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Search for tag "Ibrahim George Kheiralla"

from the chronology

date event locations tags see also
1890 c. Ibrahim George Kheiralla (Khayru'lláh) became a Bahá'í in Cairo under the tutelage of `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání. [BFA1:19]
  • It was probable that he was the first Bahá'í from Syrian Christian background. [BFA19]
  • See BFA1:175 for pictures.
    		•  Cairo; Egypt Ibrahim George Kheiralla; First believers by background; Christianity; Conversion; Interfaith dialogue
    1892 19 Jun Anton Haddad departed Cairo en route to the United States. [An Outline of the Bahá'í Movement in the United States: A sketch of its promulgator [Ibrahim Kheiralla] and why afterwards denied his Master, Abbas Effendi by Anton Haddad]
  • He was probably the first Bahá'í to reach American soil. [BFA1:26]
  • He produced some of the earliest Bahá'í material to be published in English, including translations of the Writings including the Kitáb-i-Aqdas which was unpublished. He reportedly did not remain a member of the Bahá'í community but returned to Lebanon and became a Protestant minister. He passed away in 'Ayn-Zhalta in 1924. [Bahaipedia]
    		•  Cairo; Egypt; United States; North America; Ayn-Zhalta; Lebanon Anton Haddad; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1892. 20 Dec Ibrahim Kheiralla arrived in New York. [AB65; BBD129; BFA1:26; SSBH1:88; AY111]
  • See BFA1p13-84 for Kheiralla's life, work for the Bahá'í Faith and defection.
    		•  New York; United States Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1894. Feb Ibrahim George Kheiralla settled in Chicago. [BFA1:XXVII, AB65]
  • Owing to his work, the first Bahá'í community in North America was soon formed in Chicago with other groups soon forming in Philadelphia, New York City, Kenosha, Wisconsin and Ithaca, New York. [BBRSM:100; BW10:179; LDNW12]
  • See AY59-60 for a description of the teaching method used by Haddad and Kheiralla.
  • See Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion by E.G. Browne, Chapter 2, Ibrahim George Khayru'lláh and the Bahá'í Propaganda in America for an appreciation of what Kheiralla believed and taught.
    		• Chicago; New York; Philadelphia; Kenosha; Ithaca; United States Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Anton Haddad; Teaching; Firsts, Other
    1897. 21 May Lua Getsinger became a Bahá'í in Chicago. She had been called Khayru’lláh’s best pupil. [BFA1:XXVII, AY59] Chicago; United States Lua Getsinger; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1898. Feb Kheiralla arrived in New York and began classes on the Bahá'í Faith. [BFA1:XXVIII, 116] New York Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1898. Jun In New York City, 141 people became Bahá'ís in the five months since Kheiralla's arrival. [BFA1:XXVIII, 125] New York; United States Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1898 (Autumn) Eighteen people became Bahá'ís in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the visit of Kheiralla in the autumn of 1897. [BFA1:XXVIII]
  • This marked the establishment of the third Bahá'í community in North America. [BFA1:110]
    		•  Kenosha; Wisconsin Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1898. 22 Sep The first Western pilgrims departed for `Akká, travelling via New York and Paris. [BFA1:XXVIII, 140–1, 230]
  • It was arranged by Phoebe Hearst, who had already planned a journey to Egypt for the autumn. [BFA1:140, AY60]
  • There were 15 pilgrims in all. Among them was Ibáhím Kheiralla and his family. [AB68; AY111]
    		• New York; United States Pilgrimage; First pilgrims; Pilgrims; Phoebe Hearst; Lua Getsinger; Edward Getsinger; Robert Turner; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1898. 11 Nov Kheiralla arrived in `Akká. [BFA1:XXVIII, 141]
  • He had left the party of pilgrims in France and departed for Egypt in early October where he had children. His wife went to England to invite her Bahá'í aunt to accompany them to Akka. [BFA141]
  • During his stay he tried to get approval for his manuscript entitled Behá'U'lláh from 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The manuscript had many of his personal beliefs, such as the station of 'Abdu'l-Bahá being that of the return of Christ and his concept of reincarnation. [BFA1p230; 161; LWS149]
