Muslim Opposition to Freemasonry

Author(s): Jacob M. Landau

Source: Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 36, Issue 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 186-203
Published by: BRILL
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MUSLIM OPPOSITION TO FREEMASONRY

BY

JACOBM.LANDAU
Jerusalem

a. Introduction1

manifested
Expressedin variousways,oppositionto freemasonry
itselfin certainareas of the MuslimEast and the Balkansnot long
afteritsintroduction
there.Verbaland writtenattackson freemacontinued
sonry
sporadically
throughoutthe nineteenthand twentiethcenturies,not unexpectedly
focusingon thoseregionswhere
to
make
seemed
freemasonry
headway.This paper willattemptto
describesome ofthemoresalientfeaturesofoppositionto freemasonryin the MuslimEast and to analyzethe main causes forthese
hostileattitudes.For betterunderstanding,
we shall startwithan
in the area discussed;
account of the backgroundof freemasonry
ofspace.
thiswillbe brief,due to limitations
b. TheBackground2

While the literatureproduced by freemasons,about themand

against them,is quite considerable,a comprehensivehistoryof
1 This is an
expanded versionof a paper read at the SeventhInternational

Congress on the Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire,

Heidelberg,July1995. I am gratefulto ProfessorWernerEnde forseveralimportantbibliographicalreferences.
2 Bibliographicalinformation
on freemasonry
in the Ottoman Empire and
the Arab East maybe consultedin J.M. Landau, "Farmsianiyya,"
EI2, Supplement,s.v.To thisone shouldadd thefollowingitems:RobertMorris,Freemasonry
in theHolyLand,N.Y.,MasonicPublishingCompany,1872 (reprintedN.Y.,Arno
au XIXesiicle:Etudesd'histoire
Press, 1977). ClaudioJannet,La Franc-Maponnerie
Avignon,Seguin Freres, n.d. [1881], pp. 603-615. Albert G.
contemporaine,
revisedediand Its KindredSciences,
Mackay,ed., An Encyclopaedia
ofFreemasonry
tion,N.Y. and London,The MasonicHistoricCompany,1919,vol. 2, p. 809. Mason tarihinebir bakts,Istanbul,Ozkarde? MahfiliNegriyat,1934. Bernard H.
Springett,SecretSectsofSyriaand theLebanon,London, Allen and Unwin,1922,
Freimaurerpp. 270-274, 341. Eugen Lennhoff& Oskar Posner, Internationales
lexikon,Zfirich,AmaltheaVerlag, n.d. [1932], cols. 1603-1607. Haydar Rifat,
Istanbul, TefeyyrizKitabhanesi,1934, pp. 204-257. Izzet Nuri
Farmasonluk,
? E.J.Brill,Leiden, 1996

Die WeltdesIslams36, 2

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

187

The main reain Muslimlands has stillto be written.

freemasonry
son appears to be the reluctanceof freemasonicorganizationsto
let otherswitnesstheirsecretritesor to publishmaterialswhich
in theOttomanEmmightbe used againstthembytheirdetractors
pire,and,later,ArabEast.
thepaucityof reliablesources,it seemsthatorNotwithstanding
was continuouslyoperativein Muslimcounganizedfreemasonry
Istanbul,Yagmur
Giin & Yalcin eliker,Masonlukve masonlar:"isimler,
belgeler,"
in
Yayinlari,1968, esp. pp. 17-59. A.A. Kudsi-Zadeh,"Afghaniand Freemasonry
vol. 92, no. 1, 1972, pp. 23-35.
OrientalSociety,
Egypt,"Journalof theAmerican
EnverNecdet Egeran, Gercek
masonluk,
n.p., 1972. Rudolfvon Sebottenyiiziiyle
4thed., Freiburgim Br.,Bauer,
Freimaurer,
dorf,Diegeheime
dertiirkischen
Ubungen
in theArabWorld,
1977. Najdat FathiSafwat,Freemasonry
London, Arab Research
e la francCentre, 1980 (also in Arabic). Paul Naudon, Histoiregenrale de
Paris, Presses Universitairesde France, 1981, pp. 215-216. Paul
mafonnerie,
Dumont,"La Turquie dans les archivesdu Grand Orient de France: les loges
magonniquesd'obedience francaisea Istanbuldu milieu du XIXe siecle a la
etsocietis
dansl'empire
ottoman
veillede la premiereguerremondiale,"in: Economie
(findu XVIIP-dibut du XX"siicle,Paris,Editionsdu CentreNational de la Redu CNRS, no. 601), pp.
chercheScientifique,1983 (= Colloques Internationaux
'
d'obedience franCaise Salonique au d6but
171-201.Id., "La Franc-maConnerie
du XXe siecle," Turcica,vol. 16, 1984, pp. 65-94. MuhammadMfas al-Nabhani,
al-maisini
n.p., 1984. ByronD. Cannon,
al-sahyfini
fi al-watanal-'Arabi,
"Nineteenth
al-Nah1t, CenturyArabicWritingon Womenand Society:The InterimRole of
theMasonicPressin Cairo (al-Latd'if,1885-1895),"International
JournalofMiddle
East Studies,
vol. 17, no. 4, Nov. 1985, pp. 463-484. RobertOlson, "The Young
vol. 18, 1986,pp. 219-235.1lhamiSoysal,Diinyadave
Turksand theJews,"Turcica,
masonlukve masonlar,4th ed., Istanbul,Dar Yayinlan, 1988. Irene
Titrkiye'de
vol. 10,
"NamikKemal'inBe?iktaShlig
ve masonlugu,"Tarihve Toplum,
M6likoff,
Isno. 60, 1988,pp. 17-19. A. Nevzad Odyakmaz,Besiktasilsk,
masonluk,
mevlevilik,
Beirut,
tanbul,Inkilip Kitabevi,1988. Shahin MakAriyis,al-Adab
al-m&sfmniyya,
"La FrancDar Nazir 'Abbod, 1988 (repr. of the 1895 edition). Paul Dumont,
des
ottomane
et
les
Tanzimat,"Revuedu
id6es francaisesl'apoque
%
magonnerie
nos. 52-53, 1989,pp. 150-159. "Massoneria
MondeMusulmanetde la Miditerran&e,
e Islam," in: Michele Moramarco, ed., Nuova Enciclopedia Massonica, Reggio

