Freemasonry and ruling on joining the Masons
Question

                What is Freemasonry, and what is the ruling on it in Islam? What is the ruling on joining the Masons?.
Praise be to Allah.
    Freemasonry is a secret political society whose goal is to 
    put an end to all religions and good morals, and to replace them with 
    man-made laws and non-religious systems. It strives to provoke ongoing 
    revolutions and to replace one regime with another, on the basis of its call 
    for freedom of thought and freedom of belief. This is what they have stated 
    clearly.  

    This is what was announced by one of them in the Students’ 
    Conference held in 1865 CE in the city of Liege which is considered to be 
    one of the centers of Freemasonry. He said: 

    Man must prevail over God, and declare war on Him. He should 
    demolish the heavens and tear them like paper. 

    It says in the Masonic Grand Lodge (1922, p. 98): We will 
    strengthen the freedom of individual thought with all the powers at our 
    disposal, and we will declare war against the real enemy of man, which is 
    religion. 

    The Masons say that Masonry takes the human soul as its 
    object of worship. 

    They say:  It is not enough for us to prevail over the 
    religious people and their places of worship, rather our basic goal is to 
    wipe them out of existence. 

    Minutes of the World Masonic Conference, 1903 CE, p. 102. 

    They say: Freemasonry will take the place of religion and its 
    Lodges will take the place of places of worship… and there are many other 
    statements which clearly point to the intensity of their enmity towards 
    religion and their uncompromising war on religion. 

    The Freemasons are one of the most ancient secret societies 
    which still exist and its origins are still unknown to many people and are 
    still unknown to many of their members, because the plots of their leaders 
    are very secret and hidden and they are so keen to conceal their plots and 
    aims. Therefore most of their affairs are conducted verbally, with no 
    written record. 

    When they want to write an idea or announce it to the public, 
    it is first subjected to the scrutiny of Masonic censors who decide whether 
    it may be released or not.  The foundations of Freemasonry were based on 
    theories taken from several sources, mostly from Jewish traditions. 

    This is supported by the fact that Jewish ideas and teachings 
    were taken as the basis for the founding of the Grand Lodge in 1717 CE with 
    its principles and symbols. The Masons still venerate the Jew Hiram and the 
    temple that he built, from which they take the design of the Masonic lodges 
    in the world. The greatest Masonic leaders are Jews and form the backbone of 
    the Masonic movement, and they are the ones who represent Jewish 
    organizations in Masonic lodges. It is to them that the spread of Masonry 
    and global cooperation between Freemasons is to be attributed. They are the 
    driving force behind Freemasonry and this Jewish elite are leading different 
    secret cells, running their affairs and directing them secretly as they 
    wish. This is supported by a report in the Masonic Acacia magazine 
    (1908, issue no. 66) which says that there is no Masonic lodge that is free 
    of Jews and that all the Jews do not follow one way or another exclusively, 
    rather there are only principles for them to follow. And this is also the 
    case with the Masons. Hence the Jewish synagogues are our [Masons’] support 
    and we find many Jews among the Freemasons. 

    This is also supported by what it says in the Masonic 
    publications: that the Jews are certain that the best means of destroying 
    religion is Freemasonry. The history of the Masons is similar to the history 
    of the Jews in belief. Their symbol is the six-pointed Star of David. The 
    Jews and the Freemasons both consider themselves to be the spiritual sons of 
    the builders of the Temple of Solomon. The Freemasonry which distorts other 
    religions lends full support to Judaism and its followers. The Jews took 
    advantage of people’s simple-mindedness and good intentions, and infiltrated 
    Freemasonry and reached high positions within it, thus they breathed a 
    Jewish spirit into the Masonic lodges and subjugated them to their own 
    aims. 

    One of the clearest indications of their intense desire to 
    conceal their plans to destroy religions and provoke political revolutions 
    is what it says in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, where it says: we 
    will concentrate these cells under a single leadership that is known to us 
    alone. This leadership will be composed of our scholars and these cells will 
    have special representatives, so that the true location of our leadership 
    will be concealed. This leadership alone will have the right to decide who 
    will speak, and to draw up the plans of the day. In these cells we will plan 
    to lay traps for all the socialists and classes of revolutionary society. 
    Most of the secret political plans are known to us and we will decide when 
    to implement them. But the agents of the international secret police will be 
    members of these cells. When the conspiracies start throughout the world, 
    that will mean that one of our most dedicated agents will be at the head of 
    these conspiracies and of course we will be the only people to direct the 
    Masonic plans. We are the only people who know how to direct them and we 
    know the ultimate goal of each action, whilst the illiterates – meaning 
    non-Jews – are ignorant of most of these things, especially Masonry, and 
    they can only see the immediate results of what they are doing. 

    And there is other evidence which points to the strong 
    connection between the Jews and the Masons, and the cooperation between the 
    two parties in revolutionary conspiracies and stirring up destructive 
    movements. Even though Freemasonry outwardly appears to be a call to freedom 
    of belief, tolerance and social reform in general, in fact it is really a 
    call for permissiveness and destructive factors which cause social 
    disintegration and the loosening of bonds between nations and destruction of 
    religion and morals and the spread of mischief. 

    Based on this, any Muslim who joins a Masonic group knowing 
    the true nature of Freemasonry and its secrets, and carries out its rituals 
    and is keen to do so, is a kaafir who should be asked to repent. If he 
    repents, all well and good, otherwise he is to be put to death and if he 
    dies in that state then his recompense will be that of the kaafirs. Whoever 
    joins the Freemasons but does not know what they really are, or know about 
    their plots against Islam and the Muslims, and their spreading evil and the 
    evil that they are planning against everyone who tries to bring people 
    together and reform nations, and he joins them in their general activities 
    and talk that does not apparently contradict Islam, is not a kaafir, rather 
    he is excused in general because of their concealing their true nature from 
    him, and because he does not share their basic beliefs or aims. The Prophet 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Acts are but by 
    intentions, and each man will have but that which he intended.” 

    But he must disavow himself of them when he finds out what 
    they really are, and he must tell people about their real nature and strive 
    to spread their secrets and their plots against the Muslims, so that this 
    will cause a scandal for them and will undermine their efforts. The Muslim 
    should surround himself with good people who will cooperate with him in his 
    religious and worldly affairs. He should be far-sighted in choosing close 
    friends so that he will be safe from being tempted by these apparently 
    attractive ideas and  be safe from the evil consequences of honeyed words, 
    and so he will not fall into the traps of the people of shirk which they set 
    up to ensnare those who are easily deceived, follow their whims and desires 
    and are weak in reasoning. 

    From Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 2/312-315.