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2026-03-24T18:34:52Z

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{{Short description|New religious movement}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox organization
| logo = University of Cosmic Intelligence logo.png
| upright=1.2
| type = [[New religious movement]]
| location_country = United States
| leader_title = Founder
| leader_name = Rashad Jamal
| website = {{URL|https://theuci.online}}
}}

The '''University of Cosmic Intelligence''' (UCI) is an American [[new religious movement]] founded by rapper and convicted [[child molester]] Rashad Jamal. Described as a [[cult]], the UCI is primarily based on [[social media]] platforms like [[TikTok]] and [[YouTube]], and has a predominately [[African-American]] membership.

Jamal and the UCI have received media attention after followers of Jamal were linked to multiple murders and disappearances. In August 2023, Jamal was convicted of child molestation and cruelty to children and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

== Background and beliefs ==
The founder of the group, Rashad Jamal (also known as Rashad Jamal White) was and states he is originally from [[Chicago]].<ref name="missing">{{cite web |last1=Schneider |first1=Joey |title=Who is Rashad Jamal? Alleged cult leader tied to missing group behind bars in Georgia |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/rashad-jamal-alleged-cult-leader-193855132.html |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=yahoo.com |date=January 11, 2024 |publisher=[[Yahoo News]]}}</ref><ref name="alabama murders">{{cite web |last1=Merlan |first1=Anna |last2=Marchman |first2=Tim |title=Followers of Charismatic New Age Influencer Accused of Two Different Murders in Alabama |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/followers-of-charismatic-new-age-influencer-accused-of-two-different-murders-in-alabama/ |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=vice.com |date=August 31, 2022 |publisher=[[Vice Media|VICE]]}}</ref> Prior to founding the UCI, Jamal had an extensive criminal record that included convictions for [[Battery (crime)|battery]], [[strangulation]] and [[suffocation]] and was once charged with murder but not convicted.<ref name="suspects">{{cite web |last1=Merlan |first1=Anna |last2=Marchman |first2=Tim |date=2022-08-25 |title=Suspects in Bizarre 'Off-Grid' Alabama Shooting Posted About New Age Conspiracy Theories, Followed a Controversial Content Creator |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/suspects-in-bizarre-off-grid-alabama-shooting-posted-about-new-age-conspiracy-theories-followed-a-controversial-content-creator/ |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=[[Vice News]]}}</ref> Jamal, known as Divine Insight, claims to be a [[god]] sent to [[Earth]] to heal the planet and that [[black people|Black]] and [[Latino (demonym)|Latino]] people are gods whom he refers to as "carbonated beings".<ref name="child abuse">{{cite web |last1=Merlan |first1=Anna |title=An Online Prophet With a Huge Following Has Been Convicted of Child Abuse |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/an-online-prophet-with-a-huge-following-has-been-convicted-of-child-abuse/ |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=vice.com |date=August 21, 2023 |publisher=VICE}}</ref><ref name="online prophet">{{cite web |last1=Merlan |first1=Anna |date=2022-12-05 |title=An Online Prophet Claims to Be a God. His Followers Keep Getting Arrested. |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/an-online-prophet-clams-to-be-a-god-his-followers-keep-getting-arrested/ |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=[[Vice News]] |publisher=}}</ref><ref name="six followers">{{cite web |title=A self-proclaimed prophet built a 'spiritual cult' online. Now, six followers are missing |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/missouri-cult-rashad-jamal-followers-missing-b2475283.html |website=[[The Independent]] |access-date=October 21, 2024}}</ref> He has claimed he was sent "to enlighten and inform and increase the frequency of the planet, and to rid this planet of its parasitical invaders".<ref name="online prophet" /> Extraterrestrial beings play a large role in the group's belief system, and they refer to Earth as the planet Ki and to themselves as the Grand Cosmic Rising Family.<ref name="child abuse" />

