Templars And The Freemasons
PART I.
THE CRUSADING TEMPLARS’ MENTALITY
To understand the Templars’ true identity and purpose and how they came about, one must go back to the time of the Crusades. Those who founded the order of the Templars were a group within the Crusader knights, who traveled and settled in Palestine with the excuse of “saving” and protecting the Holy Lands.
When the first Crusade began, Europe was just emerging from the Dark Ages. On the one hand, there was poverty, hunger and ignorance, fights for authority and territory between duchies and little kingdoms and various feudal lords. On the other, a series of barbarian invasions from the north had turned Europe into a nearly unlivable continent. The trade and guilds that had just begun to arise were not enough to meet the people’s needs and establish a strong authority in Europe.
Amidst this time of chaos, the Catholic Church became the chief powerful and influential institution, with the support of the priests and clerics who wielded great influence over the lay public.
With their superior education, members of the Church attained a level of learning and awareness quite superior to that of both the ignorant populace and the largely uneducated aristocracy. However, a succession of some popes, the heads of the most organized power of their time, used these advantages and opportunities for their own purposes in a number of most strategic ways. They sometimes departed from the purpose of their foundation and became increasingly focused on worldly authority, and even subjugated many kings and aristocrats in Europe to their decrees.
Pope Urban II
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At the summit of the Vatican’s power, Pope Urban II declared war. The Holy Land, which for centuries had been under Muslim control, were to be won back. Supposedly, the Pope’s goal was quite noble—from the Christians’ point of view: to have Christians in control of the Holy Land. But Urban II’s decision to start the first Crusade was never limited to that purpose alone.
As mentioned before, the lands ruled and influenced by the Papacy labored under great hardship and shortages. Merchants arriving from the East spread tales about the great wealth the Muslims possessed, about exotic fruits never heard of in Europe, and of the lavish clothes and treasures the Middle East enjoyed. And those became the chief motive that powered the Crusades.
The Papacy of the time planned a combination of occupation and colonization, expecting to seize a good deal of the wealth of the East and thus, even more political power. As a result, the Vatican longed to attain an ultimate victory over its rivals in Europe, who were figures of temporal authority. But while doing so, the Church set aside the pacifism, humility, and non-violence which were the very fundamentals of Christianity and thus abandoned its own 1,000-year-old tradition.
While selecting those to fight in the Crusades, anti-Christian practices were observed and thus began the Crusaders’ violent, cruel and ignorant reputation. The Papacy used every method at its disposal to increase the number of the soldiers, enlisting even excommunicated sinners and criminals into the army, assuring them that their sins would be forgiven if only they fought for Christendom.
Ignorance was the common failing among a great deal of the participants. These people did not know enough about the essential tenets of their own Christian religion, but were even more ignorant about Islam.
Thus, contrary to what is commonly assumed, their motives for joining up in the Crusade were as not religious or idealistic at all, but rather to obtain a share of Eastern riches. The kings and the local aristocrats, who had been in nearly constant conflict with one another, went on a kind of joint adventure, combining their respective armies, hoping to extend their wealth. This class, which had many internal rivalries, was usually acting on its own initiative, since there was no unity in the group. The vassals, who were essentially the feudal lords’ slaves, joined in the war to gain their freedom.
Among these Crusaders, the number of those who set off only on behalf of the Church was limited to only a small group. One source describes this situation as follows:
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The participants in the First Crusade succeeded in capturing Jerusalem in 1099 and committed a terrible massacre there.
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The French knights wanted more land. Italian merchants hoped to expand trade in Middle Eastern ports . . . . Large numbers of poor people joined the expeditions simply to escape the hardships of their normal lives.1
The Crusaders gave the impression of an unorganized, undisciplined and uncontrolled mob more than a unified army. They did what was expected of them and even in the very first Crusade, committed some of the greatest massacres of known history. Directly after conquering Jerusalem, they slaughtered almost the whole populace, who consisted mostly of Muslims and Jews.
Historical accounts described the blood spilled in the course of this massacre, in which approximately forty thousand people were killed, as “knee deep.” Actually, the original founders of the Knights Templar were not well-educated intellectuals trained in the scholastic traditions of the Church. Most of them were ignorant and vulgar warriors who joined the Crusade for such purposes as adventure, spoils, reputation and prestige. Nevertheless, the attitudes they demonstrated shortly after the founding of their sect revealed that these poor French aristocrats were far from being Christians and were actually in pursuit of darker goals. These soldiers, whose ambition and greed was an outgrowth of their poverty, would soon, after a series of events, develop into one of the greatest and most dangerous powers of medieval Europe.
The Templars on Stage
Nine French knights, led by the Templar Grand Master Hugues de Payens, appeared before King Baldwin.
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Ostensibly, the motive for their decision was to provide the security in the Holy Lands for all the Christian pilgrims who sought to go there and also to spread the Christian religion. Although it can be argued that this was the true aim of a handful idealistic soldiers and clergymen, clearly it was just an alibi or an excuse, when considered in light of the plan of the occupation as a whole.
As mentioned before, with the first Crusades, the colonization by the West had begun. It was then that first arose the troubles between some of the Westerners and the local Muslims, the results of which have persisted even to modern times. The reasons that the Crusaders gave for their killings were not actually very reasonable at all. The pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem which had been under Muslim control, had always been open to free passage, and people from all different religions had been living together in peace and tolerance. But this fact did not stop the Crusaders from slaughtering Muslims, Jews and even local Christians alike.
