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.
Writing Bahaullah
To protect the content and lessons of my speeches from any distortions and misconceptions by the teachers whom I appointed as well as other people who might want to study them, I decided to record and publish them in the form of a book. In the summer of 898, I rented a typewriter, and along with my wife and Mrs. Annabel traveled to the northern part of Maine, a town called Lubec. I spent nine weeks there. I went up and down the room, reading the lessons as presented in the classroom, and Mrs. Bell typed them. We worked between 6 and 9 hours a day until 21 chapters of the book came to an end. At that time I named the book as Bahaullah. To commemorate this event, we prepared and maintained two copies typed by Ms. Annabelle. I lent one copy to Mr. Hawar in New York and took the other with me to Acre.
As I was dictating Chapter 22 to Mrs. Bell, Mrs. Khairullah, who rarely entered our office, opened the door and excitedly said, “Good news, very good news!” Then she read the telegram sent by Mrs. Getsinger from California, with the content that Mrs. Hurst had accepted the 17 commandments or causes, and that she was going on a pilgrimage to Acre, and that she and my wife had been invited to visit the Bahaullah’s tomb and visit her family. We had to be in New York on July 20 to sail to France. We moved to New York a few days later and of course I went to Chicago and Kenosha to say goodbye to my Baha’i friends. On July 20, my wife and I were in New York to board the ship with Mrs. Foob Hurst and her guests.
I did not receive any money during all the time I was holding classes for the beginners, and my teaching programs and lectures were free. I had even set this rule for the teachers I appointed that they also did not have the right to receive any wage or gift for religious propaganda. I made a living from my therapeutic and healing work, and in many cases even refused to accept Christmas presents. Many times I even paid for the meetings of speech assembly out of my own pocket, and they never paid me the money.
Traveling to Acre
In July 1898, we boarded the German steamship Furst Bismarck. We stopped in Paris for a few days, during which I completed the training program for Mrs. Foob Hurst and her companions, taught them the Most Great Name, and how to practice and perform it. At the same time, I joined those who had accepted the teachings along with Mrs. Hurst, and lived in England and France, and taught them materials about the creation of the Kingdom of All-Glorious on earth, and thus the teachings of the Cause started in Europe.
I went to Acre alone through Alexandria (Egypt) and planned to visit my two daughters who lived with their grandmother. I was with them in Egypt for twenty-one days until the German emperor’s visit to Palestine ended and he returned; because during His Excellency the emperor’s trip to the Holy Land, foreigners were not allowed to land in Haifa. My daughters also converted to the new faith and then followed me to visit The Bahaullah’s grave in Acre. Mrs. Hurst and her companions also came to Acre after us, bringing the number of pilgrims who were originally Christians to sixteen. I stayed in Acre for more than six months and during this time important events took place which are as follows:
A day after landing in Haifa, I went to Acre along with Hussein Irani (a person appointed to identify and receive pilgrims in Haifa). Abbas Effendi greeted us in the living room on the second floor of his house and said: O Beloved, O Peter the Baha’! O the second Christopher Columbus! Welcome and then he hugged me. Then we sat down on the couch together and he spoke and he was very kind to me, asking me to be his guest at his house, for which I also thanked him.
The next day, a Turkish Baha’i officer came to see me and put an Arabic Fineh hat on my head instead of a Western hat, saying, “Abbas Effendi ordered this Fineh for Peter the Baha’ and the second Christopher Columbus , the conqueror of America!” Therefore, the present Baha’is congratulated me on these praises and admirations and repeated these titles to me several times.
