The Nation of Gods and Earths, sometimes referred to as NGE or NOGE, the Five-Percent Nation, or the Five Percenters is an American organization founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by Clarence 13X (born Clarence Edward Smith), a former student of Malcolm X, who left his mosque because he disagreed with the Nation of Islam over the nature and identity of God (Allah). Members of the organization call themselves Five Percenters, which reflects their belief that ten percent of the people of the world know the truth of existence, and those elites opt to keep 85 percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb. The remaining percentage are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the rest. They are the Five Percent Nation.
Initially, the Nation of Gods and Earths was viewed as little more than an off-shoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI). However, while the Nation of Gods and Earths has been characterized as an organization, an institution, a religion, or even a gang, representatives of the Nation teach that Islam is a natural way of living. The New York City areas of Harlem ("Mecca") and Brooklyn ("Medina") are named after notable Islamic cities by members of the organization. Other areas include Detroit (D-Mecca), New Jersey (New Jerusalem), Chicago (C-Medina), Queens (the Desert), Connecticut (New Heaven), and Dallas (the Sudan).
The Nation of Gods and Earths teaches that black people are the original people of the planet Earth, and therefore they are the fathers (Gods) and mothers (Earths) of civilization. The Nation believes that the science of Supreme Mathematics is the key to understanding man's relationship to the universe. The Nation does not believe in a traditional God but instead believes that the Asiatic Blackman is God and his proper name is Allah, an acronym for Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head. As stated in an article by Naeem Mohaiemen, Five Percenters were the innovators behind early hip-hop slang, including "'sup, G?" (originally "G" means God, not gangsta), "Word is bond," "Break it down," "Peace," "droppin' science," and "represent."
Read more about Nation Of Gods And Earths: Founding, Customs, In Popular Culture, Notable Current and Former Members and Associates of The Five Percent Nation
Famous quotes containing the words nation and/or gods:
“We live in a highly industrialized society and every member of the Black nation must be as academically and technologically developed as possible. To wage a revolution, we need competent teachers, doctors, nurses, electronics experts, chemists, biologists, physicists, political scientists, and so on and so forth. Black women sitting at home reading bedtime stories to their children are just not going to make it.”
—Frances Beale, African American feminist and civil rights activist. The Black Woman, ch. 14 (1970)
“Man, dreame no more of curious mysteries,
As what was here before the world was made,
The first Mans life, the state of Paradise,
Where heaven is, or hell’s eternall shade,
For Gods works are like him, all infinite;
And curious search, but craftie sinnes delight.”
—Fulke Greville (1554–1628)