Emilia, Centro di Studi AlbertSchweitzer,1989, vol. 2, pp. 39-43. M. Sfkrii

Hanloglu,"Noteson theYoung Turksand theFreemasons,"MiddleEasternStudi
ies,vol. 25, no. 2, April1989, pp. 186-197. Lucien Sabah, La Franc-maconnerie
Oran de 1832 ai 1914, Paris, Aux Amateursde Livres,1990. Orhan Kologlu,
1991. Daniel Ligou,
Abdillhamit
vemasonlar
(1905'ekadar),Istanbul,GiirYaymnlan,
de
3rd ed., Paris,PressesUniversitaires
ed., Dictionnaire
de la franc-maconnerie,
in Egyptfrom
France,1991,pp. 404-406,1212-1217. KarimWissa,"Freemasonry
Bonaparteto Zaghloul,"Turcica,vol. 24, 1992,pp. 109-132. MuratOzgen Ayfer,
Masonluknedirve naszldzr,
Istanbul,Logos Yayinlan,1992, pp. 263-284. Thierry
en Islam,Istanbul,InstitutFranCais
etfranc-macons
Zarcone,Mystiques,
philosophes
d'EtudesAnatoliennes,1993,esp. pp. 177-299.LaroussiMizouri,"La Naissance
des
de la franc-maconnerie
dans la Tunisie precoloniale,"IBLA: Revuede l'Institut
vol. 57, no. 1, 1994, pp. 69-80. MaurusReinkowski,
Filastin,
BellesLettres
Arabes,
Filistinand EretzIsrae4Berlin,Klaus SchwarzVerlag,1995, pp. 29-32, 116-117,
footnotesin mypaper.
168-171,178, 181-184,233-234.See also thefollowing

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188

JACOB M. LANDAU

triesduringthe last twohundredyears.Earlier,duringthe eightwereoccasionallyactive,

eenthcentury,
onlya fewlocal freemasons
been
initiated
brothers;
lodges were estabby European
having
lished withoutansweringto a centralauthorityand were shortlived.Onlytheincreaseof European influencein theMiddleEast,
since the late eighteenthcentury,broughtinto thisarea French,
British,and otherfreemasonswho set up longerenduringlodges
withthe participationof upper-classlocal residents.Not surprisadvanced most in those Muslimlands which
ingly,freemasonry
weredirectly
governedbyEuropean Powers(such as Algeria,Tunisia, and Egypt),as well as in regionswhereEuropean economic
was more immediately
penetration,such as railwayconstruction,
in
An
the
felt. added dimensionwas
relatively
higherparticipation
the lodges of Christians
and Jews,as one of the feworganizational
in whichtheseminoritiescould associateand socialize
frameworks
withtheircounterparts
withinthe Muslimmajority.Of
effectively
activities
therewere,werealmostentirely
course,whatfreemasonic
limitedto the citiesand towns.Moreover,it was chieflythe Eurothatwas to draw
presencein local freemasonry
pean, non-Muslim
bebe
demonstrated
from
certain
as
will
native
elements,
hostility
low.
It seemsthatthefirstlodge in Istanbulwasfoundedin the early
1720s by Sait (elebi, the son ofYirmisekizQelebi,Ambassadorof
AhmetIII in Parisin 1720. Returningto the OttomanEmpire,Sait
Celebi set up a freemasoniclodge togetherwiththe renowned
Others are reported in Aleppo,
printerIbrahim Mfiteferrika.3
Izmirand Corfuin 1738,in Alexandrettain the early1740s,in the
Armenianpartsof EasternTurkeyin 1762 and, again in Istanbul,
in the late 1760s.In time,freemasonry
progressedin otherurban
tell
centres,such as Damascusand Salonica. Scrapsof information
in theseand othertowns.In Egypt,freeus aboutsporadicactivities
masonrywasintroduceda littlelaterintoCairo and Alexandria,apparentlyby Napoleon's officers;in 1798-1799, General JeanBaptisteKl6berset up the firstlodge.4 In the eighteenth-century
Ottoman Empire lodges comprisedEuropeans as well as local
s Gfin& Celiker,op. cit.,pp. 17-18. For otherearlylodges,cf. Zarcone,op.
cit.,pp. 188ff.
4 Wissa,op. cit.,pp. 109, 113.J.M.Landau, "Prolegomenato a Studyof Secret
vol. 1, no. 2,Jan. 1965,pp. 1Societiesin Modem Egypt,"MiddleEasternStudies,
52.

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MUSLIMOPPOSITIONTO FREEMASONRY

189

Christiansand Jews,withonly a fewMuslims.Althoughfreemasocial

sonryremaineddormantfora while,itbecame an important
factorin the last thirdof the nineteenth century,recruitingan in-

creasingnumber of Muslimsin the OttomanEmpire,amongst

themnotablemembersof the local aristocracy,
includingin Egypt

members of the ruling Khedival family,as well as such leading intellectuals as JamAlal-Din al-Afghani,5and, elsewhere in the empire, high-rankingpersonalities among the aristocracy and the