 A miniature showing the first Templar Grand Master, Hugues de Payens and those nine knights. |
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded in 1099, and the occupation spread to Antioch-Urfa. Twenty years later, under the leadership of Hugues de Payens, nine French knights presented themselves before King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and announced that they were volunteering, supposedly to protect the pilgrims in the travel routes between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast.
The King of Jerusalem accepted their offer with gratitude. And thus began the swift rise of the Knights Templar.
The word poor in the title "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ," which those nine knights gave themselves, was contradictory to those soldiers' actual designs. They were always hungering for money, and but their title was a believable disguise for deceiving others. Deception was not just limited to their name. They didn't neglect to create the image of priest-soldiers who had left behind the worldly life and hope of material gains. However, as you will see in detail in the following sections, these Knights were soon going to transform themselves into a materialistic order that was actually opposed to religious moral values-even anti-religious, in fact.
An oil painting showing the taking of Jerusalem by the Templars
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King Baldwin II of Jerusalem afforded the Knights a number of privileges, and also allotted to them the district where Solomon's Temple had once stood, including the Temple Mount, currently the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Baldwin undoubtedly had his own designs: His Kingdom of Jerusalem was under a threat with the increasing influence of the Muslims in the district. Therefore, the presence of the experienced Knights and their guarding of particular sacred locations was an advantage for his kingdom. Yet the number of the Templars in the district was actually very few. Therefore King Baldwin and Hugues de Payes, the first Grand Master of the Templars, planned to increase their number. Eventually, by gaining the support of the Papacy, they gave the Templars what they wanted.
St. Bernard was respected by the entire Christian world.
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In 1127, the two of the Templars, together with a letter they received from King Baldwin, asked for the advice of St. Bernard, who then exerted great influence over the Papacy and during his lifetime, was highly regarded as one of the most important persons in Christendom.
Bernard, renowned as one who could open all doors, belonged to the Cistercian Order, one of the most favored monastic orders in Christendom. In addition, members of this order held very important positions in the Catholic Church. Those French Templars who headed for Jerusalem were warmly supported by representatives of the Cistercian order in France. In his letter, King Baldwin praised the Templars extravagantly, explaining the importance of the lands' protection by the poor so-called religious soldiers but also indicating their requests: Their Order had to be recognized by the Church, especially by the Pope, and had to be provided with help and support.
The support that had been anticipated for so long was soon hastening on its way. Hugues de Payens and his Templar brothers were accepted by the new Pope Honorius with a special privileges and exemptions.
St. Bernard bestowed enormous privileges on the Templars.
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In 1128, The Council of Troyes invited the Templars to a council meeting, where the Knights obtained a wide range of opportunities and a great amount of financial support. As a gift from King Henry I, they obtained a great treasury of gold and silver, as well as material support in the form of equipment like armor and horses from district rulers in England, Scotland, France and Flanders.
Before Hugues de Payens left England, he opened a district branch of Templars in the region donated to them and installed one of the Templar brothers as its leader. His mission was to rule the districts donated to the Templars, to transfer their income to Jerusalem, to recruit new members, train them in their responsibilities and send them to the various districts under Templar rule. In addition, personal incomes in the district of Province were donated to the Templars, and landowners became exempt from royal taxation by donating several landed properties to the sect. Thus, the first strands of the order's web were woven.2
A few of the temples in the Middle Ages:Morts à Sarlat, Périgord and l’Eglise.
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According to Anglo-Saxon records, it was written down that the number of members Hugues de Payens recruited for the Order was greater than the number of soldiers Pope Urban II enlisted for the first Crusades.3 In any case, such great interest was shown in the Order that groups of Templars were soon widely established in England, and a new branch of the Order was similarly created in Jerusalem.
Princes and aristocrats were at the forefront of their membership, but people from all walks of life were competing to assist the Order or to become affiliated. The Templars, gathering the material means of the Papacy and the King, prolonged this campaign and succeeded in influencing people from every level of society with publicity and propaganda methods that can be appreciated only in our day. They were so influential that some people asked to be buried in the Templars' distinctive uniforms when they died.
In guaranteeing that the Templars would be accountable to none but the Pope, St. Bernard laid the groundwork for very serious danger.
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In fact, the really interesting point is the trick the Templars played on the European aristocrats: They claimed that they were soon going to be in battles with the Muslims and so requested financial help. Nonetheless, the contributions they collected throughout Europe were not being used to equip their coming war, but were transferred directly to the Templars' coffers. Thus, The Knights took their first step on the path to establish their ill-gotten fortune.
The year 1127 became a turning point when the two Templars paid a visit to St. Bernard. During their visit, the Templars explained to the Pope and others in the Vatican the general rules of the Order yet most of them were not pleased. At this stage, Bernard took charge, defending the order and saying that with a modicum of reforms and adjustments, it might be more in accord with the tenets of Christianity. Right after this, he wrote The New Templars' Rule, following to the principles of his own Cistercian Order and announced that he would take responsibility for the Templars' moral training. Thus, the order removed all the handicaps that they could possibly encounter by gaining the privilege of giving accounts and explanations only to the Pope. Henceforth, no authority except the Pope could ever bring them to task or charge them with an assignment. In providing this kind of privileges, St. Bernard believed that applying them long-term would be useful in gaining power for the Papacy. But he was unaware that in fact, he was laying the groundwork for a greater danger.
CHAPTER VII
PORTUGAL: THE TEMPLAR KINGDOM
 In the wake of the events in France, the Templars now focused their activities in two areas, of which Portugal was the more significant. Although Scotland may appear to have been the Freemasonic homeland, Portugal represented the Templars' commercial base, source of revenue and headquarters.
