Nuwaubians

Framing

Scattered academic attention has begun to focus on the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. I personally know but little of the group, and that little bit came through connections in NRM studies and modest reading of news clippings. However, I think this is a group worth considering in this context because it provides yet another example of how people use UFOs and aliens in their religious systems. And it's sort of exotic, even for UFO groups, in its idiosyncratic amalgam of elements from Islam, Judaism, black nationalism, and ancient astronaut writings.

For what little I do know I wish to thank: Elizabeth Mazucci of Columbia University and Kofi Ada-Re of Manchester University for graciously sharing their work on the Nuwaubians; the late Jeffrey Hadden of the University of Virginia, J. Gordon Melton of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, and Massimo Introvigne of the Center for Studies on New Religions for their advice; and my respondents from the NUREL-L listserve for their suggestions.

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Brief History

Cosmological image from member's website

I have drawn on news sources, Nuwaubian affiliated websites, and Elizabeth Mazucci's research for this historical sketch. You can go to the bibliography below to see a selection of my sources, or go to UNNM pages to order "scrolls." (Note: Nuwaupic, the language taught to members, is similar to Arabic in having long and short vowels. Read any double vowels as long vowels.)

The history of the Nuwaubian Nation begins in 1967. In that year Dwight York set up the Ansaar Pure Sufi organization in Brooklyn, NY, as a Sufi answer to the Nation of Islam. York called himself Imaam Issa (later adding Muhammad). The Ansaars are an ethnic group in Sudan to whom the Imaam claimed affiliation. At least one member links the advent of the group to a (portentous) cosmic event, namely the 16 March 1970 appearance of Comet Bennett (which was later claimed to be the Imam's ride from outer space). From the beginning there was a strong entrepreneurial drive: the group opened a bookstore and a series of businesses. Its doctrinal pillars were communal living, Afrocentric garb, and Arabic education. Group headquarters moved around the several boroughs of New York City through the 1970s.

A major shake-up occurred in 1972, after York returned from (ostensibly) visiting the Ansaars. Prior to this, tensions over group leadership and the management of the businesses had come to a head. York purged the Ansaar Pure Sufi community of members who were only "playing" at being Muslim. He renamed it the Ansaaru Allah Community, a name it kept until 1992. Near as I can tell, this also marked a shift toward the more Egyptophilic, eclectic Islam for which the Nuwaubians are now known. From then through the 1980s, energy and capital were invested even more into their businesses, including a recording studio York owned (from his former incarnation as a member of the R-and-B group "Passion"). A second major event came in 1992, when York/Muhammad took his group to Sullivan County in the Catskills for a brief period of what he called "testing." They emerged with a new designation as Lodge 19 of "the Ancient Mystical Order of Melchizedek," and a newly-renamed leader--Malachi Z. York. Mazucci (2002) and Haddad (1993) suggest this was when mounting tensions with more mainstream Muslims came to a head and York made his definitive break from "institutional Islam."

Not long after the testing experience, in 1993, the Nuwaubians purchased 476 acres of farmland on Highway 142 in rural Putnam County GA. York's family was said by one source within the group to have come from Georgia, though he lived in Massachusetts and New York. (The site was supposedly close to an Indian holy site called Rock Eagle.) There between 150 and 400 members have built an "Egyptian-based recreational village" called Tama-Re complete with pyramids, obelisks, statues of Egyptian gods, and a "Nile Road" down the middle of the property. By the time Tama-Re was underway, York had delegated the day-to-day leading and public relations duties to others, principally Marshall Chance. The group began to host "Savior's Day" festivals every June. They also continued their entrepreneurial ways, attempting to start a number of businesses. This is in part what caused the group to lock horns with their neighbors and the local government, as we will see below.

After several tempestuous years, local news sources reported that the group had put their Putnam Co. land up for sale in February of 2000, seeking a new headquarters in Athens, GA. This move did not go over well with their new host community, to the extent that most members remained on the Putnam County property. York was then hit with a series of legal obstacles, culminating in his arrest on accusations of child molestation. The trial, drawn out by appeals, ended in a 2004 conviction, with York sentenced to over 100 years in prison. Since the trial and the 2005 sale of the compound, group members have mainly departed, although they continue to meet and to maintain a web presence.