merchants.
wealthy
An Americanfreemason,RobertMorris,who visitedSyriaand
Palestinein 1868 and then publishedhis Freemasonry
in theHoly
area
and
met
several
in
that
himself
set up a
freemasons
Land,6
lodge in Jerusalem.Other lodges were foundedduringthe next
half centuryin various towns of the empire, affiliatedwith
in France,GreatBritain,Italy,Germany,
freemasonic
organizations
and Greece. Still,because of theirpolitical,culturaland economic
it seems thatIstanbul,Izmirand Salonica remained
significance,
in the late OttomanEmthe main centresof freemasonicactivity
of
In
the
first
freemasonic
these,
advocacyofindividualrights
pire.
and politicalfreedoms,
as wellas supportforthedeposed MuratV,
a freemasonsince 1872 (his case was takenup by lodges outside
the empireas well),induced his successor,Abdfilhamid
II, to ban
thelodges,so thattheywentunderground.7
the
In Izmir, presence
and importanceof non-Muslimand non-Turkish
groups-Greeks,
in lodges
to
freemasonic
and
Jews
Armenians--contributed
activity
of the
in whichMuslimTurksalso participated.8
some
Salonica,
In
so-calledYoung Turks exploited the clandestinity
of the local
lodges to prepare their 1909 takeoverof the empire's government.9
In the yearsimmediately
followingthe takeover,freemasonry-which numberedamong its adherentsYoung Turk leaders like
manypartsof theempire,including
throughout
Talat--flourished
its Arab and Balkan provinces,10
withan increasingnumber of
5 Kudsi-Zadeh,op. cit.,Landau, "Prolegomena...,"p. 8.
6 Its completetitlewasFreemasonry
in theHolyLand, or,Handmarks
ofHiram's
Builders.
7 Zarcone,op. cit.,pp. 208-210. Soysal,op. cit.,pp. 230-234.
8 Zarcone,op. cit.,pp. 228-229.
9 Ibid., pp. 240 ff.Soysal,op. cit.,pp. 234-238.Elie Kedourie,"YoungTurks,
vol. 7, no. 1,Jan.1971,pp. 89-104.
FreemasonsandJews,"MiddleEasternStudies,
10 Accordingto Zarcone,op. cit., p. 253, lodges were set up, between1900

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190

JACOB M. LANDAU

Turks becoming intensivelyinvolved. Although it still has to be

proven conclusivelythat the lodges were politicallyengaged or that
theyacted in favourof theirrelativelynumerous Christianand Jewish members,thiswas the impression prevalentamong several Muslim intellectuals at the time and later. The arguments raised, in
consequence, among Muslims were to be repeated over and over
again, as we shall see. At all events, nationalist and other leaders
were suspicious of freemasonry'sinternationaland clandestine features. Enver, as Ministerof War, banned it during the FirstWorld
War. Following the war, however, the lodges resumed their activities in the Republic of Turkey,where, in 1930, no less than twentythree existed in Istanbul alone, numbering about 2,000 membersbesides those in Ankara. These comprised a varied membership,
made up of foreigners,as well as Turks, Greeks, Armenians,Jews,
Kurds, and Albanians.11 In 1935, Mustafa Kemal forbade
freemasonic activitiesin the republic12 (they became legal again
only in 1948, withlodges in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir13). Several
of the Ottoman Empire's successor states, too, banned freemasonry,such as Iraq (in 1958), Egypt(in 1961), and Syria (in 1965).
c. OppositiontoFreemasonry
The small number of freemasons,past and present,in practically
everyMuslim state (2,367 in Turkey in 1966, and even more modest figuresin the Arab states of the Middle East, then and subsequently) hardly mitigated open hostilitytowards them. The sentiment is of long standing and has been expressed in various ways.
Jean-Claude Flachat, whose account of his travelswas published as
early as 1756, avers that, in the Ottoman Empire, "les FrancMaCons sont les seuls qu'on ne tolere pas: ils passent pour des
inFames et des magiciens, que le libertinage et l'avarice conduisent
aux assemblees. Le peuple 6tait convaincu qu'ils se servaient des
tenebres de la nuit pour cacher leurs d bordements ..."14A hunand 1923, in Beirut, Tripoli, Zahle, Acre, Cairo, Haifa, Latakiya,Abukir,
and Shuwefat.
Alexandretta,
Freimaurer1 Acc. to Eugen Lennhof& Oskar Posner, eds., Internationales
lexikon,
esp. cols. 1606-1607.
op. cit.,s.v."Tfirkei,"
12 Giin & eliker,op. cit.,
pp. 33-34: therewere31 lodges in Turkey,in 1935.
Is Ligou,ed., op. cit.,p. 1217.
14 Quoted byZarcone,op. cit.,p. 192.

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION TO FREEMASONRY

191

dred and twelveyearslater,the above mentionedRobertMorris,

who visitedDamascus in 1868, observedthat "among the lower
classes,however,thereexistsan immenseprejudiceagainstFreemasonry,amountingto bigotry.This is seen in various things.
WhentwoArabsquarrel,it showsthemostbitterfeelingforone to
call theothera Jew(Yahoodi); but iftheotherretaliatesbycalling
thereis nothingfor
his opponentFermison(thatis, a Freemason),
This probablyexpresses,on the one hand, a cerit but a fight!"15
of freemasonry
as an elitistgrouping;and,
tainpopular criticism
on the otherhand,linksfreemasonswithJews,a phenomenonto
whichwe shallrevert.
The published materials attackingfreemasonrywhich have
reached us are more numerousand voluminousthan those defendingit. Afterall, freemasonswerereluctantto expose publicly
and in detail theirown confidentialmeetingsand rites.Insofaras
and
theypresentedthemfactually
theycommittedtheseto writing,
effort
to
without
serious
apologetically
any
respond
informatively,
Even theirTurkishorgan, ThirkMasonDergisi(pubto calumny.16
lishedthreetimesa yearin Istanbul,since1966),writesaboutfreeand rites,in generaltermsonly.
itsconcepts,institutions
masonry,
can
no
Obviously, organization
prove thatit is innocentof the
and
to it. We shall atcrimes--past,present
future--attributed
main
heads
of
sum
the
accusation
to
levelled,in writing,
tempt
up
in twocountries,Turkeyand Egypt(forwhichmaat freemasonry
terialsare more readilyavailable), withbriefreferencesto other
lands; then,we shall tryto explain the main motivesfortheseattacks.
in theOttomanEmpire
Whileoccasionalattackson freemasonry
it
natural
thattheseshouldbethe
was
since
1860s,
early
appeared
come more insistentduringthe earlieryearsofYoung Turkrule,
whensome people suspectedthe societyofhavingan exaggerated
due to theimportant,
sometimesdecisive
impacton publicaffairs,
of severalof its adepts.17Besides some infrerole in government
quent criticismby Europeans, Turksexpressedmisgivingsabout
Morris,op. cit.,p. 571.
Fran
For examples,Soysal,op. cit., passim,and Z.H. Velibege, Tilrkiyede
Masonluk,
Ankara,GiineSMatbaaclhk,1956.
17 Cf. Orhan Kologlu, Ittihadolarve masonlar,
GiirYayinlan,1991, esp. pp.
157-192, 196-199, for the European sources of some anti-freemasonic
arguments.
15
16