In one sense, Portugal is a country that was actually founded by the Templars. The order had begun settling and becoming influential in the country ever since 1128, and had also began taking over the country's military and commercial strength. In 1128, Teresa of Portugal endowed the Knights with the region of Fonte Arcada, granting them privileges of all kinds there. In return, the Templars supported her expansion of her then-'weak country'. One portion of the lands occupied during this period of expansion were granted to the order. The Castle of Tomar, built in 1160 and surviving down to the present day, was the Order's headquarters in Portugal.
The King Alfonso of Portugal had a particular interest in not just the Templars, but also in the Cistercian order. He corresponded with Saint Bernard and welcomed his monastic order with open arms. He had large monasteries and churches constructed and placed them, together with wide-ranging estates, under Cistercian control. As we saw earlier, Saint Bernard, one of the most powerful figures of the time when it came to matters of religion, was affiliated with the Cistercian order, which had very austere rules regarding poverty and solitude. It achieved renown as an honest and upright order inside the corrupt institution of the Church, and attracted many aristocrats into its ranks. Some of the Popes from this period had also been educated within the Cistercian order. 28
In 1294, at the initiative of the Templars, the Treaty of Windsor was signed between England and Portugal, with the aim of bestowing large commercial and military power on both countries. The anti-Templar movement that had begun in France had had much less effect in Portugal. The Order was exonerated in Castille and in Portugal under the rule of King Denis, and was thus able to survive throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Nonetheless, there was still pressure on and opposition to the Order. The Knights therefore agreed on a plan with King Denis in order to rid themselves of that pressure and opposition. Under this joint plan, the Order would seem to disappear from view, but would actually be re-established under another name and affiliated to the Portuguese monarchy. This would prevent the assets of the Templars falling into the hands of the Church and permit the Knights to continue in existence.
Again thanks to this plan, the order would be affiliated to the king rather than to the Church. From that time forward, the Templars in Portugal changed their name to the Order of Christ. They would now be able to carry out their illegal activities under the protection of the king.
Being under royal control represented a major advantage for the Knights, since they no longer needed to abide by the rules of the Church and could act with far greater freedom. Indeed, soon afterwards they gradually began abandoning the rules of their old Order. In addition, a large part of their revenue that was formerly made over to the Church now remained in the Templars' hands. Thus under royal protection, they came to constitute a freer, richer and more perverted sect:
The Order of the Templars having been abolished in France by King Philip IV, its property confiscated, and the members persecuted and expelled with the sanction and authority of Pope Clement V; it was revived in Portugal, where it flourished under the name of the Knighthood of . Jesus Christ. 29
Despite the oppression they were subjected to in France, the Templars found a more liberal environment in Spain and Portugal under their new name and management, and began to expand upon these possibilities. Under these suitable conditions, Pope John XII recognised the Order of Christ in 1319, out of his desire to win the Templars back to the Church. The Order thus acquired the essential conditions to be able to spread itself throughout Spain, Italy, Germany and even its former homeland, France. The Church was unwilling to lose the Templars, who represented a major military, financial and logistical power, and was at the same time preparing for war against the Muslims in Spain. A simple ceremony of regret was sufficient for the Templars to return.
The Knights made over all their assets, including those in Tomar, to the Order of Christ, the grand mastership of which was given to Gil Martins, former Templar master in the Avis region. From then on, the Templars added to their wealth while also looking for new sources of revenue. Thanks to their seafaring knowledge and the connections they had established over hundreds of years, the Knights transformed Portugal into a major maritime power and established the infrastructure necessary for their own colonizing activities. These maritime activities accelerated still further under the reign of King Henry, known as the "Navigator." Henry, a Templar and a leader of the Order, began the tradition of Portuguese kings also being Templar masters. 30
From then on, Portugal-a small and newly established kingdom-became one of the most powerful nations of the time, effectively run by the Knights. Thanks to their colonialist activities, a huge colonial empire came into being, extending from Africa to India, China to Malaysia and from the Canary Islands to Brazil. Under the leadership of Templar explorers such as Vasco de Gama, new lands and new trade routes were discovered. And the knights acquired enormous wealth at the same time. 31
As an encouragement to further conquests and discoveries, they were finally promised, also, the independent possession (under, however, Portuguese protection), of all the countries which they might happen to discover." 32
The money in question was the illegitimate funds with which the order was so familiar. The Templars either killed or enslaved innocent, defenceless local populations, and then seized all the wealth of the area concerned, making money by selling these assets in Europe. The Knights had no qualms about engaging in the drugs trade, and so highly organized were they that they eventually established a crime cartel the like of which has seldom been seen since. In return for bribes, the Templars acquired the right to marry and own property, and thus laid the groundwork that the order desired:
While these foreign expeditions kept alive the military spirit of the order, its religious discipline was declining. Pope Alexander VI, in 1492, commuted the vow of celibacy to that of conjugal chastity, alleging the prevalence among the knights of a concubinage to which regular marriage would be far preferable. The order was becoming less monastic and more secular, and was taking on more and more the character of a royal institution. . .Brother Antonius of Lisbon, in attempting a reform, succeeded in bringing about the complete annihilation of religious life among the knights of the order. 33
Under these new reforms, the order became an organization whose free enterprise was known only to the rich and aristocrats: Its aim was to achieve commercial and political success, and to redraft the laws of the Church in a manner compatible with capitalism. (These ideas, whose essentials had emerged hundreds of years before in the Holy Lands, also determined the general intellectual framework of Freemasonry.)
