Organizations: Who Are Those Arabs?

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One morning, they were there. Accompanied by close to 50 brass bands, some 500 horses and at least two camels, they swarmed into Manhattan 150,000 strong, occupied 85 hotels and motor inns, added to the traffic jam, monopolized sidewalks, held seven-hour-long parades, and displayed a keen group sense of humor in a thousand hilarious ways, including occasionally entangling innocent natives in loops of invisible thread. They wore red fezzes, red and green floppy harem trousers, and embroidered jackets, and looked like wandering extras from The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. They were the respectable and respected members of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North America.In other words, Shriners.

As representatives of an organization forthrightly dedicated to whoopee in a good cause, the Shriners are pranksters by profession, obligation and tradition. Launched over a Manhattan lunch table in 1870 by 13 Masons determined to have more cheer than that earnest, philanthropic brotherhood provided for, the Order of the Shrine is no frivolous minor offshoot but the second highest level of all Masonry. Only 32nd-degree Masons or Knights Templar are eligible —though admittedly their degree can be attained, if a man puts his mind to study, in a matter of months. The Shriners' caste mark, worn proudly if sometimes absurdly, is a maroon felt hat that can conceal but does little else for a shiny bald head.

Manna from Mecca. Why a fez? The most dedicated Shriner is hard put to say. The reason is that the history of the Shrine was invented after its founding, and has been elaborated ever since. The fact seems to be that one of the 13 founders happened to have made a trip to the Middle East just before the historic meeting, and thought the Arabs were quaint and Mecca romantic. And in a country of egalitarians, there is something about titles like "Imperial Potentate" or "Grand Chief Rabban" that can make any true democrat tingle.

The belated attempt to create a history has "traced" the beginning of the order to A.D. 644, when the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, Kalif Alee (whose name be praised!), founded a "vigilance committee" to dole out punishment for crimes not already covered by existing laws. The committee became a select group of noblemen, presumably above reproach and therefore demonstrably better than other men. They evolved elaborate rituals and ceremonies. As luck would have it, a copy of the ritual (in translation) wandered slowly across the vast Near Eastern deserts to America, where it fell, like manna from heaven (Mecca, anyway), into the hands of the first Imperial Potentate, Dr. Walter M. Fleming. For his part, Fleming dropped some of the dogma, amended the purposes to stress "the exercise of charity and the improvement of the mind" rather than "the gaining of all possible power and the purification of base elements from the land," but was careful to hang onto what mattered.

And what mattered were the symbols of exotica that attended the organization, such as the jewel of the order and its Arabic motto, Kuwat wa Ghadab (Strength and Fury), and the special intramural greeting, "Es selamu alei-kum" ("Peace be with you").