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192

JACOB M. LANDAU

the danger freemasonryheld for the Ottoman Empire,18 while

some Islamists alerted their readers to its menace for their religion.19
It is evidentlyimpossible to analyze here the multitude of antifreemasonic articlesin the Turkish and Arab press,20which could
perhaps serve as a subject for an entire book. Sufficeit to say that,
in the Arab East, periodicals under Catholic influence were the
firstto attack freemasonry,followed by Muslim publications.21Nor
can we list here general worksagainst freemasonrytranslatedfrom
other languages.22We shall have to confine ourselves to a chronological listing of the main features in a selection of a few books,
firstin Turkeyand then in several Arab states,on all of which very
littlesystematicresearch has as yet been done,23 then move on to a
general analysis.
A fewTurkishworkssurveyfreemasonryin Europe and attack it.
Thus, Necdet Sevinc devotes an entire volume to it,24in which he
tries to link freemasonrywith various revolutionarymovements.
Most other books, however,connect such accusations on the world
scene to the situation in Turkey. For instance, a book by M. Raif
Ogan on the secretsof freemasonryin Turkey25argues that it is an
internationalplot and hence contraryto the laws governing the es18 Such as YoussoufFehmi, La Rivolutionottomane,
Paris, Giard et Briere,
1911,pp. 151, 174,quotedbyZarcone,op. cit.,p. 260, n. 78.
19 Like SehbenderzadeAhmedHilmi,forwhomsee J.M.Landau, ThePolitics
and Organization,
new edition,Oxford,OxfordUniversity
ofPan-Islam:Ideology
Press,1994,pp. 77-79. See also Zarcone,op. cit.,pp. 260-262,287, foradditional
documentation.
20 Examplesin MithatGfirata,Masonluknedir?ne degildir?
Istanbul,Yenilik
Basimevi,1973, pp. 75 ff.K.S. Sel, Thirkmasonluktarihineait ikfetiid,Istanbul,
Yenilik Basimevi,1973, esp. pp. 47-61 (= "Geien asirda Tfirkiyedemasonluk
aleyhtanilknegriyat").
"The Image ofJewsAs Reflectedin ArabicJournalsBe21 See Shaul Sehayik,
Hetweenthe Years 1858-1908" (in Hebrew), UnpublishedPh.D. dissertation,
brewUniversity
1991,pp. 22-28, 226.
ofJerusalem,
surla France,Paris,
de lafranc-maConnerie
22 Such as A.-G.Michel'sLa Dictature
EditionsSpes, 1924, translatedas Mason diktat3rligig
isimlerve masonik
(belgeler
of
oflodges in Turwhich
a
list
founders
n.d.-to
Istanbul,
Yayinlan,
sbzlifk),
ihya
keyand anotherof prominentnativefreemasonswereappended.
23 The onlyone knownto me is a chapter,entitled"Tiirkiye'de
masonluka
in a book by Ayfer,op. cit., pp. 263-284. The author is a
kargltgirigimler,"
freemason.
24 Necdet Sevin,, Ordularmasonlarkomiinistler,
Istanbul,Anadolu Negriyat
Yurdu,1971.
25 M. Raif
masonlukifyiiziive
Ogan, Bi~tiingizlitalimatlarnna
g6reTiirkiye'deki
Istanbul,n.d. [1951].
szrlars,

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

193

tablishingof associationsin Turkey.To defineit as a tarikat,or a

Muslimfraternity,26
immediatelyraisessuspicionsagainstfreemathe
as
had
as
well
sonry
implicationof outlawingit,as all tarikat-s
been banned. We shalllaterdiscussthe allegationof the internationalplot,but it seemsthatmostaccusationsare presentedin the
modercontextofTurkey.Thus,M. ErtugrulDfizdagmakesa fairly
of itssecretivecharacteras wellas ofitsbeinga possiate criticism
ble opponentofIslam.27
Much more violentare the attackson freemasonry
bya leading
It
that
his
earliest
Cevat
Rifat
Atilhan.
seems
workon
hatemonger,
thesubjectis a bookletpublishedin 1937.28Mostlya collectionof
writingsabout thefreemasons'bad faith
quotesfromnon-Turkish
and evil intentions,he sums up the subject as follows: "The
freemasonsare faithlessenemies of the nation,motherland,reliHis next work,seventeenyearslater,30
gion, familyand army."29
from
various
sources in attackingboth freemasonry
quotes freely
and Judaismand statingthat the formerservesas a maskforthe
to provea connectionbetweenthe
latter,3'butwithoutattempting
two. In a much longer book (of 279 pages), issued nine years
later,32
Atlhan warnsagainstthe freemasonicthreatand its connectionswithotherperniciousideologiesand witha numberof
Turkswhomhe obviouslydislikes.Lastly,threeyearslater,he put
outyetanotherpublication,whichwentthroughseveralreprints,33
withJudaism,commuin whichhe triedto associatefreemasonry
nismand Jehovah'sWitnesses,all of whomhe consideredsubversive.
The alleged cooperationof freemasonry
withotherelementsbelievedto be seditiousis a favouredwayofsmearingitwithguilt-byofpubliclifein Turassociation.Withtheincreasingpoliticization
since
the
and
local
were atworldwide
freemasonry
key
1960s,34
26

Ibid., pp. 5 ff.

27 M. Ertugrul Dfizdag,Tfirkiye'de
I. Tiirkiye
masonluk
meselesi.
gizli
masonlannan
tarihi.
Istanbul,CihadYayinlan,1977.
Istanbul,AkinBasimevi,1937.
28 CevatRifatAtlhan,Masonluknedir?,
29 Id., ibid.,p. 35.
30 Id., Kendivesikalanna
giremasonluk
nedir,
n.p.,GfinMatbaasi,1954.
31 Id.,

ibid., p. 3.

