Wow....had no idea! Always thought of them as philanthropic to the nth degree! My grandfather was a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. Because of his affiliations, I, as his granddaughter, was eligible to join the women's arm of the Masons, the Eastern Star. The initiation and secrecy part was kinda creepy, but I don't recall any part where I had to swear allegiance to Allah or anything like that, just the secrecy part, which seemed so weird. If you are doing good things for the populace, why must we keep everything such a big secret? The actual ceremony of initiation was what creeped me out the most....you are in total darkness and all I could think of was some witches coven scenario! Never felt like I "belonged"....people were friendly enough, but in a "forced" way, like they weren't really what you were seeing....they were hiding behind a mask! Didn't stay with them for very long, thank God!