WHITE FREEMASONS AND I DISAGREE: HOW DO WE UPROOT MASONIC RACISM?

WHITE FREEMASONS AND I DISAGREE: HOW DO WE UPROOT MASONIC RACISM?

WHITE FREEMASONS AND I DISAGREE: HOW DO WE UPROOT MASONIC RACISM?

By FAHIM A KNIGHT-EL

This writer wrote an article entitled "HIRAM ABIFF: SYMBOLIC OF THE BLACK MAN IN AMERICA" October 13, 2008, in which the article as far as, a thought had laid dormant inside of me for perhaps over ten to fifteen years; this is when I actually began to write the article, but just could not pull my Masonic research together in order to at least put forth a half way decent argument that would be empirical and scholarly. This writer in 2008 was contacted by an active United States Serviceman named Wayne T. Muhammad who had read some of my articles relative to Islam and Freemasonry, but he was more interested in my opinions on Hiram Abiff being an allegorical prototype of the African American experience. Mr. Muhammad was doing some writing in this area and this writer thinks that he was searching to see what other writers and scholars have said on this topic.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam have always drawn this parallel between Hiram Abiff and the Black man of America and it was always an intriguing topic for me and no doubt, it caught my intellectual imagination some years ago. No other group has taught on this aspect of Masonic History, Hiram Abiff and Black man’s plight and their sojourn in America being kidnapped from Africa and robbed of the knowledge of self as a symbolic parallel to the mythological character Hiram Abiff other than the Nation of Islam.

The Square and Compass: Masonic Tools, How Many Know How to Use Them?

The Square and Compass: Masonic Tools, How Many Know How to Use Them?

The Square and Compass: Masonic Tools, How Many Know How to Use Them?
By Fahim A. Knight-EL

The Square and Compass, these are truly fascinating tools, (conventional, mystical and enigmatic) perhaps as symbols they are often associated and identifiable with the Speculative Masonic Sciences which is the philosophical framework of Freemasonry. The Masonic Historian Allen E. Roberts gives us an account of a manufacturing company that applied for a corporate patent with the U.S. Patent office and was denied the use of the Square and Compass, as its corporate logo. This legal precedence would forever assign the interlaced Square and Compass as a symbol belonging to Freemasonry, at least within the United States. But since that time, the symbol has almost become universally accepted as a Masonic emblem. .” (Reference: Allen E. Roberts; “The Craft and its Symbols: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism”).

This is what Roberts wrote in his book titled, "The Craft and its Symbol: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism" stated: "One of these symbols, with which you are familiar, is the Square and Compasses—the "symbol of Freemasonry." This has been recognized and accepted as the Masonic emblem from of the 18th Century at least. The United States Patent Office took note of this in 1873. It told a flour manufacturer, and the world. ‘This device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing, whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary significance, wherever displayed." The manufacturer was denied the use of the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark.” (Reference: Allen E. Roberts; “The Craft and its Symbols: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism” pg. 12).

This writer has always wondered, why would the Freemasons choose the Square and Compass as their primary organizational symbols? What is it about this set of interlaced symbols that sets it apart as being the most fitting which to characterize Speculative Craft Masonry? (Reference: W.L. Wilmshurst; “The Meaning of Masonry”).