2nd ed.,
Id., Farmasonlar
Islamiyeti
ivinnasd calistilar?,
ve Tiirklifiiyzkmak
1963.
n.p. [Istanbul],Aykurt
Negriyati,
new ed., Istanbul,BedirYayinlan,1966.
33Id., Masonlugunicygizi,
in ModernTurkey,
Leiden,Brill,1974.
34 J.M.Landau, RadicalPolitics
32

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194

JACOB

M. LANDAU

tacked more aggressively.However, while Atllhan and his peers focused on its supposed anti-patriotism,later writingsseem to have
emphasized what they considered its anti-religiouscharacter (although its other allegedly blameworthyaspects were not lost sight
of). This, of course, is another feature of the assertivenessof Islam
in Middle Eastern affairs(and elsewhere) and its impressivereturn
to the midstream of politics in Turkey since the 1970s.35 Indeed,
several of the argumentsemployed show a remarkable similarityto
those in the Istanbul daily Milli Gazete,organ of the Islamistminded National Salvation Partyand its successor, the Prosperity
Party.36
Characteristicexamples are provided by a series of three heavy
books published in Turkeybetween 1987 and 1993. Prepared by Islamist circles concealed behind the appellation of "Science Research Group" (BilimArastirmaGrubu),these are entitled Yahudilik
ve masonluk(Judaism and Freemasonry),7 Masonluk ve kapitalizm
(Freemasonryand Capitalism),38 and Seytan'zndini masonluk(Freemasonry: Satan's Religion).39 An entire volume would be needed
to list all the distortions,misquotations, out-of-contextcitations,
and inventions laboriously collected. It suffices to say that the
books attemptto promote the cause of Islam by lumping together
all those perceived hostile to it: freemasons,Jews,Zionists,missionaries, Communists, and all atheists-in Turkey and abroad. They
blame freemasons,in conjunction with the others,of undermining
religion (particularlyIslam), being responsible for the French and
Russian revolutions,as well as for the Young Turk coup d'etat and
others. Further, they accuse them of adapting ideas and symbols
from the Bible, Talmud and Kabbalah and using them to bring
about a Satanic degeneration of religion. The accusation is often
repeated of an internationalplot engineered by freemasonry(with

and Secularism:The TurkishCase," in: Shelomo Moraga.o.,

35 Id., "Islamism
toShelomo
Dov Goiteinon theOccasionof
eds., StudiesinJudaismand IslamPresented
hisEightieth
Birthday,
Jerusalem,
MagnesPress,1981,pp. 361-382.
Studies
36 Cf. id., "The NationalSalvationPartyin Turkey,"Asianand African
vol. 11,no. 1, 1976,pp. 1-57.
(Jerusalem),
1987. All three printings
37 3rd printing,Istanbul,Acar ReklamYayinlarn,
werein thesame year.
1992.
Istanbul,AraStxrma
93 2nd printing,
Yayincilik,
1993. The threevolumescomprisetogether
39 Istanbul,AraStirma
Yaymcllhk,
1,825pages.

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

195

suchas Rotaryand Lions),"4

itsso-calledinfrastructure
institutions,
and others-all non-believers
in conjunctionwithJewry
(including,
of course,a selectionof Turkishsecularstatesmen).Althoughthe
"facts"adduced are oftenspurious,theircombinationcontrived,
and the deductionsof the non sequiturtype,the overall effect,
is so aggressiveand persuaheightenedbynumerousphotographs,
sive,thatit is liable to gain credenceamong certainreaderswho
mightwellaccept the explicitand implicitconclusionthatfreemaworldwide,is readyingitselfto take over Tursonry,all-powerful
and
key'sgovernment economy,in the name of a Satanicreligion
whichwoulddestroyIslam.
We have elected not to refer,in the case of Turkey,to works
such as Mim Kemal
only incidentally,
mentioningfreemasonry
... komplolar
Oke's Kutsal topraklardasiyonistler
ve masonlar:ihdnetler

... aldanmalar(Zionistsand Freemasonsin the Holy Land: Treacheries,Plotsand Tricks),41where,the book's titlenotwithstanding,
are made to thefreemasons(incidenonlyseveralbriefreferences
author
the
the
is
tally,
grandsonofhis namesake,whowasa Grand
Masterof freemasonsin Turkeyduringthe early1930s). Turning
to Egypt,we shallforbear,also, fromdiscussingbookswhichmenin passingonly,such as MuhammadKhayr'Abd
tionfreemasonry
Nakbat al-ummaal-'Arabiyyabi-suqiWt
al-Khildfaal-'Uthmdal-Qafdir's
diraisa
niyya:
li-'l-qadiyyaal-'Arabiyya
ft khamsin'aman, 1875-1925

(The Calamityfor the Arab ummain the Fall of the Ottoman

Years,1875Caliphate:A Studyof theArab ProblemDuringFifty
in
the
otherswhich
freemasons
are
with
1925),42
blamed-along
forthe breakdownof the OttomanEmpire;43or Mahmfid ThAbit
al-Shadhili's al-Mas'ala al-sharqiyya:
dirasa wath-'iqiyya'an al-Khildfa
1299-1923
Eastern
(The
Question: A Documentary
al-'Uthmdniyya,

Studyof the OttomanCaliphate,1299-1923),44in whichtheyare

chargedwithconspiring--again,along withothers-against the
empire.45

also, in Arabic,in anti-freemasonic

writings,
40 Thissubjectwas discussed,
suchas Muhammad
FahimAmin'sal-Ahdaf
liwa-'l-asrar
al-mu'lana
al-khafiyya
1989.
Cairo,Daral-Fikr
al-'Arabi,
al-RPtiri
andiyat
wa-'l-mdsfiniyya,
41
1990.
Istanbul,agYayinlari,
42 Cairo,Maktabat
Wahba,1985.
43 'Abdal-Qadir,
esp.pp.84 ff.
Wahba,1989.
44Cairo,Maktabat
pp. 172ff.
45al-Shathili,

