1. Universal House of Justice, comp. Bahá'í World, The: Volume 18 (1979-1983) (1986). Periodic volumes that survey the global activities and major achievements of the Faith.
2. Johanna Pink. Deriding Revealed Religions?: Bahá'ís in Egypt (2002 October). Shift in Egyptian public perception of the Bahá'í Faith from an Islamic reform movement to an independent religion.
3. Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By (1971 [1944]). The classic — and canonical — historical summary and interpretation of the significance of the development of the Bábí and Baháʼí religions from 1844 to 1944.
4. Ministerio de la Presidencia. Orden PCM/1065/2023, de 18 de septiembre, por la que se declara el notorio arraigo de la Comunidad Bahá'í de España, a los efectos previstos en la Ley Orgánica 7/1980, de 5 de julio, de Libertad Religiosa (2023-09-26). La Comunidad Bahá'í de España solicitó una "declaración de raíces notorias". La Subdirección General de Libertad Religiosa examinó la documentación, concluyendo que los bahá'ís reúnen todos los requisitos necesarios para obtener la declaración.
5. Ali Akhbar Abaib Mas Rabbani Lubis, Sulaiman. Politics of Recognition, Society, and Law, The: The Role of Muslim Society and the Kubu Raya Local Government in the Struggle of the Bahá'ís (2022-11). The experience of Bahá'ís in Indonesia, specifically the region of Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan, where they face rejection in society and restrictions on civil rights; relationships between the Baha’is and the majority Muslim community and local government.
6. Ralph D. Wagner, comp. Recognition of Bahá'í Marriage and Holidays in American State Law (1998). List of sample legal statutes and proceedings from various states, followed by specific legal counsel of the State of Oklahoma regarding recognition of Bahá'í holy days.
7. Universal House of Justice. Reflections on the First Century of the Formative Age (2023-11-28). Overview of the Faith's developments and activities during the previous century, including the Guardianship, global expansion, community building and development, participation in societal discourse, and construction of the Bahá'í World Centre.

1. 1907-07-19 —
   The Chicago `Bahai Assembly' filed an affidavit of incorporation, the first Bahá'í community to acquire legal status. [BFA2:278]
   • The incorporation is in the name of the community rather than the governing body. [BFA2:278–9]
2. 1925-05-10 —
   A Muslim Court in Egypt pronounced the Faith to be an independent religion. [BBRSM173; BW2:31;BW3:49]
   • For text of the judgement see BW3:48–50.
   • This was 'the first charter of liberty emancipating the Bahá'í Faith from the fetters of orthodox Islam'. [BA100-1, 120-123; BW3:110–11; GPBXII, 302, 365; CB306; PP319–20; UD65 WOB99, LoF57, SETPE1p102-104]

     "an attack which, viewed in the perspective of history, will be acclaimed by future generations as a landmark not only in the Formative Period of the Faith but in the history of the first Bahá'í century. Indeed, the sequel to this assault may be said to have opened a new chapter in the evolution of the Faith itself, an evolution which, carrying it through the successive stages of repression, of emancipation, of recognition as an independent Revelation, and as a state religion, must lead to the establishment of the Bahá'í state and culminate in the emergence of the Bahá'í World Commonwealth. [GPB364]

   • Subsequent to the court's decision...

     "the presentation of a petition addressed by the national elected representatives of that community to the Egyptian Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Justice (supported by a similar communication addressed by the American National Spiritual Assembly to the Egyptian Government, see BW4p166), enclosing a copy of the judgment of the Court, and of their national Bahá'í constitution and by-laws, requesting them to recognize their Assembly as a body qualified to exercise the functions of an independent court and empowered to apply, in all matters affecting their personal status, the laws and ordinances revealed by the Author of their Faith--these stand out as the initial consequences of a historic pronouncement that must eventually lead to the establishment of that Faith on a basis of absolute equality with its sister religions in that land." [GPB367]

     "it became a lever which the Egyptian Bahá'í community, followed later by its sister-communities, readily utilized for the purpose of asserting the independence of its Faith and of seeking for it the recognition of its government. Translated into several languages, circulated among Bahá'í communities in East and West, it gradually paved the way for the initiation of negotiations between the elected representatives of these communities and the civil authorities in Egypt, in the Holy Land, in Persia and even in the United States of America, for the purpose of securing the official recognition by these authorities of the Faith as an independent religion. " [GPB366]