Using their experience in Portugal, the Templars reached the peak of their power by adopting a capitalist lifestyle. At the same time, and particularly in the wake of the Reformation, the Knights-aware that the Church had been seriously weakened and had played a considerable role in this process-attached ever-greater importance to the relations they had established with royal institutions.
The Templars also observed that the knightly orders under the control of Church had been weakened along with it. At this point, they decided to set up an equivalent society with no religious image but which actually served the same function. They were thus able to maintain their commercial means and commercial/political relations by way of this new organization which functioned under the supervision of aristocrats and to spread their ideology with even greater ease.
This organization, whose foundations were laid in England, adopted the name of "Freemasonry" and represented one of the most influential and dangerous powers to survive down to the present day.
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Bernard's document, De Laude Novae Militae ("In Praise of the New Knighthood") swept through the Christendom like a tornado; in no time, the number of Templar recruits increased. At the same time donations, gifts and bequests from Monarchs and Barons throughout Europe were arriving regularly on the Templars' doorstep. With a staggering rapidity the fledgling little band of nine knights grew into what we refer to as Templar, Inc. 
The Knights Templar tried in every way to make their idea of world sovereignty come to pass, as an anti-Christian order. As soon as they obtained the assurance they'd sought, they abandoned their pretense of being devoutly religious and the oaths they had given as alleged missionaries. And they immediately settled down to using finances to achieve a greater sovereignty. The Templars' web encompassed all of Europe and the Mediterranean's sea lanes and ports, which provided the heart of the sea trade. The equivalent of these organized actions can be seen only in the international Mafia cartels of our day. Members of the order infiltrated a major share of maritime and inland commerce from northern countries like England and Ireland.
In fact, this is an excellent lesson for believers in terms of revealing the evil end that awaits those who follow satan. In the Qur'an, Allah warns the faithful not to comply with him:
The Templars who settled in the Holy Lands gradually began following a very different course from their ostensible aim in founding the order. The Knights were responsible for protecting pilgrims and safeguarding holy sites, and had taken vows of poverty. But they set these duties aside and began behaving in accordance with their true objectives.
At the time when King Philip IV of France set about eradicating the Templars, the order had assumed such a form that it was next to impossible to eradicate it entirely. The French courts had severed only one of the octopus's tentacles; the others were still alive. The Knights were subjected to no serious pressure or surveillance in other lands where they had maintained strong presence, such as Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Rhodes and Cyprus. There were various reasons for this: Political rivalries with France, the belief that the Pope was under the influence of the French king, commercial and financial relations established by the Templars, conflict between different churches and sects-and most important of all, the preparations made by the Knights themselves-prevented the operation initiated by Philip and the Pope from having the same results in other countries.
CHAPTER VIII.
TEMPLAR-MASONIC BRETHREN
 The Templars who had fled from France had little difficulty in finding themselves a secure refuge. Simply by changing their name, in fact, they continued their activities from exactly where they had left off in almost all of Europe, with the exception of France. They encountered no difficulties in matters of trade. And by infiltrating the professional guilds, the most important trade bodies of the time, they even acquired a new power base.
In any case, the Knights had been collaborating closely with the guilds, which was a requirement of their business affairs for many years. The Order had played a major role in establishing and developing guilds, back when they were engaged in construction, commerce, animal husbandry and agriculture. Thanks to the collaboration and organization among the guild members, they would enjoy a monopoly in a particular sphere in a given region, would set prices and ensure various advantages for themselves and others. For example, wool producers would set up a guild and produce and sell the wool produced in that local region. Thus in a very short space of time, their power grew and they became a monopoly controlling an even larger area.
The guilds also contributed to the administrations of the towns and cities in which they were active, in proportion to their financial strength. In particular, from the 13th century onwards, guild members rose to occupy important positions in society, and guild membership imparted social status:
The Guilds is a regional monopoly that has an absolute authority over the quality, amount and cost of production. They got the most powerful financial and political positions for their own members in the cities, in the last period of the Middle Ages. 34
By the 13th century, the merchant guilds of Western Europe were officially recognized by many town governments, comprising, as they did, the wealthiest and most influential citizens in many towns and cities. In the larger towns, a Guildhall would often be provided by the merchants' guilds. They became intimately involved in regulating and protecting their members' interests, both in long-distance trade and local town business. Guilds came to control the distribution and sale of food, cloth, and other staple goods, and so often gained a powerful monopoly. 35
With the experience and knowledge they had acquired in such industries as trade, construction and manufacturing, the still outlawed Templars rose to the very highest positions as master artisans, easily infiltrating such guilds. The guilds afforded the Knights the opportunity both to protect and reinforce whatever organizations they liked. In this way, an organization that sought to eradicate the king of France was able to resuscitate itself by maintaining its links with brethren settled in other countries.
At this time, the Knights turned their attention to England after Portugal. There were a number of reasons why: the first being that, after France, England was the country where the order had been best organized, best known and able to act with the greatest freedom. Second, the Knights enjoyed familial links with many nobles in England and benefited from their protection. Third, the persecution and repression in France had never taken place in England, and the order's crimes had been covered up. Finally, the Scottish King Robert the Bruce, who did not recognise the authority of the Catholic Church, opened his doors to the Knights and supported them in all matters. The Knights also gave Bruce their own backing and found a homeland in which they would survive safely for the next 300 years.