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196

JACOB M. LANDAU

However, in Egypt,too, one findsmany more detailed writtenattacks on freemasonry,perhaps less numerous than in Turkey
(where the societyhas been more active and more visible), but no
less forceful.While in nineteenth-centuryEgypt criticismof freemasonry was relativelymoderate,46it becomes considerably more
aggressivein the twentieth.Several examples from the second half
of this centuryfollow, with an emphasis on the 1980s and early
1990s, concomitant with the increased militancyof political Islam
in Egyptand severalotherArab states.
'Abd al-Rahman Sami 'Ismat's al-Sahyitniyya
(Ziwa-'l-m&sfzniyya
onism and Freemasonry)47is an all-out attack on both movements
and on the mischiefthey have alledgedly caused. Indeed, the author anachronisticallyaccuses Zionism of having set up freemasonry "in order to create governmentswithin governments."48Selectivelyquoting and summarizingfromvarious secondary sources,
'Ismat bases his claim on the similarityhe perceives between
freemasonic ritualsand the symbolsborrowed fromJewishliterary
sources,49 without trying to adduce any hard proof of a
tie-up, certainly not in the case of
freemasonic-Jewish-Zionist
In
other
the
author argues against the supposed
words,
Egypt.
wrongdoing and evil intentions of freemasonryworldwide, rather
than in the local context. This feature seems to characterize most
of the recent Egyptianwritingagainst freemasonry,which we shall
now discuss in more detail.
Thus, a book byAhmad Ghalwash, head of Egypt'sAnti-DrugAssociation, is entitled al-Jam'iyyaal-masfniyya haqa'iquha wakhafj-y~ah(The Freemasonic Organization: Its Facts and Secrets).50
The author claims to have joined a freemasonic lodge in his youth,
out of curiosity,and scoffsat what he considers as its frightening
and humiliatinginitiation rites and its "ridiculous ceremonies."51
Other arguments are familiar from earlier works against freemasonry,which is all the proof Ghalwash can marshall: Freemasonry,
as he perceives it, opposes both patriotism and religion. Its rites
quote solely the Old Testament, not the Qur'An or New Testament.
46 Examples in Landau, "Prolegomena ...," op. cit.

47 2nd ed., Alexandria,1950.

48 'Ismat, p. 3.

49 Ibid., pp. 83 ff.

n.d. [1966?].
Cairo,al-Daral-qawmiyya
li-'l-tiba'awa-'l-nashr,
51 Ghalwash,pp. 5 ff.,57 ff.
50

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

197

an international
It is essentially
organizationcreatedbyJewsto enable themto ruletheentireworld.52
Freemasonsprefereach other
to anybodyelse, thusaimingat weakeningthebondsof bothIslam
and Arabism.53
Lastly,theirclaimto beingapoliticalis false,as they
servedOttomanrule in Beirutin 1913,and laterthe FrenchMandate in Syriaand Lebanon.54Again,thisclaim,likemanyothers,is
notsupportedbyanysolidobjectiveproof.
Al-Shadhilihas been mentionedabove as referring
antagonistiin a general book on the EasternQuestion.
callyto freemasonry
he produced an even longerwork,entirelydeSoon afterwards,

voted to al-Mssfniyya:'uqdat al-mawlidwa-' r al-nihaya (Freema-

sonry:The Puzzle ofitsBirthand theShame ofitsEnd).5 Afterinveighingagainst"thefreemasonicserpent,"thesecond halfof the

book56attacksthe freemasonicconspiracyin Istanbul (i.e., the
Young Turk revolution),the freemasons'supposed connection
withChristianmissionaries
and Jews,theiralleged role in theRussian revolution,theirtie-upwithMustafaKemal and ismetIn6nfi,
and theirshare in the abolition of the Islamic Caliphate.A few
in Egyptas well,57and briefly
mentionits
pages attackfreemasonry
activitiesin otherArab countries.Manypages deal withalleged
freemasonicactivity
in Israel,the UnitedStatesand Europe--West
and East--emphasizingits supposed power and its interference
directed against the Arabs and Islam.
everywhere,
consistently
Again,the proofsare specious,oftenbased on secondarysources
whichShidhilihas misreador misinterpreted.
OtherEgyptianpublications,criticizing
whichcan
freemasonry,
be mentionedmore briefly,
are the following:a. Sabir 'Abd al-

Rahman Tu'ayma's al-Masfniyyawa-'l-sahyfiniyya

wa-'l-shuyuc'iyya

Zionismand Communismand
(Freemasonry,
ghayatlawa-hadaf~n
Their Goals)58 is an out-and-outattack on freemasonryand
withCommunismand
Judaismand on the linksof freemasonry
b. MuhammadAhmad Diyab's al-Mukhattatat
Marxism.59
al-ma52 Ibid.,pp. 30-43.
53
Ibid.,pp. 99 ff.
54 Ibid.,pp. 43-45.
55 2nd ed., Cairo,MaktabatWahba, 1990.This comprises496 pp.
56 al-Shdhili,pp. 247 ff.
57 Ibid.,pp. 349 ff.
58 Cairo,Dfr al-Fikral-'Arabi,1978.
59 Ibid.,ch. 8.

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198

JACOB M. LANDAU

sfniyya al-'alamiyya(The International Freemasonic Plans)60 attacks freemasonry'sconnections with the French revolution, Bolshevism, the Rothschilds,and the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire.61 c. Abfi Islam Ahmad 'Abd Allah's al-Tabifral-khamis:alal-djadidaf 'l-sharqal-Islhmiwa-Lubnan wa-'l-Urdunnwamasfmniyya
'l-Bahraynwa-'l-Kubrus(The FifthColumn: The New Freemasonry
in the Islamic East, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrein and Cyprus),62a collection from various sources on the evil deeds of freemasonry,its
leaders, etc.
Turning to several otherArab lands, Sayfal-Din al-Bustdni'sbook
has the followingarrestingtitle: Awqiffih&dh4al-saratan:haqiqat almadsniyyawa-ahdafuha(Stop This Cancer: The Truth About Freemasonry and Its Goals).63 Writtenby a Christian, this work insists
less on the freemasonic threatto Islam, but otherwiseis as aggressive as other publications mentioned above. Its main thrustis that
freemasonic organizations, large and evil, are committed to supporting foreign imperialism in its attempts to destroy society by
helping communal strifeand encouraging religious and ethnic fanaticism.64No evidence is shown to support these claims, nor to
bolster the familiarclaim thatfreemasonry,"an evil narcotic,"65has
been linked withJewrysince the most ancient times.66Sometimes
this is grotesquely presented, for instance in a photograph of the
cross as a freemasonicsymbol,in the midst of an argument ofJewish influence on freemasonry.67
Still in Lebanon, Yfisufal-Sahmarani,who teaches philosophy at
the Arabic Universityof Beirut, has produced al-Masftniyya:
nash'atuha wa-ahdafuhd(Freemasonry:Its Origins and Goals).68 Although methodicallyorganized in its description of freemasonry's
historyand rituals,it is as hostile to it as other worksin Arabic. His
main complaint is what he perceives as its hostilityto religion,
within and withoutthe Arab states.69This he attributesto theJew60 Cairo,DWral-Mandr,1989.
For thelast-mentioned,
ibid.,pp. 85-87.
62 Cairo,Baytal-Hikma,
1991.This is a large,517-pagevolume.
63 N.p. [Damascus],n.d. [1959].
pp. 7-9.
64 al-Bustani,