Background Information

"It was in the village of Kawmu's-Sa`áyidih, in the district of Beba, of the province of Beni Suef in Upper Egypt, that, as a result of the religious fanaticism which the formation of a Bahá'í assembly had kindled in the breast of the headman of that village, and of the grave accusations made by him to both the District Police Officer and the Governor of the province--accusations which aroused the Muhammadans to such a pitch of excitement as to cause them to perpetrate shameful acts against their victims--that action was initiated by the notary of the village, in his capacity as a religious plaintiff authorized by the Ministry of Justice, against three Bahá'í residents of that village, demanding that their Muslim wives be divorced from them on the grounds that their husbands had abandoned Islám after their legal marriage as Muslims." [GPB364-365]

1. 1927-05-00 —
   The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada drew up and published a 'Declaration of Trust' and 'By-laws of the National Spiritual Assembly'. [BW2:89, BW10:180]
   • For text see BW2:90–8.
   • The Guardian described it as the Bahá'í 'national constitution' heralding 'the formation of the constitution of the future Bahá'í World Community'. [GPB335; PP302–3]
   • The drafting was largely the work of Horace Holley with assistance from the lawyer Mountfort Mills. [SBR234]
   • In subsequent years the National Assemblies of India and Burma, of Egypt, Iraq, Persian and the British Isles all adopted this example almost verbatim. [UD101, BA134-5, SETPE1p145-6]
2. 1940-00-00 — The Canadian Department of National Defence exempted Bahá'ís from combatant military duty.
3. 1949-04-30 —
   The Bill to incorporate the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada was passed by both Houses of the Canadian Parliament, and given Royal assent. The act established the name, named the officers as directors, stated the location of the headquarters, defined the objectives, gave it the right to manage the affairs of the Bahá'ís, to make by-laws and to hold property. It was used as a model for registration/incorporation in other states.
   • The pdf for the Act can be found here.
   • The National Spiritual Assembly members at that time were John Aldham Robarts, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, manager; Emeric Sala, of the city of St. Lambert, province of Quebec, manufacturer; Dame Laura Romney Davis, wife of Victor Davis of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario; Siegfried Schopflocher, of the city of Montreal, province of Quebec, manufacturer; Rowland Ardouin Estall, of the city of Montreal, province of Quebec, insurance broker; Ross Greig Woodman, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, lecturer; Lloyd George Gardner, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, wholesaler; and Dame Doris Cecilia Richardson, wife of J. P. Richardson, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario; and Dame Rosemarv Scott Sala, wife of the said Emeric Sala, of the city of St. Lambert, province Corporate of Quebec.
   • See Shoghi Effendi's letter of 19 June, 1949 for his comments.
     "an event twice hailed by Shoghi Effendi in the documents published here as "a magnificent victory unique in the annals of East and West". [MtCpvii]
4. 1958-00-01 — The Bahá'í marriage ceremony was first legally recognized in Ontario. [MoC208 note 9]
5. 1958-12-16 — The government of British Columbia issued the first certificate of Registration under the Marriage Act which certified that the Chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly was legally authorized to solemnize marriage. [CBN No 109 February 1959 p4]
6. 1960-07-01 — Ben Whitecow and Louise Many Guns were married in the first Bahá'í marriage legally recognized in Canada in a Bahá'í service by the Spiritual Assembly of Calgary, Alberta. The Canadian Bahá'í News article noted the significance that it was a First Nations couple who had this honour in this unique event. "Thirty people attended from Edmonton, Lethbridge, Regina, Piikani First Nation (Peigan Reserve), AB, and Calgary. This event was unique in that it was the first legally recognized Baha'i marriage in Canada. It is significant that a First Nations couple should have this honour [Canadian Baha'i News 1961].
7. 1961-09-00 — It was reported in the Canadian Bahá'í News that the National Assembly had made application to the Department of National Defence for recognition of the Bahá'í Faith on the list of religious denominations of the Armed Services. They received word that the Faith was so listed with the authorized abbreviation of "BWF" and that this will be used to designate those who wish to be so identified. [CBN No 140 September 1961 p6]
8. 1964-00-00 — The Yukon Territorial Government granted the right to perform legally recognized marriages to the Whitehorse local assembly. [Native Conversion, Native Identity: An Oral History of the Bahá'í Faith among First Nations People in the Southern Central Yukon Territory, Canada by Carolyn Patterson Sawin p98]
9. 1971-02-11 — Montreal Municipality issued a permit recognizing the Maxwell home as a Bahá'í Shrine after nine years of negotiations and delays. With this struggle came a hidden blessing. For years the Shrine had been used as a Bahá'í Centre by the Montreal community, open also to friends of the area as a place to hold public meetings, open Feasts, and certain activities not always suited to it as a Shrine. The realization was made that it was a National Bahá'í Shrine and as such should not be used as a centre. [CBNApril1971p10]

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