ABSTRACT
A knowledge of the character of secret societies in the Near and Middle East is essential to understanding its modern political development. During the nineteenth century, the evolution of these societies and their non-conformist activities had an important share, to varying extents, in the shaping of revolutionary movements in the area. It is symptomatic of the spirit of unrest caused by the penetration of Western concepts and the resulting material gains, and of the local dissatisfaction with some other aspects of this penetration, that secret societies should have offered a pattern of organization along with an outlet for resistance. This holds true of various Near and Middle Eastern countries, without any discernible relation between such societies in these various countries.