Cosmology

Since I have not immersed myself deeply in the large amounts of material available straight from the Nuwaubians, I will base this sketch of Nuwaubian cosmology on public explanations from Nuwabian websites and sociological works. But even a sketch ought to be enough to illustrate, first, why they should appear here and, second, why their neighbors and the media got worked up about a "UFO cult" in rural Georgia.

The first basic principle is that African Americans (unbeknowst to most of them) are actually native Americans who crossed over from Nubia in the distant past. They have been kept unaware of this fact by the "Spell of Kingu" (or "Leviathan") cast by earthly religion, media, and schools.

York claims to be "a being from the 19th galaxy called Illyuwn...what you would call an extra-terrestrial [or] extra terra-astral...an angelic being, an Eloheem from the 8th planet called Rizq" (scroll 82). His mission is "to save the children of the Eloheem ([or] Annunaqi) from being killed as you bring your planet near to what could be its total destruction" (scroll #80). He has appeared in a number of avatars, among them Murdoq and Yamasee Chief Black Eagle.

His race, the Annunaki, "have been coming to this planet [since] before it had your [human] life form on it." They are in fact responsible for the creation of human life and civilization, not to mention the periodic visits of teachers like York. Yaanuwn led the first mission to Earth. "His job was to teach what are called the minorities, to take them through their earthly history, and back to their universal history," a job now fulfilled by York (scroll 82, p.80). Scientists from the planet Rizq created human beings and civilization more than 50,000 years ago. Prince Ea and Princess Ninhursag, figures in the Sumerian pantheon, were the principal geneticists. Their greatest products were the Cushites, or Nuwuabu. The Nuwaubu have the potential to become gods and commune with the Annunaki if they follow the teachers they are sent. The Annunaki will soon return to institute a Golden Age; many estimates focused on 2003. What are called UFOs are actually IFOs of the Annunaki and other higher races.

This creation story also explains where the other races came from, and why they treat the Nuwaubians the way they do. Rebellious Annunaki created most other human races and their idolatrous religions. For instance, "[t]he pale race is originally from Pleiades, Aldebaran and Europa" and is aligned with the biblical serpent and represented by the pentagram and the number 666 (scroll 360, p.111). There also exist evil beings (cherubim, demons) that can invade and manipulate human brains (scroll 360, p. 112). The grey aliens of contemporary lore "are really a crossbreed between humans and reptilian species....The Greys are being used as slaves by the reptilians" (scroll 136, pp. 43-4). The pale race, though inferior, works for the evil Annunaki within powerful earthly institutions.

Nuwaubian teachings focus on "facts" (i.e., the opposite of the "myths" of most systems of thought) and research--a combination referred to in several sources as "Factology." York is often quoted approvingly by members as saying "Don't believe me; check it out for yourself," encouraging Nuwaubians to question received wisdom and the status quo. Belief, the basis of all other religious systems, is bad since it is based on (subjective, changeable) trust rather than truth. He writes that "it is my job to reform all the false teachings that had been taught to Nubians in the west and restore Islaam to its pristine purity (sic)." Elsewhere, however, he amends that by saying he "used the Islamic religion to hide behind so I could give you what you wanted, so you would learn to want what I have to give, and now the time is 'NOW' right to teach you 'Nuwaubu' the right knowledge (scroll 82, p.81)."

The three pillars of Nuwaubian teaching are Right Knowledge, Right Wisdom, and Right "Overstanding," the last term denoting a way of knowing not subjugated by temporal authorities, as conventional "under-standing" is. Knowledge is properly ordered and sequenced facts. Wisdom is knowing how to correctly use truth and power, mutually implicating forces. The UNNM system accounts for five stages of mind, seven chakras, five "touch-based" senses and four "perception-based (i.e. telepathic) senses" that are all involved in acquiring knowledge. Also, humans are said to have "360 degrees of what is called will. When the 180 degrees of agreeable overcomes the 180 degrees of disagreeable, that person takes steps towards becoming an ELOHEEM and even an Etherian but on a lower level because he only has 360 degrees not 720 degrees like the ANNUNAQI (scroll 82, p.18)."

