was at this moment that we, the Transformers [Five Percent] began to see the creation of the Gobots.
Allah Prince Sha'Divine builds on his experience with The Allah Team
A couple of famous quotes of The Father during a November 15th 1967 Interview regarding religion are "you gotta keep the children together andkill all religion" and "And the Five Percenters, I'm teaching them that they can't go on under religion becausereligion has never did anything for them." Obviously this wasn't a declaration to kill people, this, along with other quotes from this Interview, made it absolutely clear that The Father wasn't an advocate of organized religion. The Father wanted us to kill or destroy the division, hierarchy, lies and manipulation that binds religious people: as religion comes from the Latin religare meaning "to bind." Some Muslims would argue that, "Brother Clarence 13X used some of the religious teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad so he must have been religious" to which I would retort, "using the Arabic numerals 0, 1-9 doesn't make everyone a Muslim." The principles and values The Father learned throughout his life, which included as a registered Muslim, were mathematically practical, not religious. This is the reasoning behind the Five Percenter's creation of Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet; it's an Alphanumeric system that practically unlocked 120 lessons, and lessons in life, that were often purposely veiled by religion. Most of the words we speak in English are derived from a different language, culture and associated religion. It doesn't automatically mean we are that culture or associated religion if we use them. To call us Five Percenters Muslims even though we clearly do not practice the 5 Pillars of Islam, follow the Sunnah, attend a mosque, temple or masjid or follow an Imam/Minister is disrespectful to Muslims who do. A core belief of Allah Team group members is the confusing idea that you can somehow be a Muslim and Allah simultaneously. In their mind you can submit to the will of Allah as a Muslim, be a demigod [small "g" god], pray to THE God in the person of Prophet Master Fard Muhammad who wasn't the first God to create the universe, but we're all "Allahs" [yes, with an "s" on it].
Five Percent Universal Flag and Allah Team Logo
The Father taught the youth our culture for five years until he was assassinated on June 13th, 1969. In May of 1965 after being arrested with several other men for unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct at a rally in front of the Hotel Theresa in Mecca [Harlem, NY], he was arraigned in criminal court before Judge Francis X. O'Brien and held on a $9,500 bond. Four months later he was shipped off to the Psychiatric Unit at Bellevue Hospital. Allah would remain there until a final psychiatric report submitted to Judge O'Brien stated that "he did not understand the charges against him" thus remanding him to the NYS Department of Mental Hygiene for indefinite confinement. At the age of 37, Allah was confined in these institutions, Bellevue and Matteawan State Hospital, for two years, and released in April of 1967. During this time he taught, different youth received different instructions. Instructions that often sound like contradictions. While it's clear that The Father was anti-organized religion, he did instruct some, not all, young Five Percenters to become Muslims by joining the mosque when he was gone. They obviously would benefit from the structure that religious program would offer them and it also shows that the Father wasn't confident in their ability to manage without that and him. I teach preschool and facilitate an after school program for 9 to 12 year olds so I definitely understand his reasoning. Some students I encourage to do some things while others get a different set of instructions. However, regardless of those individualized instructions, there were always anti-religious Five Percenter axioms that the Father taught regardless who he was speaking to, and those axioms were rooted in the unique language, standards and customs of our cultural worldview.
Two of the main axioms of the Five Percent is that we don't adhere to a hierarchical structure and we do not have a single leader. We teach collective leadership and that each person should follow to the extent of learning to lead themselves; self-sufficiency. If you're a believer, registered Muslim in the Nation of Islam who follows a leader, whether it's John Muhammad [Elijah's brother], Silias Muhammad, Solomon Royall, The Son of Man [Marvin Muhammad], Ahmad A. Muhammad or Minister Louis Farrakhan, you cannot simultaneously be non-religious and without a leader, it's a fundamental contradiction. Now I've heard some say that if you work or go to school your Manager or Teacher is your leader but here's the difference; they cannot tell you what to do at home like a religious leader does. If Minister Farrakhan says to his believers, "I want you all to start wearing this green & yellow Dianetics pin on your lapel every day to display our partnership with the Church of Scientology", you have to do it as a follower, at home and abroad. If you question or disobey that order you're considered a hypocrite, disbeliever and etc.
