page_title: Shoghi Effendi
section_title: Death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Guardianship
hierarchical_section_title: Shoghi Effendi / Background / Death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Guardianship
caption_attribution_description: Shoghi Effendi as young man.
context_page_description: Shoghí Effendí Rabbání, better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. Shoghi Effendi spent his early life in ʻAkká. His education was directed to serving as secretary and translator to his grandfather, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then leader of the Baháʼí Faith and son of the religion's founder, Baháʼu'lláh.
  After the death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Baháʼí community changed from that of a single individual to an administrative order with executive and legislative branches, the head of each being the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, respectively. Shoghi Effendi was referred to as the Guardian, and had the authority to interpret the writings of the three central figures of the religion and define the sphere of legislative authority. His writings are effectively limited to commentaries on the works of the central figures, and broad directives for the future.
  Future hereditary Guardians were permitted in the Baháʼí scripture by appointment from one to the next with the prerequisite that appointees be male descendants of Baháʼu'lláh.
context_section_description: The issue of successorship to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was in the minds of early Baháʼís, and although the Universal House of Justice was an institution mentioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the institution of the Guardianship was not clearly introduced until the Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was publicly read after his death.
  While studying in England, on 29 November 1921, the news of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's death reached Shoghi Effendi, which, according to Wellesley Tudor Pole, the deliverer of the cable, left him "in a state of collapse". After spending a couple of days with John Esslemont, and after some passport difficulties, he sailed from England accompanied with Sara Blomfield and his sister Ruhangiz on 16 December and arrived in Haifa on 29 December. A few days later he opened ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament, which was addressed to Shoghi Effendi.
  In the will, Shoghi Effendi found that he had been designated as "the Sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God". He also learned that he had been designated as this when he was still a small child. As Guardian he was appointed as head of the religion, someone whom the Baháʼís had to look to for guidance. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament is considered one of the three charters of the Baháʼí administrative order, and in it ʻAbdu'l-Bahá laid down the authority of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, the elected governing body of the Baháʼí Faith that had been written about by Baháʼu'lláh, and had not yet been established:
  The Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty... Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God.
  Shoghi Effendi later expressed to his wife and others that he had no foreknowledge of the existence of the Institution of Guardianship, least of all that he was appointed as Guardian. The most he expected was perhaps, because he was the eldest grandson, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá might have left instructions as to how the Universal House of Justice was to be elected and he might have been designated as Convener of the gathering which would elect it.
caption: Shoghi Effendi before 1940
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