    • See BFA1p32-33 for a discussion of how the issue of reincarnation affected the American Bahá'í community.
  • During his visit `Abdu'l-Bahá conferred titles on him: `Bahá'ís Peter', the `Second Columbus' and `Conqueror of America'. [BFA1:142; GPB275; SBBH2:112]
  • Dr. Kheiralla, his wife and daughters, Nabiba an Labiba departed Haifa for Port Said on the 21th of March, 1899. Kheiralla arrived in New York on the 10th of May. [LGHC24; 30; BFA1p160;]
    		•  Akka Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Pilgrimage; First pilgrims; Pilgrims
    1898. 13 Nov `Abdu'l-Bahá commemorated Kheiralla's arrival by ending the period of mourning for Bahá'u'lláh and by opening His Tomb to pilgrims for the first time. [BFA1:142–3; SBBH2:112] Bahji Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Firsts, Other; Bahaullah, Shrine of; Bahaullah, Ascension of; Pilgrimage; Pilgrims
    1899 c. Feb - Mar `Abdu'l-Bahá, accompanied by Kheiralla, laid the foundation stone for the Shrine of the Báb. [BFA1:XXVIII, 142; BBD209; GPB275; SBBH2:112; LWS148]
  • In spite of the honours 'Abdu'l-Bahá had heaped upon him, Kheiralla joined forces with the Covenant-breakers while in 'Akká and started to make false claims causing discord and distress among the Bahá'ís as soon as he returned to America. [LDNW]
    		•  Haifa Abdul-Baha, Life of; Bab, Shrine of; Foundation stones and groundbreaking; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1899. c. 1 May (and period following) Kheiralla returned to the United States from `Akká. [BFA1:xxix, 158] (After his departure from Palestine he was abandoned by his British-American wife.) [SBBH1p239]
  • His ambitions to lead the Bahá'í Faith caused a crisis in the American Bahá'í community. [BFA1:158–84; CB247–9, GPB259–260; 319; SBBH194, 239; AY119; WOB82-83]
  • In the following months `Abdu'l-Bahá dispatched successive teachers to heal the rift:
    • Hájí `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání, who had taught Kheiralla the Faith, from c. 26 Apr to 5 Aug 1900. [BFA1:173–6; BFA2:17–29]
    • Hájí Hasan-i-Khurásání, from 29 Nov 1900 to Aug 1901. [BFA2:35, 389]
    • Mírzá Asadu'lláh-i-Isfahání, from 29 Nov 1900 to 12 May 1902. [BFA2:VI, 35–43ff]
    • Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl, accompanied by the young poet and diplomat, Ali-Kuli Khan, from Aug 1901 to Dec 1904. [BFA2:XV-XVI, 80–7; BW9:855–60]
  • "...four chosen messengers of 'Abdu'l-Bahá who, in rapid succession, were dispatched by Him to pacify and reinvigorate that troubled community. ...were commissioned to undertake, the beginnings of that vast Administration, the corner-stone of which these messengers were instructed to lay... [WOB83-84; AY119]
  • See BFA1:177–8 for lists of believers who sided with Kheiralla, left the Faith or remained loyal to `Abdu'l-Bahá.
  • See SBBH1:98–101 for Kheiralla's teachings.
    • Note: GPB259 says that Kheiralla had returned from the Holy Land in December of 1899 but in fact it was in the month of May. [BFA1pxxix] iiiii
    		• United States; Akka Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Covenant-breakers; Haji Abdul-Karim-i-Tihrani; Haji Hasan-i-Khurasani; Mirza Asadullah-i-Isfahani; Mirza Abul-Fadl Gulpaygani; Ali Kuli Khan
    1900 (In the year) A Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the American believers was presented through ‘Abdu’l-Karim Effendi, who had been the teacher of Dr. Ibrahim Kheiralla.
  • Mr. Arthur Pillsbury Dodge received the first Tablet ever to an American believer, written in Arabic by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his own handwriting and translated by Mr. Anton Haddad.
  • A Tablet to the Hoboken Assembly was received through Mr. J.F. Brittingham. [Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá’í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p4]
    		• New York; United States Abdel Karim Effendi Teherani; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Arthur Pillsbury Dodge; Anton Haddad; James F. Brittingham
