Discontent among the soldiers was further stirred up by Muslim fundamentalists. Islamists in Istanbul were led by a charismatic mystic from Cyprus called Hafiz , who may have belonged to the Bektashi Order. Vahdeti established the , also known as the Mohammedan Union Party, and set up a newspaper called (Volcano) in November 1908 to spread anti-secularist rhetoric and campaign against the government. Religious conservatives portrayed the restored 1876 constitution as sacrificing Islamic traditions in order to curry favour with Western states and attacked the new general assembly for giving minorities and Christians within the empire greater influence, issues which resonated with soldiers who had recently been fighting separatists in the Balkans. Attempts by the CUP to introduce new officers and training regimen into the First Army Corps resulted in less time for soldiers to undertake ablution and prayer, allowing Islamists to present the CUP and its officers as irreligious, even atheistic, free masons from Macedonia. Although Abdul Hamid refused to provide financial support for the movement and newspaper, figures connected with the palace purportedly supported Vahdeti and one of the sultan's sons, Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, was a member of the Mohammedan Union. The society held its first mass rally on 3 April at the Hagia Sophia; its agitation for the restoration of Sharia gained widespread support, including from soldiers stationed in the city.