1889 Membership Certificate - Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners) in Chicago, Illinois For Sale

xxxx "Certified Member" document titled Nobles of the Mystic Shrine corresponds to what we call the Shriners today. Document background graphics depict a sphinx, a pyramid, a rider on a camel and four turban men sitting cross-legged next to a tent and a palm tree.
Stamped with embossed gold seal of a middle-eastern cathedral, the document measures 11 X 14 inches. Excellent condition. 126 years old.
Founded in xxxx, the Shriners organization traditionally reveled in various pranks and ritualistic shenanigans, together with a great deal of drinking. Shriners lodges were the polar opposite to the Masonic lodges, which were "dry" and whose members were stoic and sober.
Shriner garb was gaudy and ornamental, and as early as xxxx some Shriners wore fezzes decorated with gold and tiger claws. Shriners patterned some of their rituals as a loose parody of Islam, which offended followers of Islam. Shriners maintained that such rituals remotely connected to Islam and supposedly dated back to the basic Shriners tenets as conferred by the Caliph Ali, who was son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad, in A.D. 644.
In xxxx Shriners yearned to tone down their reputation for partying and revelry by committing to divert some of their energies and finances into good works in order to modify the perception of critics about the integrity of their organization. Shriners financed a children's hospital that is still their legacy today. The hospital would be open to crippled children under age 14, of any race or creed, whose parents could not afford to pay for medical care.