Ibrahim George Kheiralla

Ibrahim George Kheiralla (11 November 1849 - 6 March 1929; Arabic: إبراهيم جورج خير الله), born in the Sidon Eyalet of Beirut of the Ottoman Empire, was a co-founder of the first American Baháʼí community, along with Anton Haddad.

[1] Ibrahim George Kheiralla converted to the Baháʼí Faith while living in Egypt in 1889 when he met Hájí ʻAbdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání.

[5] Another to join the religion from Kheiralla's early classes was Howard MacNutt, who would later compile The Promulgation of Universal Peace, a prominent collection of the addresses of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá during his journeys in America.

[10] In 1898, Kheiralla undertook a Baháʼí pilgrimage to Palestine to meet ʻAbdu'l-Bahá with other American pilgrims, including Phoebe Hearst, Lua Getsinger and May Boles.

Upon his return to America in 1899, Kheiralla began to announce his avowed leadership of Western Baháʼís independent of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá[2] and authored a book, Beha'u'llah,[14] wherein he states his belief that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was equal in rank to his brothers Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí, Ḍíyáʼu'lláh, and Badiʻu'lláh.