Described as a [[cult]], the UCI is primarily based on [[social media]] platforms like [[TikTok]] and [[YouTube]], and has a predominately [[African-American]] membership.<ref name="j293">{{cite web |last=Quinn |first=Liam |date=2024-03-03 |title=Inside an Internet Cult: Missing Persons, Nude Meditation, Desperate Families |url=https://people.com/rashad-jamal-internet-cult-connects-six-missing-people-8601926 |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=People.com}}</ref><ref name="uci">{{cite news |last1=Luscombe |first1=Richard |date=16 January 2024 |title=Six people missing in Missouri in clutches of online cult, police say |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/16/missouri-people-missing-cult-rashad-jamal |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="o822">{{cite web |last1=Arshad |first1=Minnah |last2=Santucci |first2=Jeanine |date=2024-01-20 |title=6 who are missing may be tied to a cult. Did social media have a role? |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/20/cults-online-social-media-missing-people/72281211007/ |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=USA TODAY}}</ref> Beliefs of the group include that [[polygamy]] is essential for men, that the government is engaged in [[weather modification]] and efforts to shut off "stargates" to alternate dimensions,<ref name="online prophet"/> and that [[African Americans]] are "true" [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] instead of being descended from enslaved Africans.<ref name="online prophet" /><ref name="slavery">{{cite web |last1=Settles |first1=Gabrielle |title='Spiritual cult' leader Rashad Jamal also spreads disinformation about slavery |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/01/20/rashad-jamal-spreads-false-claims-about-african-heritage-fact-check/72273532007/ |website=[[USA Today]] |access-date=October 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name="c736">{{cite web | last=Settles | first=Gabrielle | title=Rashad Jamal spreads false claims about African heritage | website=USA TODAY | date=2024-01-20 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/01/20/rashad-jamal-spreads-false-claims-about-african-heritage-fact-check/72273532007/ | access-date=2024-10-22}}</ref> The group promotes [[conspiracy theories]], [[anti-vaccinationism]] and [[sovereign citizen]]-style beliefs.<ref name="child abuse"/> Among Jamal's stranger beliefs are that [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] players are synthetic [[robot]]s and that [[Birds Aren't Real|birds don't exist]] but are government tracking devices.<ref name="child abuse" /><ref name="online prophet" />

Jamal and the UCI claim to be exempt from United States laws. Extremism researchers have linked Jamal and the UCI's beliefs to the [[sovereign citizen movement]], the [[Moorish sovereign citizens|Moorish movement]] and the [[Nuwaubian Nation]].<ref name="online prophet" /> ''[[The Guardian]]'' described Jamal's teaching as combining "[[New Age mysticism]], polygamy and [[Afrocentrism|Afrocentric]] and [[black nationalist]] ideas".<ref name="h327">{{cite web | last=Conroy | first=J Oliver | title=Two women allegedly lured a driver to death. They may be part of a fringe sect | website=the Guardian | date=2022-09-11 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/11/alabama-women-lured-driver-death-university-of-cosmic-intelligence | access-date=2024-10-22}}</ref> Jamal has a combined social media following of more than 300,000.<ref name="uci" /> His online platform sells videos of his lectures as well as [[crystal]]s and jewelry.<ref name="child abuse" /> He has held mass [[meditation]] events across the country.<ref name="alabama murders" />

== Incidents ==
The group has been linked to several crimes and arrests, including multiple murders and disappearances.<ref name="alabama murders" /><ref name="missing" /><ref name="online prophet" /> The organization itself does not advocate for murder or violence.<ref name="child abuse" /><ref name="h327" /><ref name="u644">{{cite web |last1=Cann |first1=Christopher |last2=Santucci |first2=Jeanine |last3=Fine |first3=Camille |last4=Arshad |first4=Minnah |date=2024-01-18 |title=University of Cosmic Intelligence cult followers still missing |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/18/university-of-cosmic-intelligence-cult-disappearances-police-say/72257648007/ |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=USA TODAY}}</ref> On January 16, 2022, 23-year-old Damien Washam of [[Eight Mile, Alabama]], murdered his mother with a [[ninja]] sword and also attacked his brother and uncle. Washam's father Hubert blamed Jamal's videos for the murder, stating that Damien had begun watching Jamal's videos a few weeks before the murder and that his behavior suddenly changed and he began expressing bizarre beliefs.<ref name="alabama murders" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Koplowitz |first1=Howard |title=Alabama man accused of killing mother with sword fascinated by Egyptian gods, TikTok conspiracy theorist |url=https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/alabama-man-accused-of-killing-mother-with-sword-fascinated-by-egyptian-gods-tiktok-conspiracy-theorist.html |website=al.com |date=January 21, 2022 |publisher=[[AL.com]] |access-date=October 21, 2024}}</ref> Washam was found not guilty by reason of insanity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kulo |first1=Warren |title=Mobile County man accused of killing mother with sword found not guilty by reason of insanity |url=https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/mobile-county-man-accused-of-killing-mother-with-sword-found-not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity.html |website=al.com |date=September 25, 2023 |access-date=October 21, 2024}}</ref>

