"Sufism and Freemasonry"

From the September/October 2025 edition of The Scottish Rite Journal.  Any accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Scottish Right Journal Podcast, an audio presentation
of the Scottish Right Journal, brought to you by the
Supreme Council of the Scottish Right Southern Jurisdiction Mother Supreme
Council of the World. This week's article is Sufiism and
Freemasonry by Brother Alexander Hill, thirty second degree and comes
from the September October twenty twenty five issue of the

(00:23):
Scottish Right Journal. In the twenty fifth degree Knight of
the Brazen Serpent, as we Scottish Right Masons are introduced
to the Sufi tradition, which might be described in a
few words as an Islamic esoteric tradition that is organized
into various orders and brotherhoods. While Masonry has evolved into
various bodies and local adaptations over hundreds of years, the

(00:46):
various Sufi orders have an even longer history, with traditions
and practices that may date back some thirteen hundred years.
If you have ever heard of a Persian poet named Rumi,
or of a whirling dervish, then you have heard references
to the Mevlevi Order of Sufism. Illustrious Albert Pike thirty
third degree does not mention Sufism, but illustrious manly p

(01:09):
Hall thirty third degree writes in his nineteen twenty eight
work Secret Teachings of All Ages. Rumi, the great Persian Sufik,
poet and philosopher, is accredited with having founded the Order
of Mevlevi, or the Dancing Dervishes, whose movements exoterically signify
the motions of the celestial bodies and esoterically result in

(01:29):
the establishment of a rhythm which stimulates the centers of
spiritual consciousness within the dancer's body. The Mevlevi order was
founded by a master named Jalaluddin Rumi in the thirteenth century,
and its best known right is the Sema, the whirling ceremony.
The sema begins with crossed arms, much like our Scottish
Rite prayers. It involves the individual performer forming a point

(01:52):
within a circle a masonic notion, as he rotates counterclockwise,
pivoting on the left foot. The word dervish its own
self means one who waits at the door. While an
apron is not worn in the Mevlevi and some other
Sufi orders, a post or sheepskin rug may be set
and is sometimes preyed upon by devotees. Further, a Mevleve

(02:14):
traditionally spent one thousand and one days serving as a chile,
a sort of apprenticeship before officially joining the order. There
are other symbols in Sufiism that we as Masons would
find familiar. The idea of being spiritually destitute reminds the
individual Sufi of the spiritual poverty and reliance on God.

(02:34):
Just as our initiation emphasizes seeing with the heart before
the eyes, so the Sufi tradition emphasizes seeing the divine
with the eye of the heart. Indeed, the Sufi concept
of secrecy sish means that because the divine presence in
all of us is ineffable and cannot be expressed with words,
it remains secret, even though it is in fact accessible

(02:57):
to all. Masons under stand the idea of symbolic death
and rebirth well, This is not unlike the Sufi concept
of dying before you die, which is the death of
the individual's ego before the death of the physical body.
Rumy's poetry similarly contains symbols that sound familiar to our
ears as Masons, as he uses what we might describe

(03:20):
as operative masonry in some of his poetry, particularly in
his magnum Opus. The Masnavi labor to lessen your own
stony nature, become a ruby, a stone that may shine
with light. Teach yourself how to have and how to see.
Such knowledge is like etching a design onto stone, and

(03:41):
your hands are the point and the compasses. And the
line of particular interest to Scottish Rite masons is Rumy's
discussion of the building of King Solomon's temple. In the
fourth volume, he discusses the building of the Solomonic Temple
at Jerusalem, admonishing the reader to be like Solomon, so
that your demons may dig stones for your spiritual edifice.

(04:04):
Be like Solomon, free from evil thoughts and guile, so
that carnal demons may be submissive to you. In his
own way, Rumi appears to be encouraging us to subdue
our passions in order to improve ourselves, a common theme
in freemasonry. Masonry and Sufism are, of course, two distinct

(04:24):
and separate traditions. While Rumi traveled widely in the Persian Empire,
including spending several years in Damascus, it is unlikely that
there was much contact between Rumi and his followers and
those we may term the forebears of our Masonic tradition. Nonetheless,
similarities between the two groups are striking. Both the Sufi
and the Mason must be initiated by a qualified master

(04:47):
who was himself initiated by another master. For virtually all
Sufi orders, this lineage, this student teacher chain can be
traced back to a man named Jaafar Sadik, who taught
various religions and esoteric sciences in the eighth century. Phrased
another way, Sadiq was a figure who Rumi looked to
as a spiritual predecessor and transmitter of knowledge. Meanwhile, in

(05:11):
the West, spiritual alchemy became a source of wisdom and
rich symbolism from which Masonry, especially the Scottish Rite, draws heavily. Indeed,
the word alchemy comes from the Arabic Alchimia and was
transmitted to the West by a man named Jabir ibin Hayan,
who was a student of none other than Rumi's spiritual ancestor,

(05:32):
Ja'afar Sadik. In closing, suffice it to say, the Scottish
Rite initiate of the twenty fifth degree Knight of the
Brazen Serpent will benefit much from the study of Sufism.
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(05:54):
accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found
in the corresponding print edition. The Scottish Rite Journal is
published by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Right Southern
Jurisdiction Mother Supreme Council of the World, Mark Dreysenstock, thirty
third degree Managing Editor. I'm your host, Matt Bauers