Ayah Pin

Real name: Ariffin Mohamed
Gender: Male
Nationality: Malaysian
Marital status: Married, 4 wives
Religion: Sky Kingdom, renounced Islam in 2001
Unnatural experiences: 1953, he became seriously ill and claimed that an angel visited him. 20 years later, the angel returned and Ayah Pin started his religion.

Ayah Pin claims that he has direct contact with the heavens, and also happens to be reincarations of Buddha, Shiva, Jesus and Muhammad. He is also thought to return as Imam Mahdi by his followers. His followers consider him the king of the sky, and the supreme object of devotion for all religions.

Ayah Pin's religion supposedly promotes inter-religious harmony.

He accepts the existence of angels and believes in Malaysian 'forest fairies' called Orang Bunian. A major focus in his religion is spitirual healing as well as interpretation of dreams

His compound has structures that are symbolic of the cult's ideology. A 2 story high cream colored teapot and a blue vase (seen in picture above) cost RM45 million and the teapot represent the purity of water and the outpouring of love from the heavens. Apparently, this symbol came about through the interpretations of his follower's dream. He believes that God uses a vessel to shower his blessings onto mankind.
First time visitors to the complex have to drink 'holy' water from the vase that is continuously filled by the teapot.

A large yellow umbrella offers shelter beneath God and is associated with the nine planets in Hinduism.

Sessions are conducted on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. According to a witness, the sessions began with a special ritual whereby followers would usher Ayah Pin from the main building to a concrete boat in the compound in which he would lie. His followers would then start chanting for him until 4:00 am. After this ritual, a lengthy question-and-answer period will take place, with Ayah Pin seated on a dais facing an audience. Hymns would also be sung during the session.

The Sharia court accused him of contravening Section 25 of the Administration of Islamic Religious Affairs 1986, stating that his teachings and beliefs were false, deviant, corrupting and threatening to the public peace. He pleaded guilty to the charge of "belittling Islam" and was jailed for 11 months and fined RM 2,900. The Religious Affairs Office hoped that Ariffin's arrest would prevent the movement's growth, however Sky Kingdom continued to attract new followers from among university students and the Indigenous people.

On July 18, 2005, a group of masked vigilantes attacked the group's headquarters, smashing windows and torching buildings.Two days later, 58 followers were arrested, three of Ariffin's four wives were also arrested.

Ariffin escaped arrest and remains at large. Forty-five members face charges of failing to observe the government's fatwa i.e. for continuing to be members of a sect declared as deviant, which carries a fine up to RM 3,000 or two years in prison. One of those arrested faced an additional charge of "humiliating Islam" (for claiming not to be a Muslim). Malaysian constitution.

On August 1, 2005, officials of the Besut Land Office destroyed Sky Kingdom's various buildings, citing Section 129 of the National Land Code (which punishes unauthorized construction with land confiscation). The titular landowner is Ariffin's first wife, who apparently failed to appear in court for a hearing on the matter. On September 1, 2005, at a hearing, a trial date for 45 followers accused of violating the government fatwa was set for three days beginning December 18 this year.

As of 2007, after wide media coverage, the original Hulu Besut commune, now down to 24 members, had reportedly chosen a new leader—a former police chief inspector in his 30s. The group is suspicious of visitors, and routinely turns out the commune's lights whenever a car approaches at night, in order not to be found.

Taken from Wikipedia