61

65 Ibid., p. 17.

66 Ibid.,pp. 8-11, 37-53, 146.

67 Ibid., p. 49.

68 Beirut,Dar al-Nafi'is,1992 (1stprinting:1988).

69 al-Sahmarani,
pp. 67 ff.

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

199

He definesfreeishinfluenceon it70as wellas to Zionistpolicies.71

in fact,as a separatecreed,readyto allyitselfwithMarxmasonry,
ismor Zionismin orderto promoteitsownends;hence he recommendsa ban on it.72
is Husayn
Turningto Syria,a recentworkagainstfreemasonry
'Umar Hamrda's al-Mdasiniyya
wa-'l-misi~niyyisn
fi-'l-watan
al-'Arabi
It retells
and Freemasonsin theArabFatherland).73
(Freemasonry
the familiartale of linksbetweenfreemasonry,
Judaismand Zionism,74
basingitsaccusationson supposedtiesbetweenfreemasonic
ritesandJewishbeliefs.75
A characteristicwork,published in Iraq, is Malik Mansfr's
(Facts About Freemasonry),76which was
Haqa 'iq 'an al-masfiniyya

offreemaThis purportsto be a history

serializedin al-Thawra.
first
as
an
account
ofits
in
the
Arab
as
well
and
worldwide
lands,
sonry,
attack
is
freemabut
the
brunt
of
the
and
against
procedures;
goals
sonryand itsservingas a toolof Zionism.77
notsurprisingly,
SaudiArabianbooksagainstfreemasonry,
adopt
an Islamic stance. Thus, 'Abd al-Rahman 'Amira's al-Madhdhibalmuc'sira wa-mawqifal-Islm minha: al-masiniyya,al-shuy 'iyya, al(Contemporary Sects and
wudjfdiyya,al-Baha'iyya,al-qddiydniyya

the Attitudeof Islam Towardsthem:Freemasonry,

Communism,
This critiquefocuseson
Bahaismand Ahmadiyya).78
Extentialism,
whichitaccusesof beinghostileto religion.79
freemasonry,
AnotherSaudi,Abfial-Fidt'Muhammad'IzzatMuhammad'Arif,
in an anti-Jewish
to thefreemasons
allotsextensivetreatment
book,
His
al-Yahfid
End
of
the
entitledNihdyat
discussion8'
(The
Jews).80
as a powerful,poisonousforce,dominating
presentsfreemasonry
theentireworldunderJewishguidance.He refersto itsrolein preparing the Young Turk revolutionin Salonica and argues that
70 Ibid.,pp. 75 ff.
71

Ibid.,pp. 101 ff.

Ibid.,pp. 127-140.
71 Damascus,Sabra, 1986.This is a largevolume,holding334 pp.
74 Hamada, pp. 55--64.
72

75 Ibid., pp. 65-73.

1973.
76 Baghdad,Dar al-Thawra,
77 For the last-mentioned,see ch. 1.
78 Riyad,Dir al-Liwi',1978.This is a voluminousworkof 315 pages.

and thereligions,"ibid.,pp. 56-68.

79 See the largechapteron "freemasonry

80 Jedda,Ministry
of Information,
1993.
81 For freemasonry,see 'Arif,pp. 116 ff.

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JACOB M. LANDAU

200

sinceNapoleon's expediEgypthas been governedbyfreemasonry

tionand thatthemovementhas flourishedtheremorethanin any
otherArab land; accordingto this,even the revolutionof 23 July
1952wasengineeredbyJews.82
Connection
d. TheFreemasonic-Jewish

Beforesummingup themain characteristics

of anti-freemasonic
to explain it,somethingshouldbe
and attempting
Muslimwriting
said about the pervasiveuse of the alleged links between
did not startin the Ottofreemasonsand Jews.This,incidentally,
man Empireand itssuccessorstates,butwasa stapleof antisemitic
propaganda in Europe since the eighteenthcentury,as demonand numerousothers.While Katz's
stratedbyJacob Katz'sstudys3
researchapplies chieflyto WesternEurope, others,such as Th.H.
forexample,have shownthatin EasternEurope, too,
Friedgut,84
includingtoday'sRussia,fantasticstoriesabout a freemasonic-Jewish plot enjoya revivalin timesof social upheavalor economiccrisis.85At such times,findinga scapegoat is essential,and blaming
theJews(an old traditionin Europe) along withthe freemasons
sinistercombination.
(withtheirsecretrites)offersan irresistibly
Thisjoint attackhas resuscitatedthe accusationsand slogansemin Europe and transmitted
to the Muslim
ployed by Antisemites
East.86
Insofaras the OttomanEmpireand the Republicof Turkeyare
was a peripheralphenomenon,
concerned,however,antisemitism
as I have demonstratedelsewhere.87Naturally,therewere some
in the freemasoniclodges of Salonica,an imporJewsand d6nmes
centre.
tant
The politicalsignificanceof thoseJewshas been vari82

Ibid., p. 125.

83Jacob Katz, Jewsand Freemasons

in Europe,1723-1939, Cambridge,MA,
HarvardUniversity
Press,1970.
84 Th.H. Friedgut,
and Its Opponents:
in theRussianPress
Antisemitism
Reflections
UntilthePresent,
Vidal Sassoon InternationalCenterforthe Study
fromPerestroika
ofAntisemitism-TheHebrewUniversity
ofJerusalem,1994.
85 Ibid., pp. 4-5.
86 See BernardLewis,Semites
andPrejuAn Inquiry
andAntisemites:
IntoConflict
dice,London, Weidenfeldand Nicolson,1986. Id., TheJewsofIslam,Princeton,
Press,1984.
N.J.,PrincetonUniversity
Zionismand Israel,"
87 J.M.Landau, "MuslimTurkishAttitudes
TowardsJews,
Die WeltdesIslam,N.S.,vol.28, 1988,pp. 291-300.