The first time we entered the “Rawdha Baha” room in the Bahji Edifice (a place where the remains of Bahaullah had been buried), Abbas Effendi told me that you were the first Bahia who has entered this room for worshiping and praying. But then I noticed that other Baha’is were also allowed to enter there for worshiping and praying! One day in Haifa, he took me to Mount Carmel to show me the house of his brother Mohammad Ali Effendi, and then we started digging to build the foundations of the tomb of the remains of the Bab who was supposed to be transferred from Iran to Haifa soon. Each of us had a pickaxe with which we were digging the ground, and there was a servant who dug out the soil. He then stopped digging and told me to drop the pickaxe, stating that I was the only Baha’i who has achieved such great honor. He praised my lessons and classes, and declared them their being true to his companions and followers, and in his writings called me “the shepherd of God’s people in America.” Thus, those around him were very kind to me; even his sister, Mrs. Bahia gave me her special book as a token of my gratitude and respect, and called it as a gift from her to “Peter the Baha’ and the conqueror of America who has worked for the Baha’i cause, which other teachers were unable to do. I also thanked him sincerely and put that book next to other valuable goods.
Before traveling to Acre, I had repeatedly asked Abdu’l-Baha’ to send me some of Bahaullah’s sayings so that I could compare them with my teaching lessons and pamphlets and correct any errors, but none of my requests were achieved; Therefore, when I was in Acre, I urged him to give me some of Baha’u’llah’s writings, but he concealed the existence of such writings, saying, “”All the writings have been taken out of Acre so that the Turkish and Ottoman authorities would not be able to find them and use them as an excuse to harass the Baha’is.” Then, I translated a few chapters of my book, Bahaullah into Arabic so that Abdu’l-Baha would correct them if there were any objections. But he endorsed and praised them in the presence of Western and Eastern Baha’is and those around him.
One day, Mrs. Kheirollah and Mr. and Mrs. Getsinger requested me to ask Abdu’l-Baha what the symbolic meaning of the phrase “the two unclean animals that were allowed to board Noah’s ark” was. And they entered the assembly of the believers. His answer was that they were two polytheists who hypocritically pretended to be religious and joined the ranks of the believers. Then I said to him, “Since in this phrase the symbolic meaning of the ark is God himself, and since they could not deceive God, so, neither they were able to enter the ark, nor were allowed to do so”. Abdu’l-Baha then asked: What is the interpretation of the matter then? I said that those two unclean animals are the symbol of the parents who will be favored by God in this appearance (Bahaullah’s period) for the sake of the children who will believe. Then Abdu’l-Baha turned to them and told me to tell them, “Every subject has two meanings, one spiritual meaning and one material meaning. What I told you is true and what Kheirollah explained is also true!
Since then, Abbas Effendi has refused to answer all my questions that I asked for more information and knowledge. Therefore, I had to share various topics and questions with other teachers who were there, such as Ibn Abhar, with whom I disagreed on the eternity and immortality of the soul, reincarnation, return, and the attributes of God. In view of the differences, Abdu’l-Baha fixed a time for these matters to be raised in his presence so that he might judge and unite the differences. After long discussions, Abdu’l-Baha turned to me and said: “Your logic and reasoning are good, but you should not limit God or argue with Iranian physicians!” I said: Everything we know is limited, and about the eternal knowledge of God, the knowledge that he has about himself, in this case the knowledge of God is limited! He replied: This is wrong and you should not limit God, but say that God is independent and pure from his creatures. I replied: is not the statement that God is independent of his creatures a kind of restriction? Abdu’l-Baha paled and frowned at me. Then he got up and said with a smile: We will talk about this another time. Here, our first and final discussion on these issues came to an end.
After this meeting, there was a change in the behavior of Iranian and American Baha’is, and even my wife opposed me. When I asked them a question, they replied: Only Abbas Effendi can answer these questions, and when I asked the Abdu’l-Baha, his answer was, “Let’s discuss at a better time!” I inquired several times about books published during Bahaullah’s lifetime and by order of Bahaullah in Mumbai, India, but Abbas Effendi claimed that not a single copy of them could be found in Acre. Finally, when I returned to the United States, I bought those books in Egypt.
