When on 10 May 1925, the appellate sharica court of Biba annulled the marriages of three Upper Egyptian Baha'is to their Muslim wives, declaring that the Baha'i faith was not part of Islam and therefore Muslims embracing it were to be considered apostates, this verdict was, paradoxically, hailed by the international Baha'i community as 'the first Charter of the emancipation of the Cause of Baha'u'llah from the fetters of Islamic orthodoxy'. The National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) of the Baha'is of Egypt and the Sudan, one of the first NSAs to be founded worldwide, felt inspired by the verdict that finally made the Egyptian public aware of the existence of an active Baha'i community in their country. It was clear to everyone now that the Baha'i faith could no longer be regarded as an Islamic reform movement, as had been the case before World War I, when Abd'ul'baha's visits to Alexandria had caused a first wave of interest in the new religion.