I think thats an excellent suggestion Ed! It makes sense that something as relatively consistent as this kind of a stylized Tughra might will fall into these kinds of organized groups with religious and fraternal denominators.
Freemasonry seems to be a familiar 'X-factor' in many situations historically and in often complex situations, and I dont think that its presence in Islamic circumstances is well known let alone reasonably understood. I certainly had not thought of that.
The Sufi and Senussi situations are hard enough to grasp for those outside the Islamic sphere. I knew of course of Masonic factors which complicated situations in Europe during conflicts and wars, especially with France and England, but had not thought of in the colonial sphere in North Africa.
It would take a lot of very deep research to discover this curious device as applied in these Masonic contexts, perhaps other items of regalia or material culture bearing it? In this case it seems like a symbol strictly occurring on sword blades, so far.
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