In August 2022, two female followers of Jamal named Krystal Pinkins and Yasmine Hider were arrested for the August 14 murder of [[University of Central Florida]] (UCF) student Adam Simjee. Simjee and his girlfriend Mikayla Paulus were driving through [[Cheaha State Park]] in [[Alabama]] when they stopped to help Hider, who claimed her car wouldn't start. Hider than pulled a gun on the couple and demanded that they follow her into the forest. Simjee pulled his own gun and shot Hider who shot Simjee back, killing him. Hider was arrested at the scene of the shooting and law enforcement located and arrested Pinkins a few hours later at an [[off-the-grid]] camp in the forest, where the two women had been living. During Pinkins' arrest, her 5-year-old son pointed a [[shotgun]] at officers.<ref name="suspects" /><ref name="w759">{{cite web | title=The missing people with ties to online cult 'don't want to be found,' police say | website=NBC News | date=2024-01-17 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missing-people-ties-online-cult-led-rashad-jamal-dont-want-found-polic-rcna134169 | access-date=2024-10-23}}</ref> In January 2024, Hider was sentenced to 35 years in prison while Pinkins received a life sentence.<ref name="sentenced">{{cite web |title=2 women 'living off the grid' in Talladega National Forest sentenced for murder of college student during attempted robbery |url=https://www.wvtm13.com/article/cheaha-state-park-murder-alabama-talladega/46291439 |website=wvtm13.com |date=January 5, 2024 |publisher=[[WVTM]] |access-date=October 21, 2024}}</ref>

In August 2023, six people from the [[St. Louis]] area, two of them young children, disappeared from a [[Quality Inn]] in [[Florissant, Missouri]]. The four adults of the group are all followers of Jamal and law enforcement have connected their disappearance to Jamal's encouragement to his followers to go off-the-grid and cut off contact with their families.<ref name="six followers" /> According to the [[Berkeley, Missouri|Berkeley]] police department, the people in question had quit their jobs, become increasingly isolated from family, and been seen engaging in nude meditation outdoors before their disappearance.<ref name=uci/><ref name="o822"/>

In August 2023, Jamal was convicted of child molestation and cruelty to children in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] for sexually abusing a ten-year-old girl.<ref name="j293"/><ref name="child abuse" /> He was sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by 22 years of [[probation]].<ref name="child abuse" /> Jamal's victim was the child of his former partner Darshell Smith, with whom he has a son. Smith stated that Jamal frequently subjected her and her children to screaming rants and that she received harassment from his followers after she disclosed the abuse to law enforcement.<ref name="online prophet" /> Some of Jamal's followers continue to support him despite his conviction, maintaining Jamal's innocence and regarding his conviction and imprisonment as part of a deliberate plot to silence his teachings. After his conviction, UCI social media pages implored followers to continue to send Jamal money.<ref name="child abuse" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Sovereign citizen movement]]
[[Category:New Age organizations]]
[[Category:Black supremacy]]
[[Category:Ancient astronaut speculation]]
[[Category:Anti-white racism in the United States]]
[[Category:Religious belief systems founded in the United States]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 2020s]]

University of Cosmic Intelligence - Revision history

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