    1900 8 Mar At a meeting in Kenosha, Kheiralla publicly announced his doubts about `Abdu'l-Bahá's leadership of the Bahá'í community. He also said that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was not the return of Christ has be had been teaching. [BFA1:XXIX; SBBH1:96; SBBH2:117; SBBH1p96]
  • He he had allied himself with Muhammad-`Alí. [SSBH1:96]
  • The Bahá'ís effectively divided into two camps. There had been two to three thousand believers in North America in 1900, by 1902, 1,700 had left the Faith leaving six or seven hundred of whom three hundred were "Behaists" and the rest "Abbasites" or "Behais" (followers of 'Abdu'l-Bahá). By 1906 the US Census of Religions reported that the number of Bahá'ís had risen to 1,280 and the "Behaists" numbered on forty. The Kenosha Behaists continued to exist until the early 1950s. [SSBH1:96-97; WOB82; SBBH14p7] To counter the effects of this, Abdu'l-Baha, in 1900 and 1901, sent teachers to America who were completely loyal to the Center of the Covenant and well-informed on the teachings of Baha'u'llah. They were Mirza Abu'l-Fad1 and Mirza Asad'u'llah. Mr. Chase wrote, with these teachers came the first opportunity for a correct and intimate knowledge of the true Bahá'í teachings...rather than psychic and occult experiments...Many persons who had conceived views imbued with imaginations and superstitions fell away from the Cause, but those who remained discovered such spiritual light,...and power in the teachings, that they were deeply confirmed in their belief, and clung to it.. ." [from a short paper entitled 'A Brief History of the American Development of the Bahá'í Movement,' printed in Star of the West, Volume V, number 17.]
  • For the changes to the Bahá'í community as a result of this schism see SSBH1:96–9 and SSBH2:117–20.
    		•  Kenosha; Wisconsin; United States Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Mirza Muhammad Ali; Covenant-breakers
    1900 c. 16 Mar The Chicago community re-organized by selecting a ten-member Board of Council. Neither Kheiralla nor any of his supporters were on the Board. [BFA1:XXIX, 170; The Service of Women on the Institutions of the Baha'i Faith] Chicago; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1900 26 Apr On the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Egyptian businessman Hájí `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání arrived in New York, the first Persian Bahá'í to visit North America. He had taught the Faith to Kheiralla in Egypt. His purpose was to try to bring Kheiralla back into the Faith and to explain the basic teachings of the Faith to the American believers. He was accompanied by Mirza Sinore Raffie, his translator. [BFA173–6; BFA2:17–29]
  • Muhammad-'Ali, having obtained Kheiralla's support, sent his son Shu'a'u'lláh to Kenosha to try to spread opposition to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [SBBH1p240]
  • `Abdu'l-Karím and Shu'a'u'lláh apparently met in Kenosha. The point that they disagreed on was Kheiralla's insistence that his teachings be regarded as authoritative. [SBBH!p240]
    		• New York; United States Haji Abdul-Karim-i-Tihrani; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Mirza Sinore Raffie; Covenant-breakers; Shuaullah
    1900 5 Aug Hájí `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání left the United States, his efforts to win Kheiralla back to the Faith having failed. [BFA176]
  • Reports of his meetings in which he confronted Ibrahim Kheiralla over Kheiralla's renunciation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and defection to Muhammad-Alí were published under the title Reports of Proceedings of Meetings in New York City and Chicago, Illinois. [BEL 7.2278]
    		•  New York Haji Abdul-Karim-i-Tihrani; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1900 7 Dec In New York, nine men were selected to govern the affairs of the Faith. Those serving were Arthur Dodge, Hooper Harris, William Hoar, Andrew Hutchinson, Howard MacNutt, Frank Osborne, Edwin Putnam, Charles Sprague and Orosco Woolson. Among the problems that they had to face was the effect of the disaffection of Kheiralla. [BFA2p36; Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá’í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p5]