England's true importance in terms of Templar history, however, was that in that country, the transition to Freemasonry began:
The Templar banking system became the foundation of the banking system that had been developed throughout the Renaissance. The Knights who did not reappear as a religious institution after being removed got united with the York Rite of the Masonry. 36
As already described, as the Knights made their bid for world domination, there were two areas of particular importance: The first was to achieve financial power using various methods, because financial strength would bring with it dominion. A second issue, no less important, was to spread their heretical ideas by finding new members for the Order. Using their investments and experience in the commercial sphere, the Knights had been easily able to find new members for the headquarters that they established under the Church's protection. When this was eliminated, the Templars stepped up their efforts to find new sources of members. At this point, they settled on the trade guilds as offering the possibilities they were looking for.
Among the various guilds, the Knights identified the stonemasons' guilds as best suited to their purposes. There were various reasons for this, the most important being the esoteric beliefs the Knights had acquired in the Holy Land. According to the mystical beliefs originating from the Kabbalah, the foundation of the ancient Egyptian mysteries, Pythagoreanism and Jewish mysticism, various numbers, geometrical shapes, symbols and totems were thought to have the power to control natural phenomena. The Templars even believed that these formulae had been employed by Master Hiram and large numbers of stonemasons in the construction of the Temple of Solomon.
On the basis of these ideas they had come by in the Holy Land, the Knights used secret geometrical formulae, geometrical shapes and numerical formulae and symbols in the castles they constructed, Tomar Castle in particular. They possessed the superstitious belief that various dark forces would assist them in their plans for world domination. The accumulation of all these beliefs led them to look in the direction of the masonic guilds.
This process is described as follows in the Freemasons' own historical sources:
The Knights Templars pledged to give such a freedom to the construction workers and all masons they encouraged by benefiting from the spiritual and physical freedom they had in their own sects. The only requirement was to have those who applied do an occupational test and have them accepted. Besides, they were giving a pledge to be loyal to their masters and their occupations. When the news was spread throughout the Europe saying that the masons could work freely for Kingdom of Jerusalem, a great rush started towards the holy lands. The number of their families who settled there increased. The corpses of those who died were buried together with that of the Knights. Masons who spend their daily life with the Knights got their occupational and philosophical initiation from them. When the second Crusade ended, many Europeans were sent back to their countries. The Templars sustained their facilities in Jerusalem, settled down in Europe and started building Byzantine-style churches in Paris, London, Segovia and in many other European cities. Commanderies of the Knights settled down those places. The Commander of the temple in London had the church in Fleet Street built by the masons he brought from Jerusalem and those formed the core of the freemasons in London. The most important Templar facility was certainly in Paris. This facility got all the spiritual and physical exemptions given by the French King, Louis VI. All the masons working here got the privileges of freemasons. . . . Meanwhile, during the process of burning the Grand Master, it was rumoured that many freemasons wanted to come to his rescue but as they were disarmed, they were burned in the same place as well. It is not known what happened to 30- 40,000 Knights Templar and the freemasons working with them. It is said that those hidden in the freemasons lodge under their control and ran away from France to England. A part of these founded the Kilwinning lodge of freemasonry in Scotland. It is said that this lodge is registered in the matricule of Scottish lodge as number 0. Under the disguise of freemasonry, the Templars Order was founded again and had the patronage of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland. This patronage continued being sustained by Stuarts, as well. 37
The same process is described in these terms in a journal published by the Masonic Order:
Some Templars disguise themselves as masons and save their lives by being among them. Some use Laissez passers [documents permitting free passage] given to masons in order to go abroad. A group of Templiers joins the sects of Caltrava, Alcantara, Saint Jacques de l'Epée by going to Spain and the other group goes to Portuguese and transforms into l'Ordre du Christ. Another group goes to Roman-German Empire and joins Teutonic Knights. A large group of them gets attached to Hospitallers. Templiers in England are arrested and interrogated during the sequence of this event, but soon they are released. Moreover, in some countries no transaction has taken place.
Templars are seemed to be drawn back from the stage of history by 1804, that's to say until Bernard-Raymond Fabre-Palabrat becomes the Grand Master of the order again. What this person coincidentally discovered in 1814 is very interesting. In 1814, he sees a manuscript in the tables of a second-hand bookseller by the river Seine in Paris. In Greek manuscript, there is a commentary on the Gospel of John. The book lacks the last two sections. Instead, there are some explanations divided with the triangles. Then, after examining these parts, he notices that this is a list including all the grand masters of Templiers from the fifth Grand Master Bertrand de Blanchefort (1154) to the 22nd Grand Master Jacques de Molay and from the 23rd Grand Master Larmenius de Jerusalem (1314) to Claude-Mathieu Radix de Chevillon (1792). It is assumed that Jacque de Molay bequeathed the position of grand mastery to Larmenius de Jerusalem. And this is a proof that shows the Templiers never truly disappeared. In fact, the Templiers are all freemasons in our day. 38
The Templars had no difficulty in securing the Masonic lodges and in having their philosophy, belief and rituals accepted. The classification done by the system of hierarchy as apprentice-fellow craftsman-master made it easy to last the tradition of keeping secrets about the craft and the so-called religiously symbolic links of the constructions eased the Knights' way. Shortly after, the guilds completely changed their identity and, rather than remaining strictly occupational became the Templars' headquarters where the dark thoughts were openly discussed and political conspiracies designed.
Works written by Masons devote many pages to the symbolic features of this historical union, whereas the darker sides inherited by Freemasonry from the Templars were kept hidden. One source states:
Le Forestier kept a close track of the subject, and his conclusions seem indisputable for our day. The first document that brings the subject to the situation stating that the Templars are the ancestors of masonry is a Strasbourg manuscript dated 1760 revealing their interest in mysterious teachings. This document reveals the true origin of the legend and shows the order's secrets were transferred from Jacque De Molay to contemporary Masonry. "According to Le Forestier, the influence of German Rose- Croix is certainly there; yet, those had no goals but to find a new way of interpretation to the Masonic tradition and secret in condition of accrediting secrecy and particular intimacy. [emphasis added]39
Examination of the architectural style that emerged in the wake of the Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem reveals that the first planned church construction in Europe emerged in the Gothic style, an architectural conception unique to the Templars. In his book The Sign and the Seal, Graham Hancock states that Gothic architecture was born during the construction of the north tower of Chartres Cathedral, one of the most important Templar headquarters.
The most important feature of Gothic architecture was the intensive use of Kabbalistic symbols, unique to the Templars, in buildings erected in this particular style.
With the Grand Master of the Temple also being a Masonic Grand Master, a gradual progression began from practical masonry to speculative masonry. Practical masonry was a professional organisation for stonemasons. Churches, castles and the secret meeting places of the Templars had been built by masons enrolled in practical guilds. After a particular process, however, symbols and mysteries-or rather, the perverted teachings and rituals of the Templars-began to dominate the lodges. In the wake of this process, masonic guilds ceased being professional organizations and became the secret organisation of the Templars. These new lodges went by the name of "speculative masonry." They no longer belonged to stonemasons, but became places where senior administrators, nobles and wealthy merchants were brought together by the Templars to further their own objectives.
In addition, although other professions had headquarters in Paris, the fact that the masons had no separate headquarters and that they used the same base as the Templars is particularly noteworthy in terms of the close proximity between the two institutions. When the Templars were proscribed by the papal edict of 1312, the masons also lost their right to freedom of movement. For that reason, the masons in France fled to Germany, where the Gothic architectural style suddenly reached its peak. The operating masonic lodges where those Templars able to escape from France sought refuge gradually turned into centres of speculative masonry.
The Templars also shared the rules of the masons. As we have tried to make clear, the order of the Temple and the guild of masons, living side by side for two centuries, had a great influence on one another. Indeed, the rituals of the masons are so similar to those of the Templars that one can say they have been copied. It is therefore clear that the Masonic esotericism that the masons equated with the Templars and that actually appeared to be quite independent on the surface was actually a Templar legacy.
The lodges that fell into the hands of the Templars began being reconstructed and turned into shelters for a secret society. The Knights adapted masonic lodges to their own perverted teachings, organizational structure and symbols, and their devilish rituals and symbols became known as the Masonic Rite. The Scottish Rite, the oldest branch of Freemasonry, was first established by Templars seeking refuge in Scotland in the early 14th century and constituted a model for other local lodges.
Indeed, the names given to the highest officials of the Scottish Rite are titles given to Knights in the order of the Temple many centuries before. This tradition survives today. Baron Karl von Hund, one of the leading Freemasons of the 18th century, carried out a detailed study of the Scottish Rite and the Knights Templar, and described the Scottish Rite as the "restoration" of the Templars:
Moreover, according to the Masonic tradition, the Templars and the mason lodges of the time had certainly made a deal. . . Later on, they got themselves secured under the protection of Robert the Bruce, and seven years later they fought under his flag in Bannockburn against Edward II who removed the order in England. After this war, it was said that Robert the Bruce had founded the royal orders called H.R.M (Heredom) and R.S.Y.C.S (Rose Cross) knights . . . In 1314, it was indicated that Robert the Bruce brought the Templars, H.R.M Royal Order and the mason lodges (who were in his army) and combined them into one force in the famous Kilwinning Lodge to which Heredom name is added and is the true center of the order, founded in 1286. Scotland is basically the homeland of the operative masonry. When it's considered what the talents of the Templars contributed in terms of construction, what could be more natural than the union of the two groups? . . . A fertile union between the professional lodge of the medieval stone-masters and a secret group with the talents of sorcery. . .
In Lexicon of Freemasonry, a book by a high-ranking Mason, Lawrie mentions the situation, "We know that the Knight Templars not only possessed the mysteries, but performed the ceremonies, and inculcated the duties of Freemasons." 40
The Scottish Rite established by the Templars continued with few changes and formed the foundation of modern Freemasonry. The symbols, degrees, rituals and, most important of all, the aim of the organization, had become an unalterable tradition in Scotland. Despite its subsequent spread across the world and dividing into a number of branches, Freemasonry's fundamental Templar philosophy did not alter, the only changes being procedural adaptations in line with day-to-day developments: ". . . Among the most important movements that inherited the heir of the Scottish Rite was 'Strict Observance' Rite formed by von Hund. The name of its highest status was the 'Professed Knight,' and soon it managed to spread all around the Europe." 41
As these examples show, the Knights had acquired two important weapons. On the one hand, as in the case of Portugal, they had acquired a broad range of financial means, allowing them freedom of movement, while on the other, they had established a powerful organization to disseminate and implement their ideology.
We can grasp what the Knights, under their new guise as Masons, were planning by summarising the Templar philosophy examined this far. The first and most important element is the Templars' hostility to religion, because Templar-Masonic philosophy is absolutely incompatible with religious moral values.
The Templars regarded religious morality as the principal obstacle to spreading their twisted philosophy across the world, for which reason they struggled to eliminate it. Their plan was obvious: material and spiritual hegemony and the eradication of any obstacles in their path. However, the Templars were also aware that this was no easy matter and that it would take a long time to put into practice. They planned their strategies accordingly.
