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The Crescent and the Compass: Islam, Freemasonry, Esotericism and Revolution in the Modern Age
A timely survey of radical spirituality and political activism in Islam and the West over the last century and a half, The Crescent and the Compass uncovers numerous previously unknown and unexplored connections between European, American, and Muslim movements, organizations, secret societies, and thinkers. Subjects covered include Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic mysticism; Sufism and Shi'ism; the influence of the ideas of René Guénon, a former Catholic and Freemason, and convert to Sufism; and Charles, the Prince of Wales, Traditionalism and Islamic spirituality. At the heart of the book, however, are the many connections, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between various Muslim revolutionaries and Freemasonry, a fraternal movement that was influential in the spiritual and occult avant-garde of Western Europe and America. The Crescent and the Compass not only explores how revolutionaries and anti-colonialists, such as Sayyid Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, attempted to mold Masonic Lodges for political aims, but how interpretations of Islam and Freemasonry converged in the writings and practices of such figures as poet and occultist Aleister Crowley; Noble Drew Ali, founder of the faith of Moorish Science in the USA; Abdullah Quilliam, Shaykh-ul-Islam of the British Isles; and, as anti-Freemasonry, in the contemporary Takfiri, Islamist movement. Exploring one of the least documented yet one of the most important historical chapters of the modern era, the picture that emerges will challenge the way reader looks at the Middle East and Islam, and their relationship to the West. Angel Millar is the author of Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition (2014) and Freemasonry: A History (2005). His articles and papers have been published in The Journal of Indo-European Studies, and by Eurasian Review dot com, among others.
218 pages, Hardcover
First published February 5, 2015
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140 people want to read
About the author
Angel Millar
14 books115 followersAuthor and public speaker Angel Millar was born in a suburb of London, England. He attended Chelsea College and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where he developed both his interest in the arts and in spirituality. He later moved to North America, spending several years in Canada. He now lives in New York City.
He is the author of several books on Freemasonry, esotericism, symbolism, and mysticism. His upcoming book is The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician (February 2020, Inner Traditions publishing). In it, Millar explores the three archetypes through the world's cultures, both ancient and modern, from shamanism, ancient Greek philosophy, alchemy, and Kabbalah, through Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, the martial arts (of China, Russia, and Persia), to Jungian psychology, the positive thinking movement, and chaos magic.
Designed as a kind of literary initiation, The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician is divided into three sections, each with chapters explaining the history, myths, symbolism, rituals, and practices of one of the three archetypes.
In his daily life, Millar does his best to integrate these three archetypes, practicing art and writing (craftsman), martial arts, physical training, and Chi Gong (warrior), and meditation, inner-alchemy, visualization, and positive thinking (magician).
He is the author of several books on Freemasonry, esotericism, symbolism, and mysticism. His upcoming book is The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician (February 2020, Inner Traditions publishing). In it, Millar explores the three archetypes through the world's cultures, both ancient and modern, from shamanism, ancient Greek philosophy, alchemy, and Kabbalah, through Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, the martial arts (of China, Russia, and Persia), to Jungian psychology, the positive thinking movement, and chaos magic.
Designed as a kind of literary initiation, The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician is divided into three sections, each with chapters explaining the history, myths, symbolism, rituals, and practices of one of the three archetypes.
In his daily life, Millar does his best to integrate these three archetypes, practicing art and writing (craftsman), martial arts, physical training, and Chi Gong (warrior), and meditation, inner-alchemy, visualization, and positive thinking (magician).
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July 21, 2022
For reasons that someone else can perhaps analyze I have a taste for esoteric, alternative histories of the world particularly in terms of the development of intellectual and spiritual life. One of the most interesting clandestine movements in my view over the last few centuries has been Traditionalism, which has claimed as sympathizers and adherents people as diverse as Sayyid Hossein Nasr, Prince Charles, Aldous Huxley, and Steve Bannon. Traditionalism was a response to the perceived spiritual deracination of the world under modernity. Amid all that we have gained materially, something important has been forgotten. Traditionalists argue for going back to spiritual and religious sources of inspiration to rediscover these values and bring them back to the modern world, usually through some form of gnostic practice and ritual. It is a surprisingly ecumenical movement and holds that all religions are more or less pointing towards the same ultimate truth. It’s just your choice which path to follow to get there.
