booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

The Fatimites
The founder of the Fatimite dynasty of the Khalifas was one Ubeidallah, known as the Mahdi, accused
of Jewish ancestry by his adversaries the Abbasides, who declared - apparently without truth-that he was the
son or grandson of Ahmed, son of Abdullah ibn Maymn, by a Jewess. Under the fourth Fatimite Khalifa
Egypt fell into the power of the dynasty and, before long, bi-weekly assemblages of both men and women
known as " societies of wisdom " were instituted in Cairo. In 1004 these acquired a greater importance by
the establishment of the Dar ul Hikmat, or the House of Knowledge, by the sixth Khalifa Hakim, who was
raised to a deity after his death and is worshipped to this day by the Druses. Under the direction of the Dar
ul Hikmat or Grand Lodge of Cairo, the Fatimites continued the plan of Abdullah ibn Maymn's secret society
with the addition of two more degrees making nine in all. Their method of enlisting proselytes and stem
of initiation -which, as Claudio Jannet points out, " are absolutely those which Weishaupt, the founder of the
Illuminati, prescribed to the ' Insinuating Brothers ' " (3)-were transcribed by the fourteenth-century historian
Nowairi in a description that may be briefly summarized thus (4):
The proselytes were broadly divided into two classes, the learned and the ignorant. The Dai was to agree
with the former, applauding his wisdom, and to impress the latter with his own knowledge by asking him
perplexing questions on the Koran. Thus in initiating him into the first degree the Dai assumed an air of profundity
and explained that religious doctrines were too abstruse for the ordinary mind, but must be interpreted
by men who, like the Dais, had a special knowledge of this science. The initiate was bound to absolute
secrecy concerning the truths to be revealed to him and obliged to pay in advance for these revelations.
In order to pique his curiosity, the Dai would suddenly stop short in the middle of a discourse, and should
the novice finally decline to pay the required sum, he was left in a state of bewilderment which inspired him
with the desire to know more.
In the second degree the initiate was persuaded that all his ormer teachers were wrong and that he must
place his confidence solely in those Imams endowed with authority from God; in the third he learnt that
these Imams were those of the Ismailis, seven in number ending with Mohammed, son of Ismail, in contradistinction
to the twelve Imams of the Imamias who supported the claims of Ismail's brother Musa; in the
fourth he was told that the prophets preceding the Imams descending from Ali were also seven in numbernamely
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, the first Mohammed, and finally Mohammed son of Ismail.
So far, then, nothing was said to the initiate in contradiction to the broad tenets of orthodox Islamism.
But with the fifth degree the process of undermining his religion began, he was now told to reject tradition
and to disregard the precepts of Mohammed; in the sixth he was taught that all religious observances-prayer,
fasting, etc.-were only emblematic that in fact all these things were devices to keep the common herd of men
in subordination; in the seventh the doctrines of Dualism, of a greater and a lesser deity, were introduced
and the unity of God-fundamental doctrine of Islamism was destroyed; in the eighth a great vagueness was
expressed on the attributes of the first and greatest of these deities, and it was pointed out that real prophets
were those who concerned themselves with practical matters-political institutions and good forms of government;
finally, in the ninth, the adept was shown that all religious teaching was allegorical and the religious
precepts need only be observed in so far as it is necessary to maintain order, but the man who understands
the truth may disregard all such doctrines. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets were therefore
only teachers who had profited by the lessons of philosophy. All belief in revealed religion was thus destroyed.
It will be seen then that in the last degrees the whole teaching of the first five was reversed and
therefore shown to be a fraud. Fraud in fact constituted the system of the society; in the instructions to the
Dais every artifice is described for enlisting proselytes by misrepresentation: Jews were to be won by speaking
ill of Christians, Christians by speaking ill of Jews and Moslems alike, Sunnis by referring with respect
to the orthodox Khalifas Abu Bakr and Omar and criticizing Ali and his descendants. Above all, care was to
be taken not to put before proselytes doctrines that might revolt them, but to make them advance step by
step. By these means they would be ready to obey any commands. As the instructions express it: If you were
to give the order to whoever it might be to take from him all that he holds most precious, above all his
money, he would oppose none of your orders, and if death surprised him he would leave you all that he possesses
in his will and make you his heir. He will think that in the whole world he cannot find a man more
worthy than you.
Such was the great secret society which was to form the model for the Illuminati of the eighteenth century,
to whom the summary of von Hammer might with equal truth apply: To believe nothing and to dare all
was, in two words, the sum of this system, which annihilated every principle of religion and morality, and
had no other object than to execute ambitious designs with suitable ministers who, daring all and knowing
nothing, since they consider everything a cheat and nothing forbidden, are the best tools of an infernal
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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