But in fact, no matter what the deceptive orders and snares of the deniers-the Templars included-may be and no matter how sound they may appear, they are nevertheless doomed to failure. Allah reveals this in the Qur'an:
Allah also reveals that the unbelievers will be hoist by their own petard:
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| Templar Philosophy, Masonic Action
Until the Masonic lodges became an influential force-that is, throughout the 300 years until the 18th century-the Templars concentrated on organizing against the Church and focusing on their commercial activities. Their colonial activities that reached a peak in Portugal led to the birth of the giant dominions named the East India Company and the West India Company. The stock issued by both of these companies became a major source of revenue. Following Portugal, England and Spain, countries such as the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany also turned in the direction of colonialism and began to determine the capitalist structure of Europe.
During that same period, the Templars' banking activities and Jewish usurers began combining into banking institutions. The Netherlands and England became the centres of their financial activities. The Templars emerged as both wealthy merchants and bankers, influential noblemen in royal courts and also politicians with their hands on the public pulse in local lodges. As a result of long years of wars of religion, the Christian world had become fragmented with the formation of various Protestant sects, and the absolute dominion of the Catholic Church had come to an end. The Church had lost its control over Northern nations, particularly those in which Protestantism was influential, and had become an institution that attracted widespread public criticism.
Because of their new denominational perspectives, these countries played a significant role in the installation of capitalist-materialist philosophy, which the Church had previously condemned as being incompatible with religious moral values. In particular, the relaxation of restrictions on charging interest had a trigger effect on these activities.
These conditions led to a strengthening of anti-religious movements, on which the Templars had no difficulty in imposing their own twisted philosophies. Most people's lifestyles and world views also altered, together with the development of this capitalist mentality. Templar-Masonic circles attempted to wear down Church institutions, indoctrinating people with the idea that they should work solely for gain in this world and not in accord with the idea that they would have to account for their deeds in the Hereafter. People were thus encouraged to behave irresponsibly, to think of themselves alone, and that they had no need of affection, compassion and solidarity. Men of letters, philosophers and statesmen belonging to these same shadowy groups strongly supported this conception.
Those with philosophies hostile to organized religion's moral values emerging from the lodges soon became a political force capable of triggering such major events as the French Revolution. The common foundation of these activities was the way that people were encouraged to turn away from religious virtues and to live entirely worldly lives. Yet this situation was highly dangerous. The scale of the danger represented by people turning their backs on religious morality would be better understood in the light of later events.
As you saw in previous chapters, the Templars regarded magic and sorcery as a means of acquiring power. In line with the primitive beliefs of the time, they believed that wealth could easily be obtained by the use of such methods. However, long years of study in magic and alchemy had failed to produce the power they desired. With the Industrial Revolution and the changes brought about by technological progress, magic and mystery were replaced by science and technology. The Templars also adapted to this alteration, and began employing science instead of outdated methods such as alchemy for their own ideological purposes. As in the political and social spheres, the Templar-Masonic organization made great efforts to infiltrate all branches of science-biology, medicine and engineering in particular-and sought, by the use of capitalist interpretations of it, to place science in a framework in which it would supposedly be opposed to religion.
Templar-Masonic circles played a major role behind the widespread intellectual acceptance of materialist and evolutionist world views over the past two centuries. There are important reasons for their success in this sphere.
The first is the anti-clerical movement espoused by the public in the face of the conservative, dogmatic, oppressive attitude of the Catholic Church of the time.
The error expressed in the words, The Church, and therefore religion, is opposed to science, symbolised by the case of Galileo, spread widely, resulting in the unrealistic view that science is the domain of atheists. Spreading even more widely during the years that followed, it became an imaginary claim repeated by materialist circles.
The second reason was the way that atheist views, advanced by secularist philosophers, scientists and thinkers who agreed with the Templar mindset, were depicted to the ignorant public as facts demonstrated by science. All these factors, together with the backing from the order, led to materialist thinking coming to dominate the world of science. The Templars thus developed a new method to employ in their atheistic endeavours and began distorting science and employing deceptive methods in its name in order to turn the public away from religious moral values.
By using the local operative lodges established by craftsmen, the Templars had made of them a base for their own secret ideological endeavours and initiated their first activities aimed against religious moral values by using these lodges as a smoke screen. They ensured comprehensive support for movements opposed to the Church in countries such as Germany, Belgium and England in particular. These provocative actions bore fruit in a very short time, and wars of religion rocked all of Europe in the post-Reformation period.
During the time of these ruthless wars, the Templars enjoyed a climate in which religious unity was fragmented, inflicting serious damage to the political and social status of the Church, and in which they could easily put their own materialist objectives into action. Many events that took place during this period began the process in which ordinary people began turning their backs on religion.
The second great measure taken by the Templars indicates how influential the Masons had become. As certain spheres of activity came to the fore as a result of alterations in the social structure, doctors, lawyers, military figures and local politicians began working together in the lodges.
Political developments had now become able to be shaped by these people in the lodges. At exactly this time, the Templar-Masonic brotherhood organised the French Revolution:
In 1717, Accepted Masons working in the operative Masonic lodges decided to found an institution to provide them tolerance and freethinking in the religious political and intellectual environment of the 18th century. This organization took its traditions, signs and rituals from the institutions like masonry, Rosicrucians, Templars that were the secret institutions of its time; and they took their way of thinking from the idea of freethinking which was started and spread in England in 17th and 18th century. 42
The French Revolution was both a kind of revenge taken by the Templars on the king of France, and also the beginning of a method they would also employ in subsequent years.
