Shoghí Effendí Rabbání (March 1, 1897 — November 4, 1957), better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. After the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Bahá'í community entered a new phase, evolving 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. Shoghi Effendi was referred to as the Guardian, and held the explicit 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 Bahá'í scripture by appointment from one to the next, but a prerequisite that appointees be male descendants of Bahá'u'lláh left no suitable living candidates, and Shoghi Effendi died without making an appointment. The Universal House of Justice, the only institution authorized to adjudicate on situations not covered in scripture, later announced that it could not legislate to make possible the appointment of a successor to Shoghi Effendi.[1][2] To Bahá'ís he is the first and last Guardian. