Daily inter mountain., 1900-07-07

more than devote ordinary curiosity to
the doings of their society. Now that
the disputes have assumed such propOr-
tions that it has been necessary to sum-
mon the head of the sect from Egypt, 1t
Is but natural that people should take a
trifle more interest in this American
adaptation of the religion of the Turk.
THE REAL HEAD.
DR.. Ibrihim G. Kheirlla, who has been
the cause of all this publicity and dis
cord, is a most interesting character. A
few years ago he was a clergyman of the
Church of England, but he had long been
interested in occult matters and when
the opportunity to make study of them
in Persia presented itself he readily ac-
cepted it and withdrawing from his
charge, went to that country as the pup,i
of Persian community and brotherhood.
There he studied deeply, his teachers be-
ing Persian mystics, who give all their
instruction orally and who exact from
their pupils a promise that they will neil
ther receive pay nor any other reward for
imparting this instruction to others.
When DR.. Khieralla returned he began
at once in the PRONUNCIATION OF his new
faith, In the middle West the doctrines
he taught were received with special ia
yor and all who grasped the teachings
were made members of the mystic fra
ternity. Gradually the sect extended.
until there We're branches of 1t in al
most every large city in the country. To
all these converts DR.. Khieralla was
prophet and guide.
For a time all went we'll and there was
no one to contest DR.. Khieralla's right
to pose as the greatest teacher of these
truths in this country. AS the sect in
creased in size, however, factions were
formed and it was claimed that the doc
tor was departing from the tenets as he
had originally promulgated them. and as
it was believed that he would UNDER
mine the true faith and lead the con-
verts astray word was sent to Abdel ka-
rim and he at once started for this coun-
try.
A PUBLIC CRASH.
Just what DR.. Khieralla was teaching
that was wrong from the Babistic point
of view is a mystery to all who are not
initiates in the sect of Truth knoWers.
1t is hinted that in his instructions he did
not adhere sufficiently close to Moham-
mechanism that is the basis for the faith
of the sect, but this is mere rumor, which
Abdel Karin would neither confirm nor
deny All he would say was:
"I came from Cairo Ito meet and con-
front DR.. I. G. Kheiralla on account of his
ercent falsifications of the doctrines
taught by the learned men in Persia and
Egypt. I have met Kheiralla and have
published over his name retraction OF
the statements made by him against the
mother church; but as the church is un-
willing to allow it's doctrines to be turned
into Kheirallaism the doctor has been
repudiated and is no longer an author
ized teacher"
In spite of all this DR.. Kheiralla has
friends and supporters who stand by
him in his defeat, and 1t is more than
probable that he will go right on promul-
eating his doctrines Abdel Karin to the
contrary. The result of such state OF
affairs will be that there will probably DC
two Mohammedan sects instead of one In
the United States, and as competition Is
the life of everything. 1t Is not at all un-
likely that American people who are
mvstically inclined will have, in the near
| future, ample opportunity to Instruct
! themselves in the wisdom of the religion
of the Turk