Shoghi

Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, commonly known as Shoghi, was the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. Born in 1897 in Acca (then part of the Ottoman Empire), he was the son of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and was designated as the Guardian by the will of Bahá’u’lláh’s successor. As Guardian, he held the supreme administrative and interpretive authority for the Bahá’í Faith and guided the worldwide Bahá’í community through a period of consolidation and expansion.

Under his leadership, the Bahá’í Administrative Order was strengthened and global institutions were organized to manage the affairs of the Faith. He oversaw the expansion of the Bahá’í World Centre’s administrative framework and the development of regional and national spiritual assemblies. A central feature of his tenure was the institution of the Hands of the Cause to assist in safeguarding the Faith in times of crisis and the preparation for a future system of governance. He also initiated the Ten-Year Crusade (1953–1963), a worldwide plan to establish Bahá’í communities in new regions and to strengthen existing ones, with a view toward preparing for the eventual election of a Universal House of Justice.

Shoghi Effendi authored and edited numerous writings for the global Bahá’í community, including historical and explanatory works that clarified the Faith’s teachings and administrative order. His translations and compilations helped standardize terminology and concepts used by Bahá’ís around the world.

His death in London in 1957 left the Guardianship without a successor, and the Hands of the Cause administered the Faith until the Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963, marking a transition to a new phase of Bahá’í governance.