History of Freemasonry in the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Israel)

Egypt

During Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in the end of the eighteenth century, a number of Freemasonry including the General Colbert * were with him. They founded the first Masonic Lodge in Egypt called Isis lodge in 1798 followed vast East of France and its headquartered was in Cairo. In 1830, some Italian Freemasons entered Egypt and created a Masonic Lodge in Scottish style. In 1845, Italians established another lodge called "lodge of pyramids" that could have a lot of people with different religious to join. Among the people we can see Prince Abdul Halim son of Muhammad Ali Pasha. In 1867, English lodges started their activities in Cairo and Alexandria and lodges "Concord" and "crystal lodge" were established whose most of members were army officers; at the same time, many scientists and wealthy people of Egypt became a member of Freemasonry. Idris Bey Ragheb founded the Young Egypt Party in 1908. He was the son of Prime Minister Ismail Pasha Ragheb. Idris Ragheb established four lodges that among them, the two lodges of number 43 and number 51 are called after his name and last name "Idris" and "Ragheb". Isris Ragheb was the head of the Egyptian Freemasonry for thirty years. He sent a message, in which he supported the perspective of Jews who claimed that have come to provide Palestinian prosperity and the expansion of welfare and culture, to the Grand Lodges of Jerusalem that he was a founding member of it, and he asked people to surrender in the face of reality! This support was based on one of the principles of Freemasonry in which all Freemasons of the world, regardless of nationality and ethnicity are brothers. Freemasonry had a lot of great activity in Egypt in the field of culture. They published Al-latayef (jokes) magazine and their news were reflected in it. In 1915, "Shahin Makaryus", famous Freemason and editor of Al-latayef magazine, died and his son, "Alexander Makaryus" published Al-latayef magazine (Illustrated jokes) for several decades. In 1940, other Masonic magazine called Al-Ayyam was published whose proprietor was "Hussein Shafiq Al-Masri". He created Daralhalal press agencies and published magazines Al-Fokaha and Al-asnyn. At this time one of the famous Freemasons of Egypt was "Saad Zaghloul". He became Egypt's prime minister and later became speaker of parliament in 1924 and then founded Hizb al-Saadi or Wafd Party. Along with "Muhammad Abduh" he did great efforts for the independence of Egypt, and finally Egypt was free of domination of Ottomans. Due to the extensive activities of Freemasonry in Egypt, in 1964 the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt ordered all Masonic lodges to be closed. The reason of closure of the Lodges was that Egyptian security was threatened by them.

Syria

in Syria it was known that Freemasonry is the population of atheism and the biggest factor of the destruction of religion, and if one enters it, although in the past was a good person, he will be criminal, and if he wants to go out or reveal secrets of them, the population of Freemasonry will soon recognize him and stuck a spear in his picture which can be fatal. The first Masonic Lodge in Syria was founded in 1862 by Aldridge, General of the British Consul. The Lodge was follower of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and many indigenous Senior members of the Lords were alien to its membership that one of the most important of them was "Rashid Pasha" who was governor of Syria during the Ottoman era. Later, He took over the Foreign Ministry of the Ottoman Empire. Freemasonry was spread in Syria by Amir Abdul Qadir Algerian. He, who had traveled for the Hajj obligation, in Egypt became a member of the Egyptian pyramids which was pursuant to East Grand Lodge of France and in his return from Hajj, he established a lodge called Syria lodge in Damascus. Shaheen Makaryus noted that Egyptian Freemasons such as Muhammad Abduh, Ibrahim Beik Laqafy, and Hassan Beik Shamsi came to Syria and spoke at the podium. Makaryus writes that Sheikh Muhammad Abduh also reached the degree of "Kharak and shellfish" which the badge was given to him by the representative of the America. Freemasonry increased its activities in Syria after the First World War. In 1924, the conference of Azadegan (Motamen al-Ahrar) was held in Baalbek, which indicates the extent of Freemasonry in all major cities of Syria at that time. A number of figures, who later became minister, prime minister and president in the Syria, were present at the conference that the most important one can be Fares al-Khoury, the founder of Syrian People's Party and founder of the Masonic Lodge "Light of Damascus". In 1939, the Freemasons of Syria decided to form a Grand Lodge that involves all the lodges of Syria. They elected "Ata Ayoubi" as Grand Master of the Lodge, and lodges in the world immediately recognized the lodge officially. In 1950, a major conference was held which representatives from Arab countries attended it, and the community decided to form a large lodge once again. After closing the Freemasonry lodges in Egypt, the Syrian government issued a decree in August 1965 closing Freemasonry lodges and Rotary clubs and warned the active members of them to be sentenced in military courts for dependence on hidden and secretive international communities. However, the answer to this question that to what extent the Syrian government could prevent Lodges activity is one of the secrets of Freemasonry.

