Ibrahim George Kheirollah
Ibrahim George Kheirollah (November 11, 1849 – March 6, 1926) was the first Baha’i teacher sent to the United States who made the first Americans to convert to the Baha’i Faith and formed the first Baha’i community in the United States. After confronting and arguing with Abdu’l-Baha over ideological matters and leadership style, his positions as the main and prominent spokesman and organizer of the Baha’i Faith in the United States were taken from him. He then tended to the unificationist Baha’i group of Muhammad Ali Baha’i and took hundreds of American Baha’is to that group at least temporarily.
Introduction
I was born to Christian parents in the village of Behmadoun, in the mountainous region of Lebanon and Syria, in November 1849. My father died when I was two years old, and my mother shouldered to educate and take care of me and my only sister. Our ancestors were Assyrians, who fled from the city of Antakya (present-day Turkey) and settled in the region of Mount Lebanon due to the persecution of the Turks. I received my bachelor’s degree in art from the American College of Syria (Beirut) in 1870.
I left there for Egypt and worked as a teacher in the American Protestantism Academy and then after that, I found a job for myself. In Alexandria, Egypt, I married a Syrian girl born on the outskirts of Sidon, and she bore me three children: Nabiheh, who married Prince Hani Ali Shahab; Labibeh, who married R.J. Salibi; And George Ibrahim Kheirollah who graduated from the University of Chicago in medicine.
I had a good economic situation in Egypt, and was engaged in the trade of cotton and grains, and grew cotton and sugar. For eight years, I had a contract with a sugar factory in the city of Biba, in Upper Egypt. I also had a dried fruit shop in Cairo called the “London House”, which I sold it to an English couple named Mrs. and Mr. Cole.
After the death of my first wife, I married a Coptic widow, but I separated from her before I became a Baha’i. I became a Baha’i in 1890 and married a Greek girl. In the same year, Baha’u’llah issued a tablet addressing me which I have included at the end of my book, Baha’u’llah.
On June 9, 89, I left my family in Cairo, Egypt, and went on a trip to St. Petersburg, which I expected to last about three months. The purpose of the trip to Russia was to sell a device to the government of that country, which I had invented myself, and helped a person in walking and prevented fatigue.
In this deal, I hoped to be able to make up for the damage done to me in a case against Abd al- Malik Beyk by the intervention and influence of Lord Kramer, the British governor of Egypt. Lord Kramer had used the case to provide the grounds for controlling the Egyptian local courts. When the deal with the Russian minister was canceled, I went to Germany and from there to France, and finally boarded the German ship Sevavia, went to the United States, and landed in New York three days before Christmas 89.
Taking Baha’ism to America
In the winter of 1893, I taught my ideas of Baha’ism to a number of Syrians living in New York, and discussed some of its principles with Professor Briggs, who was considered an infidel by evangelical Christians because of his beliefs. I also went to see His Excellency Hoffmann at Chelsea Square. He was the head of a theological education institute. I shared the teachings of Baha’ism and the viewpoints of Professor Briggs. There, I also met Ernest Jewell. Of course, I had already met him in a tourist trip to Egypt. He took me to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and from there to Petoskey where he had been appointed as a church preacher by Bishop Tuttle (of Missouri) and Bishop Gillespie (of Michigan). I tried to make him a Baha’i, but later I heard that he had become a Catholic priest. I arrived in Chicago in February 1894. On my way to Chicago, I delivered speeches on religion and Egypt, first at the Grand Rapids and then at Kalamazoo and Do Vajicka. Then I put the subject of my speech and discussion on “Heavenly Father and the establishment of the divine paradise on earth.”
Although it was difficult to explain my content to the Americans with that broken English, I nevertheless succeeded to convert a significant number of intellectuals and educated people to Baha’ism in late 1894 and early 1895. They were all convinced of the truth of the Baha’ism and that the Baha’ism was the fulfillment of the promises of Christ and the prophecies of the previous prophets. These included William James, Edward Dennis, Mrs. Will Cutt, Mrs. Kendall, the late Arthur George, Dr. Straub, and Dr. Augusta Linderburg.
Confident of my ability to succeed in propaganda, I decided to become an American citizen and spend the rest of my life in the United States. In this case, I sent a few letters to my Greek wife and asked her to join me, but her answer was always no. Accordingly, I went to court, and the Chicago State Court issued a divorce order for us. I announced this divorce decree to all Baha’i men and women. In the summer of 1895, I married Miss Marianne Miller at the home of William James (the first American who converted to Baha’ism). We then went to Europe, where I got familiar with Ms. Miller’s family and relatives in France and the United Kingdom, and made Ms. Miller’s aunt, Miss Brown a Baha’i.
We returned to the United States that year and settled in Monroe Street in western Chicago, where I resumed my teaching work. Many truth-seekers came, and I spoke to them in five-person to twenty five-person classes. I had a free talk on Friday evenings and Sunday evenings, and after my speeches, there was an hour for attendees to ask their questions. My answers were usually satisfying to all listeners.
In 1896, I published the book “Bab-e Din” or “Chapter of Religion”, which contained several sections on “The Identity of God”, “The Unity of God” and so on. I later republished these articles in the book “Bahaullah”. That same year, Mr. Lane from Kinosha, Wisconsin, asked me to come to his house once a week. We established publicity meetings there, and I was presenting what I was saying in Chicago. Everyone except one in the class accepted the Amr or cause. As the number of beginners increased in Chicago, I sent Mr. Dealy to Kinosha instead of myself. For almost two years in a row, I held promotional sessions, from noon to night; and then, I went to bed and slept tired and dead. Then I set up an assembly in Kinosha. I appointed Mr. Lane as its teacher. Then we set up another assembly in Racine (Wisconsin) where all the members had passed our first teaching class in Kinosha.
Contrary to Dr. Wilson’s claim, I never secretly preached the Baha’ism, but rather retold my content as I did in the book “Bahaullah”. The first lesson was “eternity and immortality”, the second lesson “intellect and thought”, the third lesson “life and existence” and so on. Of course, I also had a class schedule and a private ad, because I did not allow newcomers to sit in the advanced classrooms and listen to what I was saying to the advanced beginners. The materials presented to the participants in the classes are the same as what I have introduced in the book of Bahaullah without distortion and deviation.
In the summer of 1897, my wife and son and I spent our annual vacation in Enterprise, Kansas. We were there for two months and I started a propaganda class there and in the end a number of them converted to Baha’ism.
In 1898, Mrs. Lida Talbot and the late Mr. Arthur Dodge (they attended preaching sessions in Chicago and then moved to New York City) asked me to go to New York and hold preaching sessions for New York beginners and a few others from New Jersey. Due to the influence of Mrs. Talbot and her friend, Mrs. Kern, the number of beginners increased to 200. We divided them into three classes: the first group meeting was held at the home of the late Dr. Goren C.; the second group was held in the 19th Century Hall and the third session was held at our residence and the family of the late Arthur Dodge. At the end of four months of classes and publicity, 141 participants in the three programs joined the Baha’i faith. We organized them as a Baha’i assembly and appointed Mr. Howard McNatt as their teacher.
On my way from Chicago to New York City, I stopped in Ithaca, New York, for a few days at the request of the late Mrs. Gatsinger. There, I allowed her to form a class on a trip to visit some of her relatives and retell them what she had learned. I helped her set up and present the materials in the first session, and then I gave them the Most Great Name and taught them how to do it.
During my mission in New York City, I traveled to Philadelphia several times, organized a class there, and assisted Sarah Herron, whom I had sent to teach and run the class. As a result of our work and efforts, about twenty-four people converted to the Baha’i faith.
To be continued