Seeing that the Revolution happened in a very short space of time and had had a widespread and powerful effect, the Templars rapidly went into action in other countries as well. The Templar-Masonic mindset that came to power with the French Revolution and the overthrow of the king also constituted an unfortunate role model, the weakening of the Church and the spread of materialist thinking, first in Europe and then in the Balkans and subsequently in America. Revolutions followed one after the other, and the Church and those institutions supporting it suffered rapid and major defeats. The injuries done by the Templar-Masons to the Ottoman Empire also began at this time, and grew even stronger in the years that followed.
The Masons first organised themselves in the Balkans, inciting the local inhabitants against the Ottomans. Before too long, the Ottoman Empire had fragmented and collapsed. The Committee of Union and Progress (The Young Turks Revolution) established in Masonic lodges and which inflicted such harm on Turkey was set in motion by the same ideals, and was another means by which Templar-Masonic philosophy was brought to Turkey. In its edition of 20 August, 1908, the Paris-based newspaper Le Temps contained information from an interview with two important members of the group in Salonika, Refik Bey and Colonel Niyazi, that showed that Freemasonry was also influential in that movement:
The reporter carrying out the interview asked how much assistance the Committee of Union and Progress movement had received from Freemasonry between 1905 and 1908 and how much it had been influenced by it. The answer is an interesting one and may be summarised as follows: "Freemasonry, particularly Italian Freemasonry, gave us moral support. Various lodges were active in Salonika. Italian lodges helped the Committee of Union and Progress and protected us. Since the majority of us were Masons, we met in the lodges in order to organize. We generally tried to select our membership from the lodges. Istanbul began having suspicions about what we were doing in the lodges and managed to infiltrate a few agents into them. . . .". 43
The great Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk held the most accurate views regarding the Masonic lodges. Following the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk realised that the Masons were attempting to take over the Republican People's Party (CHP), and closed them down in 1935. However, the closure of the lodges did not put an end to the Masons' activities. Like their forebears the Templars, the organisation withdrew underground, and soon afterwards again began making its presence felt and having an influence in Turkish politics and the Turkish economy. That influence has persisted to the present day and has again made its presence felt recently by frequent appearances in the media.
All this goes to show that that in Turkey, as in the rest of the world, the Knights of the Temple are an active and organized force. They have found a home in a great many official and unofficial institutions and bodies, and even though its members may conceal themselves, their aims and the methods they employ are plain to see. The aim of the members of this shadowy organization is to do away with true Muslims who support national and spiritual values, who love and protect their country, and who call on others to believe in Allah and live by the moral values of the Qur'an, through the use of all forms of intimidation, provocation, slander and character assassination.
They dream of ruling the Turkish nation, which they regard as a major obstacle to their satanic work and objective of shattering national unity by weakening, in a manner that they desire, the various components that make up that religious nation. Muslim Turkey has been the target of such intrigues throughout the course of history, although such endeavours have always ended in failure.
Neither will it be possible for such devilish plans, snares and plots to achieve any success in the future. Because the great Turkish nation has sufficient faith, strength and intelligence to unravel such detestable schemes and turn them against their inventors. So long as the nation remains true to its essence and values, neither the Templars, nor the Freemasons nor any other axis of evil will ever be able to do any harm to its children!
The Turkish nation, which possesses its own conscience, will always strive with all its might to bring the Masons and Templars to the true path, and will eradicate evil by way of love, peace and tolerance. It is also clear that the Masons will not always remain fixed in their wicked ways, once they realize the damage the unholy alliance of which they are a part has inflicted on the world. They, too, will join the alliance of the good, which strives to replace corruption with love and toleration, and degeneration with moral virtue, and will work together for a better world.
Conclusion
As you have seen throughout this book, the Templars invented the first capitalist institutions in Europe. It was they who made a terrible weapon out of commerce and capital. At the end of the day, making money is the fundamental rule of the perverted belief system they have founded. The brethren, who recognise no laws or rules, conscience or virtue, made all possible forms of illegitimate methods a part of the commercial world.
The Templars stopped at nothing, from colonialism to looting, from speculation to bribery, and laid the foundations for organizations along the lines that the mafia would later adopt. The members of the order used their murky fortunes in order to eliminate religious morality, which they regarded as the most serious obstacle in their path, and had no difficulty in finding supporters, thanks to their economic strength.
These activities, which have continued ever since the 12th century, have reached a peak in our own day. Having achieved what they wanted in a great many Western countries, the Templars have for long been looking at those lands they have not as yet managed to lay hands on. The methods they employed in tearing Christianity apart were ineffective when it came to Islam. Their unholy indoctrination that calls upon mankind to live for this world alone will, by Allah's will, also have no effect on the Muslim Turkish nation.
Turkish-Muslim leaders in all periods of history, Ataturk in particular, have always foiled this order's cunning schemes, exposed their plots and engaged in an intellectual struggle against it. That struggle is continuing today: Honest, devout and patriotic people will always defeat the scheming of the Templar-Masons. They are also determined that their cunning foe will make no progress in the future, either. And by the will of our Lord, they will be successful in their intellectual struggle.
And that victory will be attained not through corruption, as is the case of those who organize wickedness and have done so for hundreds of years, but through moderation, love, justice, compassion and peace. This intellectual struggle based on the moral values of the Qur'an will spur the consciences of Masons and Templars, who are striving to establish a world order incompatible with religious moral values, and will eradicate this superstitious order.
Allah tells us of the final outcome of that struggle in Surat al-Anbiya':
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