Perhaps you remember the
story of Brother Salman S. Sheika resigning from Freemasonry. We covered the
story
HERE.
Good news. Brother Sheika
is returning to Freemasonry and here is his story:
Why I Am Returning To
The Masonic Brotherhood: Salman S. Sheikh
Why I Am Returning
To The Masonic Brotherhood: Salman S. Sheikh
Disclaimer: This is of my own personal thoughts, opinions, and experiences and
does not represent any Grand Lodge or its leaders/statements in any way.
Please read with an open mind and don’t take anything out of context as I had
several Masons review this before publishing. Thank You!
Greetings to one and all
wherever you are reading this from. My name is Salman Sheikh and as you know I
had an article that went viral when I resigned from the fraternity due to many
issues which I felt did not meet my expectations of individuals I wanted to
associate myself with. As you read this, I will try my best to break every
subject I feel necessary to address in different headings so my message is
understood rather than receiving criticism which is common for any Mason that
cares and makes the effort to put it in writing. I found it in my heart to
make the intention to return and reserved my right as a resigned Master Mason
in good standing doing so. I want to clear the air on many things so I can
return with a full heart. And away we go:
“That is what I
joined for to see guys learn something they can apply to their lives instead
of repetitive meetings, lodge politics, and online arguments which is common
now in the current environment.”
My Background and Why
I Left The Brotherhood:
As I was growing up as a first
generation American Muslim, I felt lost when I arrived to the USA at age 5 and
did not know a word of English when I arrived in Cleveland, Ohio. I went to a
local school which was a K-8 school and I am thankful to a teacher from India
who took me under his wing and taught me English in terms of watching and
reading all materials that presented itself in the required Lingua Franca. As
time went on, I eventually made my way to the Greater Philadelphia area and
have been here ever since. I was always misunderstood and found myself in
trouble going through the school system and in middle school as I was only 1
suspension away from expulsion but was saved due to the advice I took from my
7th grade history teacher at the time who cared. I am thankful that to this
day I maintain a clean record on all fields as a productive member of society
especially growing up as a Muslim in the post 9/11 era. I am thankful to
people like my Ohio Indian teacher and my 7th grade history teacher who showed
up at the right times to guide me when they did so I could have a foundation
to build upon. These individuals didn’t see me as a Pakistani Muslim but
someone that they showed compassion for as a human being because I had always
seen the world from outside the box and would often rebel against things I did
not agree with. After finishing high school, I became the first person in my
family to obtain a college degree and I am thankful of the opportunity of
growing up in the USA and will always be thankful to my father who brought me
here.
I was always curious about the
world and humanity’s purpose in it as I would spend hours during my high
school weekends searching Freemasonry including different secret societies,
the occult aspects, and why things in our world worked the way they did in a
script mode as I observed with the practice of Gematria/Kabalah. After high
school, I operated a family business for a few years in the Philadelphia area
while finishing my college and the thought of the craft had left my mind until
the summer of 2015. I was working a summer job in the Upper Darby area when I
had met an immigrant from Jamaica and a wonderful human being who showed up as
a customer. I saw the square and compass on his hat and asked him that I
wanted to join knowing the process myself that I had to ask with my own free
will. He was old school and wanted to test me out for a bit as time went on of
us becoming friends, hanging out, and learning from each other before He
decided to present me with a petition to lodge. I was 23 at the time and
really excited and went right away to my local Grand Lodge to take a tour. The
night I became an Entered Apprentice, I was so excited because I never saw the
sight of men of different backgrounds all sitting together and breaking bread.
That’s when one of the Past Master’s of my former lodge who is a wonderful
individual told me, “People will still be people.” I disregarded his words
just like any youngster that talks to an elder but as time went on I came to
appreciate his words more and more. I was initiated, passed, and raised by a
Jewish Past Master who is often overlooked and I want him recognized for his
awesome contributions to the craft and for the countless individuals he has
raised. I thought to myself that where else in the world do you see this where
we can all come together as one regardless of our faith, race, socio-economic
status, etc?
I decided to faithfully attend
all events of lodge which consisted of instruction(practice) nights, stated
meetings, and extra meetings which is used for conferral of degrees. As soon
as I was raised in the Spring of 2016 I was put into the Junior Deacon role
which I faithfully honored with perfect attendance and effort till my Summer
2018 resignation. I also joined other appendant bodies and made the effort to
honor all with participation, attendance, mentoring(education), bringing in
worthy candidates which in my case still allows me to make an impact as one of
the candidates I recommended for my former blue lodge is serving them in an
exceptional way and things would have turned out differently for them had I
not recommended this worthy individual so in the end I am thankful in many
ways because we all have our parts to play to guiding each other to wherever
we are meant to be and serve. I am no one special in the end but I am thankful
to have played my role.