Another Five Percenter axiom is the propagation and preservation of our unique cultural curriculum; 120 lessons, Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet. I emphasize "unique" because no one does this. No religion or other culture. Not only are we required to share and maintain our culture, we consistently test one another on it. I remember in the late 90's being at a Wu-Tang Clan concert and A Son Unique [Ol' Dirty Bastard], upon seeing my Universal Flag, questioning me on one of the lengthiest lessons in 120. Knowing 120, extracting and articulating the wisdom of 120 and understanding 120 equals 360 degrees; a complete cipher [120+120+120=360]. It is through one's immersion in our unique cultural curriculum, via Five Percenters who live it, that they learn our chronology, gatherings, honor days, language, standards and overall customs. It's impossible to learn this as a cultural tourist, academic or undecided/Muslim recruiter. So whenever I've looked at or engaged members of the Allah Team, males and females, there was always a clear disassociation from some of the chronology, gatherings, honor days, language, standards and overall customs of the Five Percent. In terms of chronology, they didn't have or maintain a strong lineage to a family tree actively connected to the root. They didn't actively attend or participate in any of our cultural gatherings or honor days and if given a choice they primarily honor religious days such as the Muslim's Annual Savior's Day and fast for Ramadan. They weren't fluent or couldn't properly articulate our language nor our lessons. When is came to standards and overall customs, it was obvious they were not like me and other brother and sisters of the Five Percent. Now some would and have argued that they do live the culture "personally" but just don't come around because of so and so -but that actually proves the point that they aren't living the culture. Why? Because it's impossible to live the culture, share and preserve, it by our lonesome. In fact, it will die with us. Always keep in mind that we received it from somebody. Plus civilization requires socialization, collective work and responsibility and cooperative economics. In the most simplest terms, if a person isn't adding on, they're taking away. Some would argue that one of our Prophets, W.D. Fard, "came to North America by himself" and that is true in a sense that no one personally traveled with him to his destination. It's also true that his family sent him, he most likely took a vessel with other travelers, and when he got to Detroit he became a part of his uncle's community. He still wasn't "alone", even when Elijah was supposedly looking through a keyhole to see if he slept and saw an eyeball staring back at him.
I know this was kinda lengthy, and will probably be revisited, so let me wrap this up. The main reason for this article is to point out that since out formal 1964 inception to today, there has been and continues to be people, impostors, trying to call themselves Five Percenters when they are not. Whether it was Robert Walker in the 60's or the Allah Team, they are not us. Even though some of them are aware of our way of life, none of them "primarily" share and preserve theunique chronology, gatherings, honor days, language, standards and overall customs of our Five Percent culture. That's fine to be aware, other Muslims, Moors, Nuwaubians, Khemetians, Hebrews, Christians or etc. are also. Just don't claim to be something you're clearly not. It's disrespectful, disingenuous, confusing and outright clownish to those of us who are the real Five Percent.
Peace,
Saladin
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
PRESS RELEASE: November 18, 2015 Media Contact: Saladin Allah
My
name is Saladin Allah, a Five Percenter Journalist, Author and Youth Advocate
writing in response to the recent vandalism at The French-American International School in San Francisco. As this latest
example of American “Francophobia” has been wrongly attributed to the Five
Percenters and our implied association with ISIS, I wanted to take a moment to
clarify who we are.As
one of our many thought leaders, I have been referenced as a Five Percenter subject
matter expert and program consultant for the History Channel series Gangland to
clarify our supposed association with the Hidden Valley Kings in North Carolina,
and I was globally cited to clarify if Jay Z was an active member of the Five Percenters
and elaborate on the meaning of the Five Percenter Medallion [Emblem] he has publically worn. I’ve written over
250 articles, published 14 books and have successfully worked as a youth
advocate and community organizer for the last twenty years creating various
projects, programs and initiatives geared towards the positive growth and
development of families and communities. One of the commonly held misconceptions is that the Five Percenters are Muslim
[religious], which we are not. Our group, which consists of people of color and
white members, are culturally based and more concerned with self-development,
youth advocacy and community outreach than we are vandalizing, desecrating or
ridiculing others for their beliefs or political ideologies. No mature,
upstanding member of the Five Percenters that subscribes to our principles and
values would do this. In fact, we are anti-crime and it’s a matter of
historical record that following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr, it was the Five Percenters who walked the streets of Harlem with Mayor Lindsey of New York in
order to help stop the violence, looting and restore peace. Our symbol, the
Universal Flag, represents the sun, moon and star: our universal family. Family
consists of man, woman and child and a unified human family is the vital building
block of any nation of people. Thank you for your consideration and giving me the opportunity to clarify this.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at: atlantisbuild@gmail.com
Peace, Saladin Allah
Region 6 Local Representative of the Five Percenters [AKA:
Nation of Gods and Earths]
Since putting out my FULL PRESS RELEASE I've monitored the various local news sources to see how they'd cover the story. Not one of them have printed my press release in its entirety. All of them took only parts of it, put their own spin on it, and gave it back to the public the way they saw fit. While I do appreciate some of the publicity, there are other things I saw that were completely inaccurate. You can read my FULL PRESS RELEASE here: Saladin Q. Allah Official Press Release
Now, The Niagara Falls Reporter printed, and I quote, "Allah is a convert to Islam and changed his name as is customary for Muslims converts."
I am not sure where they got this from. I never spoke to anyone from The Niagara Falls Reporter about the weather let alone religion. I never said that, it's not in my press release, it's not in anything I've published online, and it is completely inaccurate. I am not Muslim nor was my name change for religious reasons. The Niagara Falls Reporter did accurately state, "Allah says his ancestor was Rev. Josiah Henson, who is said to be the inspiration for the fugitive slave in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'." Yet it's this very part of my ancestry that would have given them more insight about me, my family background, and my name change if they asked me. Since they didn't, I can tell you directly.
