Russian FECRIS affiliates instigated for years a police repression of the group, which has started again in July 2022.
by Massimo Introvigne
Allya Ayat may well be the largest mass esoteric movement in the post-Soviet space. It is not well known in the West, although it has a German branch with more than one hundred followers, and smaller groups in other countries, while it has been a bête noire for Russian anti-cultists for several decades.
On July 18, 2022, in Novosibirsk, buildings where the group allegedly met were raided by the special police OMON, with one of the usual spectacular raids organized in several countries against “cults,” including masked officers and a generous display of weapons. On July 24, it was announced that members had been detained.
Allya Ayat (whose name is also transliterated as Al Ayat, Alla Ayat, or Elleh Ayat) was established in Kazakhstan in 1990 by an ethnic Uyghur called Farhat Mukhamedovich Abdullayev (1937–2007), who worked as a driver in a collective farm. Reportedly, after a car accident, he had a vision of the Archangel Jibril (Gabriel), the Angel of Quranic Revelation in Islam, and was appointed as “messenger of extra-terrestrial forces.”
Together with his wife, Nina Kasimova (1940–2017), they started gathering followers, first in Kazakhstan, then in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, as well as in other Central Asian countries under the name of Allya Ayat (Children of the Sun). Membership in the early 21st century reached at least 10,000, although the movement mentioned higher figures. In due course, it was revealed that Father Farhat and Mother Nina were the “True Parents” of a new humanity (whether they were aware of the use of the same expression in the Unification Church is unknown).
Allya Ayat’s literature vigorously insists that the movement “is not a religion” and welcome members of all religions, without criticizing any of them. What it proposes, it says, is “a method of self-healing and self-development.”
The basis of this method is the “Formula of Life and Love,” a sort of mantra in the Uyghur language that is revealed to the members. A possible transliteration is “Allya Nina ana Creator Farhat dada, allya ayat 37 40 6 8 10, allya Lyazzat Selenny, allya wigur ayat allya.”
Understanding its meaning is part of the movement’s esoteric path, but it affirms that the members become “children” (allya) of Father Farhat, born in (19)37, and Mother Nina, born in (19)40, and siblings of their six biological children, advancing towards the infinity (represented by the number 8) and the ultimate power of God (number 10). They also become children of the Sun and the “Star of Selene” (the Moon).
“The Star of Selene” is also the name of the movement’s magazine. Apart from including the True Parents’ teachings, each copy is in itself an esoteric artifact. Devotees believe that applying it to the body may heal some diseases and grant both physical and spiritual benefits.
By reciting the mantra, members attune themselves with Ayat, an energy flux coming from the Sun and ultimately from the Creator God. This energy cleanses the body and leads to enlightenment. The use of the mantra is supplemented by an exercise of contemplation of the sun and the drinking of a special brand of black tea.
The very success of Allya Ayat caught the attention of Kazakh and Russian anti-cultists. They insisted that the practices of the movement were hazardous to health, and mentioned cases where reportedly members had refused medical treatment relying on the recitation of the mantra only—which Allya Ayat representatives denied, while maintaining that chanting the mantra boosts the immune system and may solve certain health problems.
In 2009, Allya Ayat was banned in Kazakhstan and was no longer able to organize the large public international gatherings where some 10,000 devotees congregated each year. In Russia in 2013 Allya Ayat was declared an “extremist” organization and “liquidated” in the Novosibirsk region, following a campaign by the local branch of the Russian affiliate of FECRIS, the European Federation of Centers of Research and Information on Cults and Sects. In turn, the Samara Regional Court also declared Allya Ayat “extremist” and “liquidated” its local branch on May 28, 2019. Followers were arrested in other oblasts as well.
The authoritative SOVA Center for Information and Analysis characterized the “liquidation” decisions and the inclusion of Allya Ayat in the official list of Russian banned “extremist” groups as “unlawful.” While the SOVA Center agreed that instances where the movement reportedly discouraged members to seek necessary medical treatment may be legitimately investigated and lead to sanctions, the literature and teachings of the group are not “extremist” even by the broad standards of Russian law.
Nonetheless, in a climate where police action is fueled by anti-cult propaganda, Allya Ayat devotees who are not personally accused of any crime other than gathering and chanting the mantra continue to be indiscriminately persecuted, as the recent events in Novosibirsk confirm.