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Founder of the Cult
Dwight York, the founder of the Ansaru Allah cult, was born in New York on June 26, 1935. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he was involved in crime and drugs as a child, and after a series of run-ins with the cops, he was detained for a while in the early 1960s. -
Dwight York changes his name to Isa
Dwight York changed his name to Isa Abdullah and began inviting African-American youths to a black nationalist interpretation of Islam that he had concocted. Isa's version appealed to individuals who wanted to learn about Islam but couldn't get away from the strong nationalist feelings of the period. -
Dwight York accepts Islam
York is likely to have come into contact with Elijah Muhammad's and Noble Drew Ali's teachings while in prison. He traveled to the State Street Mosque in Brooklyn, New York, shortly after his release, and converted to Islam by another Black American convert, Luqman 'Abdul 'Aleem, in 1965. -
Start of Isa’s Cult
Isa was able to collect a small group of followers based on his racialist readings of the Bible and the Qur'an, and he publicly created his own cult, "Ansar Pure Sufi," in 1967. The cult's symbol was a green and black blouse and leggings with a star of David inside a crescent with an ankh (an ancient Egyptian emblem) inside the star. -
The Cult starts gaining popularity
After renting a building on Rockaway Avenue from December 1971 to December 1972 and another on St. John's Place in 1973, the group gained stability when it purchased a building on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn. To publicize Isa's ideas, the organization began publishing a newspaper on a regular basis and printing certain magazines authored by him. -
Isa keeps spreading travels and spreads his cult.
In 1973, Isa flew to Trinidad, a West Indian island where a substantial number of African-Americans had converted to Islam. Unfortunately, many Muslims of Indian ancestry who had been brought to the island by British colonists as indentured servants a century or more ago did not accept the new converts as brothers in faith. Some even went so far as to refuse to pray alongside the new converts, openly declaring Islam to be an Indian religion. -
Isa Abandons the cult and renames it once again.
He abandoned his movement's Black Muslim theology in favor of Kemetism and UFO religion in the late 1980s. In 1991, he and his community relocated to Upstate New York, then to Eatonton, Georgia, the county seat of Putnam County. His supporters created Tama-Re, an ancient Egypt-themed property, and renamed themselves the "United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors." -
York brings more followers through miracles.
York's repertoire has expanded to include miracles by 1985. In the tradition of Sathya Sai Baba, he would manifest sacred, healing ash in front of his disciples. -
York publishes books and spreads the message.
York released around 450 booklets (sometimes known as "scrolls") under a variety of aliases. During the late 1990s, he referred to himself as the movement's messianic founder-prophet, claiming divine rank or alien origin when he appeared at Tama-Re for his Savior's Day ceremonies. -
York finally gets arrested
After being indicted on 197 counts of child molestation, including charges of sex trafficking of kids over state boundaries, York was arrested in May 2002 and pleaded guilty to child sexual assault in 2003. Minors as young as eight years old were involved. He was taken away from his family and placed in prison. He was sentenced to 135 years in prison in 2004 for sexually abusing juveniles. -
York and his created cult continues to be supported
As of 2010, some elements of the Black supremacist subculture in the United States appeared to be supporting York, describing his conviction as a "White Power Structure" plot. York's lawyer, Malik Zulu Shabazz, chairman of the New Black Panther Party, called York "a wonderful leader of our people."