Article in the Niagara Gazette about my Grandmother Inez Frank (1986)
When some of my ancestors were brought to America during the trans-atlantic slave trade, they were enslaved and forced to give up their cultural identity, regardless of their religious ideology. They no longer were allowed to speak their own language, use their own names, maintain the same diet, or even establish stable family units. This process continued, by law, for approximately nine generations or three hundred and ten years. So while some people of Italian descent can trace their last name to an actual village in modern day Italy, or others can trace their lineage to a Family Crest or Coat of Arms, tracing my lineage has consisted of looking at cargo logs for ships or doing DNA tracking to find out the geographic location of my ancestors. The trans-atlantic slave trade, and slavery, interrupted the cultural identity and arrested the development of an entire group people. It interrupted the cultural identity and arrested the development of the people enslaved and the slave holders.
In indigenous societies of the past and today, our birth names where a central part of our cultural identity and role we played within our societies. For example, when a child was born a name would be given to them, usually by our elders, to communicate a part of that child's purpose and destiny. This was sacred and ceremonial, not done without consideration. If the child's name meant "sincere counsel", that was an important role our elders knew our society needed to birth and cultivate. It's no different than people giving birth to a child and providing them with all the support and resources they need to become a productive member of society. Many of our ancestors wisely took it a step further by making sure this support was reinforced by a person's actual name. So instead of simply providing a child with the resources to become sincere counsel, we gave them that name to live up to as an attribute. During slavery this cultural tradition was interrupted. Slaves who were bred to produce children for labor no longer had the power to name them. These children were sold off to other plantations and given names to identify them as a master's property. So a slave named "Smith" was identified as Master Smith's slave. "Walking Henson" was known as Henson's slave who walked alot. Not only was this naming method used to track the slave masters property, but it was also used for insurance purposes. There are many wealthy companies and families today, that accumulated their wealth, from Slave Insurance.
Many present day African-Americans can trace the last names we currently have, whether it's English, French, or etc. directly to the slave masters who once owned our ancestors. Again, regardless of our ancestors religious views or how we chose to worship, this slavery system legally interrupted our cultural identity and arrested the development of us all.
Article in the Buffalo News and letter from African Ancestry Inc. about my International Family Tree Project (2005)
The reason I legally changed my name was to reconnect to my ancestors cultural identity, and build upon this rich legacy that was almost entirely destroyed. In 2005 I received a grant for my L.I.F.E. Afterschool Program and partnered with the Washington DC based genetics company African Ancestry Inc. to create an International Family Tree Project. With this Project I was able to provide twenty DNA Kits, free of charge, to families in our Community, Pittsburgh, Missouri, and Canada who were interested in finding out where their maternal ancestry came from. I found out my maternal ancestors came from Cameroon and my tribal affiliation is the Tikar Tribe. Saladin, pronounced Sa-la-dean means "Honor or Righteousness of the faith". A great Muslim King popularized this Arabic name, yet the name is Arabic, not Muslim. Arabic does not equal Muslim and to assume that would be no different than assuming my nephew plays basketball just because he has the name "Jordan." My middle name Quanaah, pronounced Kwa-ni-ah means "fragrant". In honor of my indigenous american (native american) ancestry, I chose this name. It's Quahadi in origin and comes from the Last Comanche Chief Quanah Parker; who successfully made the transition from Chief to Statesman and was responsible for founding The Native American Church. My last name, Allah, is also Arabic which means "The God." Again, Arabic does not equal Muslim. There are many arabic speaking Christians and other Religions who refer to God as Allah, simply because they speak the arabic language. So my name, Saladin Quanaah Allah, means "The honorable faith and fragrance of the God." Since taking this step to change my name in 1999, I have since published a book entitled 'How To Change Your Name Without A Lawyer' and have assisted many others change their name for various reasons (cultural, religious, stage name, immigrants, and etc.)
In closing, I didn't appreciate the Niagara Falls Reporter for even citing what they believe my religion to be, making an assumption about what it is, and then printing misinformation without even asking me about my worldview or my reasoning for changing my name. That was poor reporting and prejudiced. I am a scientist of life and study all religions. I am just as much Muslim as our Commander and Chief, President Barack Hussein Obama. My perspective about any religion is that people should strive to have a personal relationship with who they worship. A relationship that's so personal, that they strive to live in such a way that others can see their creator within them.
A common misconception some people have about The Five Percent is that we are a Muslim group; some religious spin-off, branch or denomination of the Islamic faith. Some believe this because our founder Allah, The Father, was once a Registered Muslim in the Nation of Islam [NOI] under Minister Malcolm X at Harlem's Mosque #7. When he left the NOI in 1963, he also left their belief system, religious hierarchy and name Clarence 13X behind. What he did retain were a series of lessons, 120, that became an integrated part of a unique cultural curriculum. A curriculum which primarily included Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet; an Alphanumeric system of principles and values that was uniquely devised by him. This non-religious curriculum formed the basis of the Five Percent cultural worldview, which contained an original language, standards and customs that the Father and his companions began to teach youth in the streets of Harlem, AKA Mecca, in 1964. 