The one thing which amazed me
was seeing men who would call me brother in lodge just for the sake of being
there but would later post Anti-Islamic/Anti-Immigrant rhetoric on their
social media pages or my spirit would be able to pick up on their vibrations
on how they really felt about me. I tried to change them by showing them how a
real Freemason makes a difference in the world. I made the effort to get
involved in every appendant body and visited different lodges, went up to
brothers that were sitting alone, and gave hugs to many as a I could to let
them know that there was still some good left in the world including in the
world of Freemasonry. The only way there will be a renewal in this brotherhood
is when brothers like myself and others make the effort through action to show
them how we can be a shining example of light to the world rather than empty
words or promises. The doubts also started to cloud my mind is when how some
brethren would make subliminal derogatory comments towards me in person and
the way they conducted themselves on social media which made me more
disillusioned no matter how many times I tried to stay active, help, do
education programs, publish articles in Masonic magazines or any other Masonic
effort I tried to make with a clean heart to spread unity in my short 2.5
years. I operated myself in a duality existence where I wore my Islamic prayer
cap and kept my Masonic ring on as I had learned from the craft and the
Scottish Rite Double Headed Eagle to represent all of our existence in a
singularity because all other labels and identities are worldly illusions. My
intention doing this living in USA was to show those I had interacted with
that not all Masons and Muslims are bad and to erase the doubts in their minds
through my own character. One thing I learned is that you can only influence
and teach others through your displayed character which means a lot more than
words.
I joined Freemasonry because I
wanted to escape the judgemental attitudes I experienced in America and wanted
to be with men who shared the same vision as me and great men in history like
Haile Sellassie, Swami Vivekananda, Mustafa Kamal, and many other great
revolutionaries that changed the world. I believe they only succeeded because
they came together for a common cause and not petty issues like how I can make
myself stand out from the next brother or who is taking the chair next year.
If they had the attitudes we have today then maybe the USA would have never
been created. I believe we leave all those fancy titles and honors behind
when we face the creator because at that point the only thing that will matter
is what good did you do for yourself, the world, and others? I can proudly say
that I can face the creator with a clean heart and say that I loved my
brothers, did right by all, and asked for forgiveness from all that were hurt
by my actions unintentionally. That my beautiful brethren, I believe is true
Freemasonry and I did not get that from those who are quick to make comments
about the West Gate and how we need to better screen everyone. These are the
same people who drive others out and maintain their own control as we see with
the mass decline on how good of a job they are doing. My intention is to not
condemn anyone or the fraternity but to raise the necessary awareness for
revival and education because I saw no one else having the courage to stand up
so please keep this in mind as you read on. If not me, then who?
I left Freemasonry because I did
not like the corporate mindset that creeps into the lodge system. My intention
of joining Freemasonry was to gain esoteric knowledge by spreading my own and
humbling myself to learn from others also when required. I dedicated my heart
and soul for all events and in the end I was called a liar, a spy, and other
names by those who find it easier to criticize behind my back and on the
computer screen rather than to my face because I chose to call out all those
guilty of UnMasonic conduct rather than look away. These are the same
individuals I called my brothers and they left me out to dry just like we see
in the corporate world of the seller being nice to the client to gain as much
as possible out of him but won’t hesitate to look the other way and walk right
past them if they see any issue of any kind. I forgive them and moved on with
my life peacefully and I hope they can become true Masons in all that they do
because at the end no one is perfect but that should not be an excuse for
lacking basic decency or empathy for your fellow man regardless of your
biases, race, or religion viewpoints. The mindset of everyone being expendable
needs to go away where focusing on numbers and petitions is the priority but
not on why young men are leaving disoriented. Men come to the craft to learn
and not appease those with a shopkeeper’s mentality who gets upset when you
decide not to take a chair or anything else and won’t hesitate to replace you
in a heartbeat. We see that as all the “higher ups” find it easier to hold
fancy seminars about how to attract younger men and increase numbers(profits)
while never talking about why did they join, how did we fail, and what drove
them away? How you present yourself in person, on social media, and other
things will determine if the young person joining will find you worthwhile or
not to their spiritual growth. The young generation of today is keen with
technology, Artificial Intelligence, and can flood the internet with memes in
the seconds of any event happening in the world. These are the kids who are
becoming leaders of tomorrow and the craft has to clean up the shopkeeper
mentality who just needs enough bodies to keep the show rolling where whoever
decide to show up is automatically assigned a chair. I am part of this
generation and we won’t tolerate those who don’t practice what they preach on
all venues. Hence, why I and others continue to leave as we see lodges with
hundreds of members barely having enough to just open and close. This needs to
change if the craft wants to survive beyond in to the 2030s and 2040s. The
egos need to die down also as we see on all Masonic online platforms of just
brethren arguing and fighting amongst many different issues in today’s
environment of extreme polarization. I have also read many comments of my
articles published which brethren degrade my faith, my value, and other lack
of understanding and you can revisit them online and see how I handled them in
response which was with brotherly love because I for one will never dishonor
my oath and obligation regardless If I am an active Mason or not. I have the
courage to look myself in the mirror everyday and tell those who are wrong on
their face rather than look the other way.