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION TO FREEMASONRY

201

My own researchhas indicatedthat

ouslyassessedby historians.88
whateverJewswere involvedin the Young Turk councils, and
reached leading positions,refrainedfromassistingZionismand
even opposed it.89 Most, very probably all, allegations of
or freemasonic-Zionist
collaborationhave been
freemasonic-Jewish
solid
whatsoever.
without
Theyweregenerally
proof
presented
any
intendedto smear
based on spuriouschargesand wereapparently
all theseelementstogetherand lend some credenceto thepreposall of them.Having
terousclaimof an international
plot involving
establishedtheir supposedlyevil character,the most fantastic
chargeswould seem believable.This is also applicable to the no
accusaless aggressiveanti-freemasonic/anti-Jewish/anti-Zionist
tionsin some oftheMuslimstatesoftheMiddleEastand NorthAffromwhichexampleshave been listedabove.91
rica,90
e. Conclusion
in thelitSummingup themainargumentsagainstfreemasonry
eraturein Turkeyand some Arab states,thefollowingcharacterisrelevanceat different
thesehavevarying
ticsstandout.92Obviously,
timesand places,butmostseem validthroughout.
The associationof secretritesand foreignmembershipin the
itsideas and ideals,suspect.The particilodgesmade freemasonry,
of
chieflyChristiansand Jews,strengthened
pation non-Muslims,
it
lent
a
sinister
character,particularly
relatingto the
suspicionand
symbolsin freemasonicrites.Combiningall this,it
Judeo-Christian
was easyto believein the existenceof an international
plot,espeactivitiesof both freemaciallywhen consideringthe universalist
sonryand Communismand the ubiquityof theJews.Thus, Communismor Jewry(sometimeslabelled Zionism) are frequently

ContrastKedourie,op. cit.,withOlson,op. cit.

Cf.J.M. Landau, "LesJeunes-Turcset le Sionisme:une reconsideration,"
et la
ottoman
sur l'empire
rencontre
in: Edhem Eldem, ed., Premiire
internationale
EditionsISIS, 1991,pp. 385-395.
Istanbul-Paris,
Turquiemoderne,
WorldReport1992,
forJewishAffairs,
ed., Antisemitism
90 Details in Institute
London, InstituteforJewishAffairs,1992, esp. pp. 71-86. For instancesin the
press,see Sehayik,op. cit.,pp. 22-28, 226.
91 Cf.InstituteforJewishAffairs,
op. cit.,pp. 75-76. RivkaYadlin,AnArrogant,
inEgypt,
as anti-Judaism
Oxford,Pergamon,1989.
Oppressive
Spirit:Anti-Zionism
op. cit.,pp. 263-284.
92 See also Ayfer,
88

89

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202

JACOB

M. LANDAU

throwntogetherwithfreemasonrywhen denigrating them and accusing them of evil international plotting-thus dismissing the
freemason claim of being apolitical. This reaction occurred generally in times of political unrest,social ferment,or economic pressure-and there were fewyears during the twentiethcenturywhen
one or several countries in the Middle East were not torn by such
crises. These focused on nationalism or religion, or both. So it was
not surprisingthat ethnic or religious majoritieswould blame freemasonry,along with its alleged allies, of maintaining foreign connections and, therefore, being anti-patriotic ("revolutionaries,"
"traitors"), anti-Muslim ("atheists," "worshippers of Satan"), or
both. Copying false or exaggerated accusations from earlier antifreemasonic literaturein Christian Europe, some Middle Eastern
pamphleteers distortedfacts,knowinglyor unknowingly,to recreate in their local languages anti-freemasonicwritings,which, in
turn,fed one another.
These charges and others give us a notion of the motiveswhich
have fed-and still feed-the hostilitytowards freemasonryexhibited in Muslim writingin the Middle East. These were often coloured by a strong aversion of conservative-traditionalcircles, fearing the impact of modernityas expressed by freemasonry.They can
be categorized as follows:
1. The libertarian-democratic-egalitarian
views of freemasonry,
sometimes influenced by a revolutionaryspirit,93caused authoritarian rulersand conservativecircles to suspect it.
character of freemasonry
2. The universalist,across-the-frontiers
aroused the suspicions of nationalistthinkersand groupings in the
newly-establishednation-states,both in the Republic of Turkeyand
the Arab East, as well as in some other Muslim communities. The
nationalists felt increasingly antagonized by the fact that many
lodges had been-and some stillwere-affiliated withfreemasonic
organizations located within the territoriesof the Great Powers of
the day.
3. The avowedly secular, sometimes anti-religious attitude of
freemasonry,which was one of the few groups (at certain periods
and in some areas, the only one) to enable Muslims,Christiansand
Jews to mingle, was perceived by some orthodox Muslim circles as

93

Detailsin Zarcone,op. cit.,pp. 238-299.

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MUSLIM OPPOSITION

TO FREEMASONRY

203

unacceptable,evendangerous-parallellingtheaversionofcertain
Catholicspokesmento freemasonry.
Also,some Muslimsmayhave
resentedthe use of ceremonialsymbolsdrawnfromtheJewishChristianheritage.Conversely,whateverreligiousdimensionexistedin freemasonry
mayhave antagonizedsome Turkishand Arab
educatedin West-European
intellectuals,
positivist
thinking.
4. The economicnetworkof thelodges,whichbypassedboththe
economic systemand the religiouslyprescribed
state-organized
activitiesbased on standardsotherthan
one, e.g.,in philanthropic
those of the stateor of Islam, maywell have angered or worried
bothofficialand Islamicinstitutions.
5. The elitistmakeup,sociallyand economically,
ofmanylodges,
composed of professionalpeople and those of means
frequently
(as constantdemandsfordonationsweremade upon them)sometimesangeredthepoor and thedeprived.

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