Lebanon

In 1869, Lebanon Lodge was created in Beirut by the French people (Lodge of Lebanon). The Lodge was follower of Grand East of France. In 1891, Shaheen Makaryus asked for permission of Grand Lodge of Egypt that a group of Freemasons of Beirut build Phoenicia Lodge in Beirut, but Sultan Abdul Hamid, the Ottoman Empire, issued the order of the closure of Phoenicia Lodge. Doctor Ali al-Wardi, sociology professor at Baghdad University, writes: "Sultan Abdul Hamid was apparently worried of the lodge due to its link with the Grand Lodge of Egypt due to the influence of Great Britain; Of course he was not wrong, because the lodge tried to overthrow him with East Union Committee's cooperation". In the early twentieth century, three lodges were active in Lebanon, and all three were linked to Grand land Egypt lodge. This lodges included: Lodge "Rashid" headed by doctor "Fouad Ghosn", professor at the American University of Beirut, lodge "Beirut" headed by "Saad Eddin Khaled" one of the secretaries of the House of Representatives, and the Lodge "Union" headed by Mohammad Darwish, an officer in the Lebanese gendarmerie. In 1965, Adib Ferzli, vice president of Lebanese parliament, invited a number of leaders of Freemasonry of the world, and they met Rashid Karami, Lebanese Prime Minister. France Agence reported on 19 1972 January that Saeb Salam, Lebanese Prime Minister, has issued the cancellation of all actions concerning Freemasonry ban. The statement said that "the Lebanese thirty-third degree counsel and Higher Committee and Lebanon Freemasonry from now on are allowed to operate under article VI of the organizations".

Israel (occupied Palestine)

In 1873, the first Masonic lodge was founded in the Palestinian called kingdom of Solomon Lodge by the No. 293. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Freemasonry lodges network existed in most Palestinian cities and towns, including lodge "Pax" in Jerusalem, Lodge "Solomon's Temple" in Jaffa, and lodge "alliance of Jews" and "Sina" in Gaza. The lodges which were linked with England through Grand Lodge of Egypt, managed to declare the independence of Jews' action in 1917 through Balfour, British Foreign Minister, and change name of Palestine to Israel. In the 1930s, there were over seventeen lodges in Israel following Grand lodge of Egypt, of which Omar Bitar, Egypt's Christian-Islamist Association President, was the head of Jaffa Lodge, and Fahmi Husseini, mayor of Gaza, was head of Gaza Lodge. There were also twelve lodges whose majority of its members were Jews. In 1933, the Lodges declared formation of a huge Israeli lodge headed by Krutsky, Jews' lawyer in Tel Aviv. On the evening of January 9, 1933 a ceremony was held to open the Grand Lodge of Israel. At the end of the ceremony, the chairman of the Egyptian Freemasonry lodges said to Almattm newspaper reporter that said that Israel lodge is completely independent and the Grand Lodge of Egypt recognizes its independence officially. The reporter asked whether all those created lodges or will be created ones must be a follower of Grand Lodge of Israel, and he replied that: "Freemasonry law requires this issue and implies it". It is interesting that the Israelis know the issue as "Arab-Jewish understanding"! It is an issue that Arabs are denying since the creation of Israel. After the 1948 disaster in Palestine and joining the West Bank to Jordan, lodges in Palestinian cities attached together and continue their work as well as past. The Lodges formed a Masonic lodge in Amman, capital of Jordan which followed Lodge of Scotland. Read here an article from the journal number 4 in 1346 about the activities of Freemasonry in Israel: Manouchehr Sachmeh chi, Iranian media reporter, writes to Zabihullah Mansouri in a letter in Israel: "Freemasonry activities in Israel are more open of what is mentioned in Your articles. They have a lodge in any of the major cities and hold public meetings every few months, in where Freemasons and their wives and some invited guests are invited. Of course, in these meetings, there is no mention of the issues related to Freemasons and they are more like a typical session. The Freemasons have several restaurants in Israel that everybody is allowed to come and eat there till 6 in the afternoon, but after that, they become Freemasons' clubs. Lately, Israel's Freemasons have built a luxury center in Jerusalem which is set to open soon. Not long ago, I was invited to an open meeting of Freemasons as an Iranian journalist. At first, I was very surprised that they have found my address, and I was very curious to know why they have invited me. The speaker of the night was David Septon, Israeli journalist, who recently visited Iran. Septon, who is one the most sophisticated Israeli journalists, spoke about different aspects of life in Iran for about an hour and a half, which made me surprised."