Why I
Am Returning:
I created a lot of controversy
when I resigned from Pennsylvania because I honored my obligation of standing
up against injustice even if that meant losing everything I had worked for. I
am returning because of great human beings like the current Right Worshipful
Grand Master of Pennsylvania, Bro. S. Eugene Herritt who personally called me
and assured he would make things right. I first met RWGM Herritt at the Spring
2017 Academy of Masonic Knowledge lectures in Elizabethtown, PA. At the time
he was a Deputy Grand Master and I did not know that as I just saw him a
brother who was sitting by himself at the table during lunch. I felt something
for him in respect to my oath and went up to him, gave him a hug, and took a
picture with him and shared a nice moment as we took more pictures with our
speakers, the speakers who also I both embraced because I know how special it
is for those that gather to share knowledge with their fellow man. There are
Grand Lodge leaders that probably don’t notice if your average Mason demits
but RWGM Herritt truly cares for his fellow man and Mason and I want him
recognized and honored for that from the entire global Masonic community
including the growth of Masonic education under his leadership. There were
those who said that I broke the trust of the RWGM with my resignation article
that went viral that also had a picture of us sharing a moment together.
Anyone with a pair of eyes can reread that article can see that I only mention
the RWGM in their once where I respect him for the actions he was taking to
better Pennsylvania and the fraternity in general. These are the same people
who were quite and looked the other way when their clique friends laughed at
me when I was going through my resignation process. I rest my case and those
who have the eyes to see and the heart to feel know where I stand in my
position without me having to provide any necessary justification as we see in
the past of all individuals who made a difference branded as heretics or
rebels. If anyone points a finger at you they too have to realize they are 10
pointing at least right back at you.
I am returning to honor great
men like the current RWGM of Pennsylvania and others from the United Grand
Lodge of England and Grand Lodge of India who stayed in touch with me on a
daily basis regardless of time zone differences. That changed my entire
perspective as I was only used to receiving once a year birthday check up
calls as an American Mason or the dues payment reminders. Through these
brethren, I am petitioning the UGLE and eventually the Grand Lodge of India to
become an active Mason again and am making the intention to visit these
countries to speak and be a real traveler with Masonry being a unifier that
can help me bridge issues between the India/Pakistan mentality also which are
all just illusions and labels. My purpose in returning is only for bringing
brethren together in different scenarios and Masonic education and not to play
lodge politics or musical chairs. I won’t join any lodge here in USA until
they show me by their actions on where they stand and not empty words, but
with my restored credentials I will happily visit the lodges here if they need
a good education program that I can speak on and help them learn something or
be able to attend myself if someone else is spreading light. I am not
denouncing Continental Masonry(USA) and won’t hesitate to join a new lodge
here in Pennsylvania or anywhere else that I believe would be benefecial for
me or if I see something that sets them apart from others. That is what I
joined for to see guys learn something they can apply to their lives instead
of repetitive meetings, lodge politics, and online arguments which is common
now in the current environment. If I make my intentions clear on why I want to
come back then the possibility of me being disappointed is low. We all have
different talents we can contribute to the craft and the mentality of throwing
everyone in a chair right after being raised and expecting them to perform
perfect ritual is unrealistic. The effort needs to made to sit down with the
brother and ask him what he joined for and what talent or skill he has that
can teach someone as we remain true to being builders of selves and our fellow
man, not everyone can be a ritualist so the emphasis on their personal talents
need to be clarified so the new brother feels a purpose and belonging. I
joined at age 23 as the first person in my family to do so and am returning at
age 27 almost as a Master Mason in good standing and that is something no one
can ever take away from me because at the end our faith is always in God
through all good and bad times. We all need to be understanding of one another
if we are truly being followers of God and I know the inevitable comments of
criticism that I will get from this and I forgive you in advance because you
are my brothers and I will always wish you well. I will leave my contact
information below and I encourage everyone who agrees or disagrees with me of
how I took action to meet with me in person rather than behind a computer
screen. I will treat you to a coffee and be willing to learn from you by