The Nuwaubian cosmos is composed of seven interpenetrating planes or vibrational levels, rather than this world of the senses alone (scroll 81). They are, in ascending order: the material plane; the plane of force; the spiritual plane; the mental plane; the plane of divine truth; the plane of divine reality; and the "bosom of El Eloh." Each has seven subplanes, each of which has their own seven subplanes (for 343 total, if you're keeping count). Because humans are missing what York refers to as the "barathary gland" they are limited to thinking and acting within the three dimensions of the lowest plane (scroll 82, pp. 80-1). However, Nuwabu are supposed to work to break out of those confines by gaining knowledge of the cosmos and their true nature, ultimately seeking union with "The All."

Media Profile

My first exposure to the group was through a television tabloid show exposé of their supposed connection to a paramilitary training center actor Wesley Snipes sought to build right next door. Further reading in the news media has turned up other sensational tidbits, like York's three-year prison term in the mid-1960s for assault, resisting arrest, and weapons possession. News reports emphasize the various legal contests the group has gotten into with the Putnam County government. In late 2004 York was convicted on multiple counts of child sexual abuse and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. I will delve into the government issue because it intersects with another section of this site on the relations between NRMs and the government.

It must be borne in mind that members from York on down have expressed the desire and intention to form an autonomous political entity. The group has issued its own passports and licenses, and has contested the jurisdiction of local government and laws over them. They have also gotten involved in local politics in highly controversial ways. These factors help make a little more sense out of the severity and duration of their legal clashes.

The first and most involved conflict centered on construction on Nuwaubian property. In addition to residential and worship facilities, the group tried to develop more entrepreneurial facilities: a taxi service; a bookstore; a health food store; a restaurant; a recording studio; and even a "Club Ramses." The lots were not zoned for anything other than residence and farming, and they frequently did not seek the proper permits for buildings of those types. So they were ordered to stop building and, in several cases, had their buildings padlocked on court order until they were either brought up to code or returned to uses for which they were zoned.

Conflicts ballooned outward from there. The county sued to have building stopped, holding York in contempt of court until he showed up to work things out with the zoning and building board. One member was convicted of passing forged documents to the county building and zoning board. The group was investigated for allegedly hacking into county computers and attempting to influence local elections illegally. Nuwaubians accused local authorities including the county sheriff of racism, citing members being dropped from voter rolls for no seemingly good reason and the difficulties they claimed to have in securing even conventional building permits. Federal mediators were brought in to help work out a settlement, which the Georgia Bureau of Investigation came to oversee. Of course, when they try to move, as they have recently to Augusta, this history of conflict precedes them.

Given all this, we will now consider the effects of the Nuwaubian Nation on life in the county. In the time of most media scrutiny and legal hassles, around 150 members lived at Tama-Re and 300-400 lived close by. There are only 17,000 residents in Putnam County, about one-third of them black. Remember that most Nuwaubians are from urban areas "up north" or elsewhere, and have only resided in Putnam County for several years at most. Unlike the case of Chen Tao, which was reclusive in a large impersonal suburb, UNNM was politically active in a rural area where they form a significant part of the population. (One article claims Nuwaubians made up a large chunk of the local NAACP.) However, much like Chen Tao and other media-engaged NRMs, the group brought news media scrutiny to an area whose residents did not appreciate it. They have also inspired conflict with leaders of mainline denominations, as much for their political machinations as for the affront their beliefs posed.