This book is about the covert global society known as the Freemasons which was once highly popular among elites, and which drew upon Traditionalist ideas of spirituality and religion. Being a Freemason was essentially like being part of a brotherhood of likeminded individuals (usually men) who decided to put their other religious, racial, and cultural differences aside and embrace a new identity based on a mixture of material progress and worship of the sacred. Although most Freemasons, particularly in the West, were Christians, Islam exerted a significant influence on the culture of the orders. Western travelers in the premodern Muslim world were often intrigued by the secretive and spiritualist Sufi brotherhoods they sometimes encountered there and which were the most common form of religious organization for centuries until the emergence of liberal secularism and Salafism. Many of these Westerners came back to their home countries and created Freemason orders that incorporated the same mix of ritual, spirituality, and kinship that they saw among the Sufis. You can still see residues of this in the attire of Freemason-descended organizations like the Shriners with their red fezzes. They didn’t become Muslims per se of course, but they created a Traditionalist amalgam of Christianity, Islam, and other Eastern religious beliefs in an effort to create a coherent spiritual program for the modern world.
Over time the Freemason lodges grew and spread around the world. They wound up including Jews, as well as actual Muslims and even Hindus and Buddhists among their members. In the West, being a Freemason was often seen as a way of getting back in touch with spirituality. But for lodges in the East, of which there were many, being a Freemason was seen in contrast as a means of tapping into currents of progress and globalization. Ironically, today Freemasonry is something attacked and derided by many Islamist groups and used as a shorthand for cultural Westernization, to which they are opposed. The truth though is that many diverse types of people have been Freemasons and Traditionalists, from Islamist revolutionaries to Western elites.
The extent to which Freemasonry continues to exert a meaningful political influence on the world today is beyond my ability to judge. It undeniably loomed large for a long time however as a cultural undercurrent of globalization and modernity. As a kid I remember watching an episode of The Simpsons loosely based on the Freemasons and hearing a number of conspiracy theories about them from friends, particularly among Muslim immigrants. I thought this book was a little in the weeds, but if you wanted an engaging and politically relevant book to learn more about Traditionalism as a whole, which definitely does continue to exert an impact on politics through people like Steve Bannon, Aleksandr Dugin, and many others, I’d recommend War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers by Benjamin Teitelbaum.
This book is about the covert global society known as the Freemasons which was once highly popular among elites, and which drew upon Traditionalist ideas of spirituality and religion. Being a Freemason was essentially like being part of a brotherhood of likeminded individuals (usually men) who decided to put their other religious, racial, and cultural differences aside and embrace a new identity based on a mixture of material progress and worship of the sacred. Although most Freemasons, particularly in the West, were Christians, Islam exerted a significant influence on the culture of the orders. Western travelers in the premodern Muslim world were often intrigued by the secretive and spiritualist Sufi brotherhoods they sometimes encountered there and which were the most common form of religious organization for centuries until the emergence of liberal secularism and Salafism. Many of these Westerners came back to their home countries and created Freemason orders that incorporated the same mix of ritual, spirituality, and kinship that they saw among the Sufis. You can still see residues of this in the attire of Freemason-descended organizations like the Shriners with their red fezzes. They didn’t become Muslims per se of course, but they created a Traditionalist amalgam of Christianity, Islam, and other Eastern religious beliefs in an effort to create a coherent spiritual program for the modern world.
Over time the Freemason lodges grew and spread around the world. They wound up including Jews, as well as actual Muslims and even Hindus and Buddhists among their members. In the West, being a Freemason was often seen as a way of getting back in touch with spirituality. But for lodges in the East, of which there were many, being a Freemason was seen in contrast as a means of tapping into currents of progress and globalization. Ironically, today Freemasonry is something attacked and derided by many Islamist groups and used as a shorthand for cultural Westernization, to which they are opposed. The truth though is that many diverse types of people have been Freemasons and Traditionalists, from Islamist revolutionaries to Western elites.
The extent to which Freemasonry continues to exert a meaningful political influence on the world today is beyond my ability to judge. It undeniably loomed large for a long time however as a cultural undercurrent of globalization and modernity. As a kid I remember watching an episode of The Simpsons loosely based on the Freemasons and hearing a number of conspiracy theories about them from friends, particularly among Muslim immigrants. I thought this book was a little in the weeds, but if you wanted an engaging and politically relevant book to learn more about Traditionalism as a whole, which definitely does continue to exert an impact on politics through people like Steve Bannon, Aleksandr Dugin, and many others, I’d recommend War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers by Benjamin Teitelbaum.
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