Qanún al-Aḥwal al-Shakhsí

16pp. Arabic. Title continues: “Extracted from al-Kitáb al-Aqdas, the writings of `Abdu’l-Baha, and the letters of the Chosen Branch [Shoghi Effendi]”. The Appellate court of Bibá in the district of Suwayf in Egypt gave a judgement, dated 10 May 1925, which was subsequently confirmed by the national Shari`a court, which stated that “the Baha’i religion is a new religion, with an independent platform and laws and institutions peculiar to it . . . Nor can we state a Baha’i to be a Muslim nor a Muslim to be a Baha’i.” Shoghi Effendi seized on this judgement and urged the Egyptian Bahá’ís to apply to the Egyptian government for recognition as an independent religion authorized to deal with all matters of personal status, a status that the other religious communities in Egypt had. Before this could be done however, it was necessary to draw up a codification of the Bahá’í laws of personal status in order to demonstrate that such laws existed in the Bahá’í Faith, were not a danger to public morality and could be administered by a Bahá’í court. This publication was that codification.