Misapplying 120 and Five Suspenders...

     

     Some years back I remember building with a brother who was beating himself up about his challenges teaching a woman about our culture. He was a good brother yet he didn't always make the best choices when it came to relationships. In 120 we have this phrase that is derived from our 22nd degree which talks about magnetism; attracting power. In part, that degree says, "one piece had magnetic in it and one piece did not. The piece with the magnetic in it attracted the piece without." I mention this part of the degree because this brother mentioned it, a lot. A whole lot. He spoke about it in the context of him being that piece with the magnetic and the woman who obviously wasn't feeling him being the piece without. According to him, because she was supposedly the piece without magnetic she should have been attracted to him because he was the true and living God. In all of his mathematical ramblings, it did not change the reality of the situation that this woman simply didn't like him. Never did it occur to him that this situation had nothing to do with him being the piece with the magnetic and everything to do with her free will to choose. Striving to force his square peg perspective into a circle hole was his EGO talking and he just couldn't accept the fact that this woman just wasn't interested in him. It would take a while before he actually understood what I tried [yes "tried"] to communicate to him; this not about magnetic. It even took him longer to understand that a woman not being interested in him did not diminish who he was as a true and living God. This kind of perspective is not uncommon to hear from newborns or even those who have been living this culture for years. It is a learning process and sometimes we misapply these principles or values along the way. 

   My first Earth was my Queens' mother. When I introduced her to the 17th letter in the Supreme Alphabet, "Q" for Queen, my emphasis was on Knowledge God [17]. In my mind she needed to be aware of who I was and her identity as the Queen was an afterthought. I was young, insecure, developing my self confidence and striving to gain a solid footing in this culture. So naturally it was all about me. As I matured in this culture I no longer took that approach. My emphasis became a woman learning about her identity and responsibility as a Queen. In the process she obviously learned about me, thus gaining a greater Knowledge [1] of the true and living God [7] and the meaning of civilization.

   You know, one of the reasons I think folks misapply 120 is because their foundation wasn't solid to begin with. When I say a solid foundation I am not just talking about knowledge or what a person knows. I am talking about a sense of surety concerning a person's ethics, integrity and constitution. In other words, how this person is built! I am not a Five Percenter who thinks that I am convincing 85ers and the 10% to come on over to the so-called light side. In my experience, if a person takes on this culture it is because certain principles and values were already present within them. Education comes from the Latin root 'educare' which means to "lead/draw out." I have also learned that there are some people who are uneducable or incorrigible. Why? Because there was not anything there to draw out of them from the beginning. One of the most disappointing experiences I've had was learning that some of these uneducable or incorrigible people claimed to be Five Percenters, and it was always obvious in their misapplication of 120.

   Now, some of you may be asking yourselves, "Why is he only talking about the misapplication of 120 and not Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet?" Well, the Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet is much more flexible and gives people more wiggle room to potentially razzle and dazzle folks. The Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet don't have fixed answers such as 120. This creates an opportunity for math and alphabet to be broadly expounded upon when a person expresses their understanding of them. For example, if I were to ask a Five Percenter about Knowledge, that person could strictly talk about Knowledge as information while someone else talks about it as Consciousness/Awareness. Another person could talk about it as Man being the foundation of the family and someone else could talk about it as knowing the ledge. All of these responses are correct. In regards to 120, if I were to ask a Five Percenter "Who is the Original Man?", there is only one correct answer to this question that a person can then expound upon. If I were ask a Five Percenter "What is the name of the place where the Devil was manufactured?", there is only one correct location that they can then expound upon. These are just a couple of examples throughout 120. 

     If a person does not know 120 then they cannot apply it to their life. It reminds me of a woman I knew that claimed to be a Five Percenter; she had a relationship with a ex-Freemason whom she discovered was living a double life. How ironic. What was even more ironic was the fact that this woman never finished learning 120 and was stuck on the actual degree that teaches us about Freemasonry. It stands to reason that if she were more diligent in her studies and committed to learning our degrees she would have seen this impostor coming from a mile away. She didn't and ended up "losing time searching for that, that does not exist" as explained in another degree she didn't know; "Who is that Mystery God?"  

     If a person does know 120, meaning, they are able to recite these degrees, yet they are not studious, they are still going to probably misapply them. In one of our lessons we learn that "the Earth belongs to the Original Man." As the Earth is the Original Woman's twin, I've met some chauvinistic dudes quote this degree to justify the knuckle-dragging notion that a woman literally belongs to him. It never occurred to them that "belongs to" also means to be "a part of." As in, I am a part of [belong to] a family, we are a part of [belong to] a community and the Earth is "a part of" the Original Man. In these and other instances it was clear to me that some people are out here freestyling, and with the development of the internet, they have the platform to do it. When the above scenarios happens in an actual community or another public space, a Five Percenter would simply add-on to offer perspective and correction. Customarily, the person receiving the perspective and correction would stand there and humbly accept it, even if they didn't like it. If this same scenario happened on social media these same folks can just block and delete you for sharing your perspective and striving to correct them.

     ~Atlantis Build Talk Radio Show~

       Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square 

   While there has always been misapplications of 120 since the early years of the Five Percent Nation, in some instances social media has been used to amplify those misconceptions. Nowadays there are people online, particularly religious folks, who have been spreading false narratives like Five Percenters are a religion, we are Muslims, Muslim Gods and other untruths. According our founder, Allah, in a 1967 Interview at Otisville Reformatory School For Boys, Muslims from the NOI were against him because of his non-religious stance and advocacy for black and white unity. In that interview Allah also shared that he didn't believe in religion because "religious peoples do not have no understanding” and that he teaches his Five Percenters that "they can't go on under religion because religion has never did anything for them.” 
     This is one of the reasons I have committed myself to being a consistent voice of the Five Percent in the midst of such digital chaos; to help counter these false narratives about my community. This is not to say that I am THE voice or that I personally have all of the answers and every perspective of how 120 should be applied. What it does say is that I have a commitment to my community and the capacity to help push our culture forward. As I mentioned at the onset of this article, this journey is a learning process and sometimes we misapply these principles or values along the way. However, the consistent question that we ask and answer for ourselves, in deed.., is, "What are we doing about it?"

Peace,

Saladin

The Allah Team: Modern Day Gobots in a Transformers Universe

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 and kill all religion" and "And the Five Percenters, I'm teaching them that they can't go on under religion because religion 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 the unique 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