putting my ego aside and I hope you will return the same respect to me as I
will not respond to any negativity or negative comments that get posted on my
new piece here. I also want to quickly address those who scrutinized me for
standing up to those who post Anti-Islamic/Anti-Immigrant content on their
social medias. I support everyone’s right to what they believe but to me it’s
crossing the line when you demonize others which inevitably turns into
UnMasonic conduct. The whole concept of being divided by race and religion is
an illusion in my humble opinion and we can’t lower ourselves to that
mentality. I got my DNA test done as a Pakistani and had Indian, Persian,
Chinese, Japanese, and Australian Aboriginal ancestry in which the aboriginal
bloodline gives me Indigenous recognition in the US under International law
pursuant to Aborigines American Indian treaties with Great Britain and the De
Jure United States of America under UCC 9-311 and the UN International rights
of the indigenous peoples signed by President Obama in 2010 along with being a
naturalized American citizen as well in respect to the Pam Am Convention, and
Organization of American States. I found a fifth generational cousin who was a
Caucasian woman in Iowa in which proves my sentiment again that we are all
connected by our spirits and love for one another as human beings regardless
of how different we think we are from others especially those whether they are
Masons or not that like to spread disunity and confusion. This is my point in
addressing all this. I would like to conclude my thoughts with a quote from
Hermes Trismegistus, “The excellence of the soul is understanding; for the man
who understands is conscious, devoted, and already godlike.”
A lot of people have asked me
why I keep putting my neck on the line and I tell them that I truly care about
the future of humanity whether it be through my Masonic endeavors or other
situations. My personal beliefs added with Masonic teachings taught me never
to back down or look the other way no matter what happens or how strong the
opposition. The climate of division in USA has gotten worse over the last few
years and unfortunately those attitudes seep into the lodges as well which
drives away younger Masons and I would like to tell those older brethren and
others that being a Mason evolves around love and understanding in all that
you do. Mankind is born into bondage as the baby gets branded with a name,
socio-economic status, and ideology in respect to the area being born in. Then
that same baby grows up defending those programmed beliefs that were never
truly chosen by them in the first place. The real realization is that one must
follow their own path to understand self and others and have that true human
victory which should be our true focus as Masons rather than the hours we
spend arguing online. I wrote to many leaders and heads of state including
Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth, who responded to me within 2 weeks! If I as
a suburban Philly kid can do all this to spread awareness to the very minimum
then no one else should have any excuse on why they choose to look the other
way. Masonry has to give the younger generation a purpose of understanding in
today’s 24/7 surveilled environment where the concepts of human interaction,
relationships, jobs, etc are all different compared to the times of our
parents and grandparents.
Thank you all and may God always
bless you all and remove all your sorrows in this year and beyond. Again, make
the effort to sit down with me in person and look me in the eye if you
disagree with my above mentioned article on why I am returning rather than
describe me as bad person who got through the West Gate. As a 27 year old Sufi
Muslim, Freemason, and man I realized that its either you do it from the heart
or not do it at all and that includes looking someone in the eye and giving
them genuine warmth of a smile and feeling of peace. Again, I reassure you
that this article is not to condemn Masonry but to encourage its revival
through honesty and dialogue with one another for only being honest we can
honor Masonry and its universal tenants of earning rewards through pain and
struggle. We are all imperfect and as brothers who often fall out and make up
again, we to share that bond of humanity even if we are not related by blood.
If I hurt anyone in any way shape or form through my actions of order out of
chaos in Masonry, I apologize and I hope those who conspired against me or did
me wrong have the courage to do the same. We don’t become smaller by doing
what’s right because in the end we shall all be held accountable by the
almighty creator, myself included. Please continue to love each other, your
families, and apply the teachings of our degrees, charges, and symbols into
your daily lives and keep your head held high because God and karma vindicate
our soul/character in the end. May peace be upon you and yours always and may
our love for humanity and each other get stronger.
Yours in brotherhood,
Salman S. Sheikh
All Rights Reserved ::
Email: SalmanSheikh911@gmail.com – Greater Philadelphia Area
USA