Other things like this happened, but they did not change me or did not change the mind of my daughters toward me; because our beliefs were based on the prophecies and promises of the books of the covenant. But we were impressed and surprised by the behavior of the Most Great Branch, Abdu’l-Baha. After returning to America and reading the Most Holy Book, God opened our eyes and we saw the truth. Understanding the facts does not always require time and patience. Now, in order to present and express the truth, I narrate some of those tragic events and leave many of them, which cannot be mentioned here, unsaid and concealed.
Abbas Effendi was a powerful, mischievous politician and a mixture of cunning Turkish and Roman diplomacy, and his policies are carried out with such management and skill that he brings even his most intelligent followers to their knees, let alone ordinary and simple Baha’is who can no longer be mentioned! He received all the pilgrims with love and friendship, and appointed those around him and his followers in Acre and Haifa to go with them wherever they wanted and serve them humbly, and never leave them alone until they go to the bedroom and bed! Then they would go and report all the events of the day to him. This system of espionage operates in all countries where there are Baha’is. He forbids the Baha’is from reading Bahaullah’s writings so that they remain unaware of the truth of Baha’i teachings.
His words and writings are emotional and full of accusations against his brother, Mohammad Ali Effendi, the Most Great Branch. Abdu’l-Baha has stated that the sufferings he suffered at the hands of the Ottoman government (Turkey) have been all due to his brother’s conspiracy. In this way, he has attracted the sympathy of others for himself and makes them pessimistic about his brother, so that they do not visit Mohammad Ali and do not become aware of the truth.
He enacted rules to interfere in all the actions and correspondence of his followers, and he always tried to get them in groups and face each other so that all of them would refer to him in some way and ask for help.
The worst thing he has committed is to place himself between the Baha’is and God, and to threaten anyone who dares to disobey his commands with hell, thereby creating fear in their small and simple hearts and minds which is the worst enemy of humanity. He also intends to prepare his granddaughter, Shoghi Effendi, to succeed him after his death. Undoubtedly, this action alone proves that he has lost his authority; because this is a clear violation of Bahaullah’s last will and testament in the Book of the Covenant, which appoints Muhammad Ali as Abdu’l-Baha’s successor by the command of God Almighty.
One day Abbas Effendi invited Badri Beyk, a Turkish military officer, to have dinner with him and American pilgrims. Before going to the dining room, Abbas Effendi asked my daughter, Nabiha, to tell the Americans that if Badri Beyk asked whether they know French to speak to him, they would say no. As we sat at the dinner table, Badri Beck asked if any of the women could speak French because he could not speak English himself. At the request of Abbas Effendi, they denied their ability and replied in the negative, while several of them, including Mrs. Krupper from London and her mother, the late Thorne Borg, and Mrs. Aberson, could speak French well. God hates lies, and whatever the reason, lying is not allowed.
Once at the dining table, Abbas Effendi began to tell two women some important things about their past lives. I suddenly remembered that he had already been informed of this by American pilgrims; because Mr. Getsinger had already given me a list of those materials and events in English, and I had translated them into Arabic at his (Getsinger’s) request. Then Abbas Effendi turned to the most respected lady of the meeting and said with a prophetic gesture: “After ten thousand years, your son’s newspaper will be sent as a valuable gift by one king to another king.” When we got up from the table, I openly expressed my dissatisfaction with this action, but he put his hand on my shoulder and said with a laugh, “I did it in a way that you cannot understand its wisdom at present!” At the table again, Mr. Getsinger asked Abbas Effendi for permission to take his photo. He replied that he had been photographed only once, when he was 27 years old, in Edirne in 1867, and that he had been photographed only one more time, when he put his father’s crown on his head and was taken to be martyred (killed) and thousands of bullets were shot at his body. These words affected all of us, and some wept bitterly. From that date on, he was repeatedly photographed, and his prediction never came true.
When I along with my wife went to say goodbye to Abbas Effendi, he insisted that we continue to live in peace, but when Abdu’l-Baha was saying these, my wife laughed out loudly, and this laughter was interpreted when we arrived at Port Said in Egypt; He left me and my daughters suddenly and without saying goodbye which caused the astonishment of those present.
To be continued
