ture of this momentous
verdict, which after mature deliberation has obtained the sanction of
Egypt's highest ecclesiastical authorities, has been communicated and
printed, and is regarded as final and binding. I have stressed in my last
reference to this far-reaching pronouncement the negative aspect of this
document which condemns in most unequivocal and emphatic language the
followers of Baha'u'llah as the believers in heresy, offensive and
injurious to Islam, and wholly incompatible with the accepted doctrines
and practice of its orthodox adherents.

Baha'i Cause Recognized as Independent Religion

A closer study of the text of the decision will, however, reveal the fact
that coupled with this strong denunciation is the positive assertion of a
truth which the recognized opponents of the Baha'i Faith in other
Muhammadan countries have up to the present time either sedulously ignored
or maliciously endeavored to disprove. Not content with this harsh and
unjustifiable repudiation of the so-called menacing and heretical
doctrines of the adherents of the Baha'i Faith, they proceed in a formal
manner to declare in the text of that very decision their belief, that the
Baha'i Faith is a "new religion," "entirely independent" and, by reason of
the magnitude of its claim and the character of its "laws, principles and
beliefs," worthy to be reckoned as one of the established religious
systems of the world. Quoting various passages judiciously gleaned from a
number of Baha'i sacred Books as an evidence to their splendid testimony,
they proceed in a notable statement to deduce the fact that henceforth it
shall be regarded as impossible for the followers of such a Faith to be
designated as Muslim, just as it would be incorrect and erroneous to call
a Muhammadan either Christian or Jew.

It cannot be denied that in the course of the inevitable developments of
this present situation the resident Baha'is of Egypt, originally belonging
to the Muslim Faith, will be placed in a most humiliating and embarrassing
position. They, however, cannot but rejoice in the knowledge that whereas
in various Muhammadan countries and particularly in Persia the
overwhelming majority of the leaders of Islam are utterly opposed to any
form of declaration that would facilitate the universal recognition of the
Cause, the authorized heads of their co-religionists in one of the most
advanced communities in the Muhammadan world have, of their own
in