Okay, it hasn’t escaped me that Shriners dress like Turkish assassins, but then again, so did Akbar (for you original Weekly Readerites).
Is there any connection the world should be aware of?
The short answer is that the Shriners are one of those Masonic organizations that spuriously trace their origins back to ancient Egypt. This happened around the 1900’s, which is when the fezzes were presumably still in fashion in Egypt.
Freemasons claim to trace their origins back to the architect who designed the Temple of Solomon. Some of them may actually believe it.
Shriners started in the 1920s, basically as a group for Freemasons who wanted to do more partying. Most Shriners I know are pretty frank about this though, to their undeniable credit, they also do some very fine charitable work.
One reason Shriners look “Muslim” to the general American population is because the male members of the Moorish Sciene Temple wear fezzes. This denomination, more-or-less a forerunner to the Nation of Islam (there are connections, but their nature and extent are subject to some dispute), was founded by one Noble Drew Ali who, in the opinion of historians who are not adherants to his faith, got most of his “knowledge” of Islam from some Freemason manuals.
As an aside:
I saw a parade in Ligonier, PA, on Saturday, which is always filled with many bands of Shriners from across the state (and some from as far as Canada). We all noted that many of the groups (“Syria Temple, Pittsburgh, Pa.” comes to mind) who normally wear stereotypical “Arab” costumes (Aladdin-style stuff–turbans, curly-toed shoes, poofy pants, billowing, colorful shirts, scimitars) toned things down a bit–in light of the generally heightened anti-Arab/Islamic sentiment that prevails this year, or so we assumed.
according to this site:
http://www.ben-ali-shriners.org/faq.html