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The Opinion and Judgment of the Appellate religious court of Beba, delivered on May 10, 1925, subsequently sanctioned by the highest ecclesiastical authorities in Cairo and upheld by them as final, printed and circulated by the Muslim authorities themselves, annulled the marriages contracted by the three Baha'i defendants and condemned the mass heretics for having violated the laws and ordinances of Islam. It even went so far as to make the positive, the startling and indeed the historic assertion that the Faith embraced by these heretics is to be regarded as a distinct religion, wholly independent of the religious systems that have preceded it-- an assertion which hitherto the enemies of the Faith, whether in the East or in the West, had either disputed or deliberately ignored. (365:1) Having expounded the fundamental tenets and ordinances of Islam, and given a detailed exposition of the Baha'i teachings, supported by various quotations from the Kitab- i- Aqdas, from the writings of Abdu'l- Baha and of Mirza Abu'l- Fadl, with special reference to certain Baha'i laws, and demonstrated that the defendants had, in the light of these statements, actually abjured the Faith of Muhammad, his formal verdict declares in the most unequivocal terms: "The Baha'i Faith is a new religion, entirely independent, with beliefs, principles and laws of its own, which differ from, and are utterly in conflict with, the beliefs, principles and laws of Islam. No Baha'i, therefore, can be regarded a Muslim or vice- versa, even as no Buddhist, Brahmin, or Christian can be regarded a Muslim or vice- versa." Ordering the dissolution of the contracts of marriage of the parties on trial, and the "separation" of the husbands from their wives, this official and memorable pronouncement concludes with the following words: "If any one of them (husbands) repents, believes in, and acknowledges whatsoever ... Muhammad, the Apostle of God ... has brought from God ... and returns to the august Faith of Islam ... and testifies that ... Muhammad ... is the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers, that no religion will succeed His religion, that no law will abrogate His law, that the Qur'an is the last of the Books of God and His last Revelation to His Prophets and His Messengers ... he shall be accepted and shall be entitled to renew his marriage contract..."
(365:2)
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