Father Allah, who was also known as Clarence 13X, was the founder of the 5 Percent Nation of Gods and Earths. The leader, a former Nation of Islam member, formed the cultural movement back in 1964. Father Allah was known to be outspoken and often offered his insight on culture and society.

There have been different reports about why Father Allah left the NOI and the Muslim religion.

During an interview in 1967 with journalist Barry Gottehrer, who is credited with helping elect Republican John V. Lindsay as mayor of New York City in 1965, Father Allah spoke of being neither pro-Black nor anti-white.

Father Allah pointed out that his words were sometimes used against him.

“The people been taking advantage of me ever since I said I was Allah. And I know when I said I was Allah, the Muslim whole world was what? Against me. I don’t care,” he said, and added, “And now they really against me because I’m not anti-white nor pro-black. They really against me because everybody is, is against the white. Well let me show you something. Who is man if he ain’t man? Tell me!”

According to the 2011 book “Why I Am a Five Percenter” by Michael Muhammad Knight, Father Allah made similar statements before. Knight studied Islam at a madrassa in Pakistan, the Allah School in Harlem, and Harvard University.

Knight wrote that Father Allah once said, “I know when I said I was Allah, the Mus- the whole world was what? Against me. I don’t care. And now they really against me because I’m not anti-white nor pro-Black…Anybody can be a Five Percenter, white I don’t care who they are, can be a Five Percenter.”

He continued, “Because a Five Percenter is one that is civilized. By recognizing that white people are devils, the white Five Percenter can be less of a devil that other whites, and for many black gods, not a devil at all.”

So what did Father Allah mean when he said he was not pro-Black nor anti-white?

“The Father, Allah, in making the statement that he was not pro-Black or anti-white is that he defined people based on the content of their character,” Saladin Allah, Region 6 Representative of the Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths, told Moguldom Nation. “Regardless of what we look like and how we racially identify, it is our ways and actions and how we treat our human family members, especially the most vulnerable among us, that determine who we are.”

Saladin Allah is the founder of the Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters; a school-age phrontistery designed to teach and train youth in the growth, development, and control of their powers. He is also the author of 23 books; five are part of a Curatorial Activism archive in the British Library. He is a featured historian in the 2019 IMAX film ‘Into America’s Wild’ narrated by Morgan Freeman, and a featured historian in the 2020 award-winning docuseries ‘Enslaved’, executive produced by and starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Saladin is a featured educator in a 2022 United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery video, a featured historian in ‘Secrets on the Boarder’; The Nature of Things CBC documentary directed by Adrian Callendar, and a producer/featured historian of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval Park exhibit and documentary Two Wars: The Road to Integration.

Saladin Allah continued to explain Father Allah’s statements, adding, “Allah was clearly aware that the dominant society historically fostered a pro-white and anti-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) point of view within its legal policies, institutions, and inequitable distribution of resources. Thus he advocated a civilized perspective along ethical lines; encouraging the youth to assess things from a pro-righteous and anti-devilishment point of view.”

Portrait of Clarence 13X hanging in the Allah School, located in Harlem.