African Americans had to struggle to have their own independent Shrine. Some took the Arabic references so seriously that they converted to Islam.
March 22, 2025
As American Freemasonry was then reserved for whites, African-Americans formed their own separate lodges, named Prince Hall after their founder or ancestor (1735–1807). In 1893, John George Jones (1860–1914), a Prince Hall Masonic lawyer, founded a “black” version of the Shrine for African-American Freemasons in Chicago. Playing cleverly with the Shrine’s mythical history, Jones claimed that, during the Chicago World’s Fair, an Oriental initiate representing the Shrine’s famous Arab order, one Ali Rofelt Pasha, had initiated him and charged him with founding the new organization. The White Shrine protested that the story was false, but obviously could not deny the existence of an Arab Shrine order.
Jones is a controversial figure. In 1895, he had been expelled from Prince Hall and had founded a schismatic African-American Freemasonry, which still exists. As a result, he was also expelled from the Black Shrine as well. In 1900, the latter organization was reorganized by Isaac L.W. Holland (1859–1913) and acquired legal status as the “Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine”, the word “Egyptian” being the only difference with the White Order’s appellation. There had been, however, at least three other Black Shrine “imperial councils” that had not accepted Holland’s authority, one of them loyal to Jones. In the 1910s, the majority of Black Shriners were reunited, but Holland’s reorganized “Egyptian” order had to launch several legal actions during its history against rival organizations that used its name and symbols.
Like the White Shrine, the African-American version also soon had its female auxiliary, the “Daughters of Isis”, founded in 1909 on the basis of earlier local organizations and recognized by the male Black Shrine in 1910. They are directly subordinate to the male organization, which has led to several conflicts. There have also been controversies with Prince Hall Freemasonry , which in several jurisdictions has demanded that, to be a “Daughter of Isis”, it should be compulsory to be a member of the Prince Hall version of the “Order of the Eastern Star.”
Moreover, relations have often been difficult between Black Shrine and Prince Hall Freemasonry. In some cases, Prince Hall Masonic jurisdictions have forbidden their members to become Shriners. Black Shrine responded with legal action to have these Masonic edicts overturned by the courts, won a case in Chicago in 1954 and reached a favorable out-of-court settlement in Ohio in 1992.
Some Prince Hall Freemasons do not like the playful side of the Black Shrine, which is derived from the White Shrine. While practices such as the “camel walk” dance are, on the whole, harmless, Black Shriners have also been accused of vulgar and even violent initiation rituals, and of involving girls in bathing suits in some of their activities.
Like its white counterpart, the Black Shrine, which today numbers some 25,000 members, has made up for its excesses through civil engagement, in its case for the anti-racist cause (African-American activist Jesse Jackson is an active Shriner), and in charity, notably through support for medical research. The Black Shrine also has its clowns for hospital children, who today often work alongside White Shrine clowns.
Intra-Masonic controversies are of lesser importance in the history of the Black Shrine, compared to the “Great Litigation” launched in 1914 by the White Shrine, which accused the Black Shrine of counterfeiting its name, trademarks and symbols. After winning in Georgia and Texas, the White Shrine finally lost before the U.S. Supreme Court, which on June 3, 1929—“Victory Day”, celebrated annually by Black Shriners—recognized the “Egyptian” Shrine organization’s right to exist, with its name and symbols.
For the Black Shrine ‘s relationship with Islam, it is important to examine the case of Abdul Hamid Suleiman (1864 ? —?). In 1922, during the Great Litigation, this man, who claimed to have been born in 1864 in Khartoum, presented himself to the Black Shrine authorities, declaring that the story of their origins was false, but that he himself had been initiated by the true Arab Shrine. So, to become regularized, the Black Shriners might join his Masonic order founded in New York, the “Mecca Medina temple of Ancient Free and Operative Masons from 1 to 96 Degrees.” The only condition: they had to convert to Islam.
In response to advances by Suleiman—who, according to historian Patrick Bowen’s research, was the same character as the mysterious “Prince De Salomon” who appeared in New York in 1910—the Black Shrine replied that its members were Christians and had no intention of converting to Islam. However, Suleiman continued his activities in the world of African-American Freemasons, and as an “Egyptian prince” and “Mohammedan occultist” in New York. The last reference to him, found by Bowen, dates from 1934.
The Black Shrine rejected Suleiman—who, moreover, was convicted in 1923 of molesting a twelve-year-old girl—but this did not prevent some Shriners from following him and converting to Islam. Historians have mainly focused on the influence of Suleiman and the Shrine on Noble Drew Ali (1886–1929), founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which gave rise to the Black American Muslim movement. Indeed, Drew’s Moorish Science Temple is a blend of Islam and popular esotericism. And so the circle of paradox closes, confirming that the Shrine is more than just a parody. The Islamic legend, born perhaps rather for fun, was then taken seriously, went from White Shrine to Black Shrine, and even produced a few conversions to Islam.
To complicate matters, Anton Szandor LaVey (1930–1997), the flamboyant founder of the Church of Satan, declared in 1972 in “The Satanic Rituals” that one of his rituals was inspired by the Shrine. It mentions a “Devil’s Passage” through which the initiate must pass. Although the links between LaVey’s “Thick Air” ritual and the Shrine are very indirect, it is true that esotericism, which was not present in the Shrine at the outset, subsequently entered the Shrine through Rawson’s Theosophical intermediary.The Shrine, though international today, is above all the expression of a typically American male sociability, where benevolence and charitable activities rubs shoulders with buffoonery. Its references to Islam were originally intended to be parodic and amusing, and the playful element remains important. At the same time, the adoption of a mythical story of Theosophical derivation, taken seriously by many Shriners, and even more so by African-American Shriners, introduced esoteric elements and encouraged a certain approach to Islam. For its part, “official” American Islam has often expressed offense at the Shriners’ parodic references to its religion.
Source: bitterwinter.org
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