Comparative Issues

To continue the comparative approach implicit in the last paragraph, there are three issues on which I think it is useful to compare and contrast UNNM with other NRMs. First is with other groups using UFOs religiously. The Nuwaubian amalgam of UFOs, Islam, and Egypt/Sumer is fairly idiosyncratic, though it draws on so-called "ancient astronaut" literature (especially the work of Semiticist Zechariah Sitchin). The idea that a race of extraterrestrials served as creator deities also resonates with ideas of the International Raëlian Movement and Heaven's Gate. The imminent return of these alien deities is shared with the Raëlians, the Unarians, and the group studied by Festinger et al. in the 1950s. York's professed alien origin is comparable to the self-portrayals of Ti and Do of Heaven's Gate and Uriel of Unarius. And the insistence that members of the religious community are (potentially) divine parallels the doctrines of Chen Tao and the Ralians.

The second group of NRMs germane for comparison is that of Afrocentrist and black nationalist groups in the US. York contends that blacks are bamboozled by the powers that be, and that he offers a source of and connection to the liberating divine truth. In this he can be compared with the founders of the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple, both of whom built their missions on similar contentions, and from whom York appears to have adopted theological and rhetorical elements. The group offers the same restricted inclusiveness as black nationalists--blacks, though facing discrimination with other minorities, are the chosen people. It also deals in a theologically affirmative manner with science and technology, as do both the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple. (In fact, there is an intriguing UFO connection to the Nation of Islam, which can occasionally be glimpsed in their newsletter "The Final Call.")

We can also hold UNNM up to NRMs that I have elsewhere called "technospiritualities" for their engagement of science and technology in the service of a religious system. They have a scientistic emphasis on empiricism, skepticism, and investigation that should align them with science. But, as with other technospiritualities, that scientism is combined with the acceptance of givens of doctrine and practice that conflict with conventional scientific practice. This doesn't stop Nuwaubians from talking of divine science and technology to which they can have access through spiritual preparation. On the interface of spirit and technology, we can compare them with Chen Tao, but also with the Raëlians and Aetherius, and even with Scientology. Also, judging by the number of Nuwaubian websites, the group has a high comfort level with new communications technologies that is characteristic of technospiritualities.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Malachi York has privately published a huge number of works outlining Nuwaubian cosmology and practice, more than I would want to reproduce here. Complete catalogs are available from several bookstores as well as via the Factology website. I have chosen to list off only some representative works. Following the primary sources is a short list of news articles. You can get at some of these by going to the cited periodicals' websites. Finally, for comparative purposes, I have included a selection of works on related NRMs like the Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam.

'Right Knowledge' series

'Christ' series

'God' series

UFO and Extraterrestrial scrolls

Scriptural scrolls

'Question & Answer' series

Holy Tabernacle Ministries ceremony scrolls

'Truth' bulletins

Debates and discussions

The Paleman and his society

Miscellaneous scrolls

You should be able to purchase the scrolls from these outlets, if they are still in business:

Holy Tabernacle Ministries Holy Tabernacle Book Store Holy Tabernacle Book Store
P.O. Box 4490 504 West 42nd Street 717 Bushwick Avenue
Eatonton GA 31024 Savannah GA 31401 Brooklyn NY 11221
(912) 233-8146

Secondary Sources

Investigative and Polemical Works

If they had not contacted me, I would have been completely unaware of both Elizabeth Mazucci's paper and Kofi Ada-Re's dissertation on the Nuwaubians of Putnam County. Aside from the Philips book, the other sources consider the Nuwaubians within the context of other religious groups.

News Reports

There has been a lot of ink spilled in local papers on the various legal battles in which the Nuwaubian Nation have become involved, which range from zoning conflicts over some of the group's construction projects to accusations of direct meddling in local elections and child molestation. I only offer what I think will be easily accessible and moderately informative, in chronological order.

Comparative Sources

Not all of the following are terribly recent, but they should provide interesting points of comparison to the Nuwaubians, sociologically, historically, and theologically.

Links

There are plenty of affiliated and unofficial Nuwaubian sites to consult, including the Holy Tabernacle Ministries website (the umbrella organization). There are also several news services that maintain a backlog of stories on the group.

Members and Affiliates

Surveys and Critiques

Journalistic and Scholarly Sources

cau 3.0 | © 2001-06 ryan j cook, phd | last modified: 2005.12.31