Samy Moubayed

Sami Moubayed

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian-British historian and former scholar at Durham University in the UK (2023). Previously he had worked as a visiting scholar at St Andrews University in Scotland and at the Carnegie Endowment in Beirut. He has been covering the Middle East since 1998, and his articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Assafir (Beirut), Gulf News (Dubai), and the mass circulation Arab daily al-Ahram (2021-2024). Since 2023, he has been a weekly contributor to the London-based al-Majalla Magazine. 

He has authored a total of 12 books, six in Arabic and six in English, with Siket al-Tramway being shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2023. His book Under the Black Flag was a bestseller in 2015. 

His book on the history of Freemasonry in Damascus was published in Arabic in 2016 and subsequently translated into English by Cune Press in Seattle. Moubayed studied at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and obtained his PhD from the University of Exeter in 2005. 

East of the Grand Umayyad: Freemasonry in Damascus 1868-1965

The book covers the history of Freemasonry in Damascus from its inception in 1868 until its outlawing by the Baath regime in 1965. It reveals previously un-published material showing that the founding fathers of Syria were all Freemasons, including one president, six prime ministers, a handful of ambassadors, and the founders of the Damascus University Faculty of Medicine. 

The book also shows that contrary to popular lore, these figures were not part of any underground conspiracy, but rather, forward-looking nationalists who were dedicated to the general welfare of their societies. They did not reach their positions of authority because they were Masons, and tried defending the Craft against the character slaughter that it was subjected to starting in the late 1940s. What makes the book important is that it is the first title in Arabic defending Freemasonry, and written in a country where Freemasonry was, and remains, a criminal offense. 

The research included private archives, newspapers, lodge documents, and first-hand interviews with Syrian Freemasons or their children. I undertook the task of writing this book because I am a Mason and both my grandfathers were Freemasons in Ottoman Damascus, a century ago.