    One of the men, William Hoar, had been present at the reading of the paper by Henry Jessop at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1892. Shortly after he began study of the Faith with Ibrahim Khayru'llah. Later Hoar moved to New York where he continued study with Anton Haddad. Haddad had learned of the Faith in Egypt from Haji 'Abu'l-Karim-i-Tihrani. [WMSH59]

    		 New York; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Arthur Dodge; Hooper Harris; William Hoar; Andrew Hutchinson; Howard MacNutt; Frank Osborne; Edwin Putnam; Charles Sprague; Orosco Woolson; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Anton Haddad; Haji Abul-Karim-i-Tihrani.
    1907 (In the year) The publication of A Call of Attention to the Behaists or Babists of America by August J Stenstrand. He was a member of the "Society of Behaists" founded by Ibrahim Kheiralla, and was voted out of that group in 1906 and became the only self-professed Azali in America. He published at least five of these booklets from 1907 to 1917. Chicago, IL A Call of Attention to the Behaists or Babists of America; August Stenstrand; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1912 18 Nov `Abdu'l-Bahá had instructed MacNutt to meet with a group of potential Covenant-breakers in Chicago and warn them of the danger. He also ordered MacNutt to break all communication with Ibrahim Kheiralla and other Covenant-breakers. He had failed to do as directed. They met in the Kenny's home for the first time since his trip, where `Abdu'l-Bahá advised him that he had violated the Covenant himself and commanded him to repent before a group of New York Bahá'ís gathered there, which he did, reluctantly. [DJT371; AY121] New York; United States Covenant-breakers; Howard MacNutt; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1919 (In the year) Ibrahim Kheiralla died, having been abandoned by all of his followers. [CB252]
  • See MD16 for 'Abdu'l-Bahá's comment about him.
    		•  Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Covenant-breakers

    from the main catalogue

    1. Addresses Delivered before the New York and Chicago Assemblies, by Abdel Karim Effendi Teherani (1900). Talks to the New York and Chicago assemblies, delivered at Abdu'l-Bahá's request, to deepen the believers following the covenant-breaking of Ibrahim Kheiralla, published as a 100-page booklet. [about]
    2. Behaism: In Reply to the Attack of Robert P. Richardson, by Ibrahim George Kheiralla, in The Open Court, 29:10 (1915). A defense of the Bahá'í Faith, with reference to fulfilled prophecy. Followed by the journal's short response to Bahá'í requests not to include advertisements for Kheiralla's book (which one is not named, could be O Christians). Not yet proofread. [about]
    3. From Iran East and West, in Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Volume 2 (1984). Essays on Bahá'í history in the Middle East, the United States, and India. [about]
    4. Ibrahim George Kheiralla and the Bahá'í Faith in America, by Richard Hollinger, in Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Volume 2 (1984). A study of the Lebanese Bahá'í who first spread the Faith to the United States but later renounced his allegiance to Abdu'l-Bahá, based on many primary source materials the author unearthed in public and private archives. [about]
    5. Letters from a 19th-century Kansas Baha'i, by Duane L. Herrmann, in World Order (1996). An examination of two letters written by Barbara Ehrsam in Enterprise, Kansas in 1899. [about]
    6. Lighting the Western Sky: The Hearst Pilgrimage and the Establishment of the Bahá'í Faith in the West by Kathryn Jewett Hogenson: Review, by Janet Ruhe-Schoen, in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 24:1-4 (2014). [about]
    7. Outline of the Bahá'í Movement in the United States, An: A sketch of its promulgator [Ibrahim Kheiralla] and why afterwards denied his Master, Abbas Effendi, by Anton Haddad (1902). Overview of the early days of the Bahá'í Faith in the U.S. [about]
    8. Precursor, the Prophet, and the Pope, The: Contributions to the History of the Bahá'í Movement (part 1), by Robert P. Richardson, in The Open Court, 30:10 (1916). A critical overview of Bábí history, contemporary American Bahá'í issues and disagreements (e.g. Kheiralla), and Bahá'í objections to the author's previous writings. Not yet proofread. [about]
    9. Precursor, the Prophet, and the Pope, The: Contributions to the History of the Bahá'í Movement (Conclusion), by Robert P. Richardson, in The Open Court, 30:11 (1916). Part 2 of a critique of Bahá'í practice and thought from a (somewhat hostile) Christian perspective. [about]
    10. Tablet to Ibráhím George Kheiralla, by Abdu'l-Bahá (1900). Short two-paragraph tablet to, and prayer on behalf of, an individual believer (translated by the recipient himself). [about]
    11. "Wonderful True Visions": Magic, Mysticism, and Millennialism in the Making of the American Bahá'í Community, 1892-1895, by Richard Hollinger, in Search for Values: Ethics in Bahá'í Thought (2004). The early growth of the American, and especially the Chicago, communities was more gradual and eclectic than previously thought, and Kheiralla's influence was less crucial. [about]
     
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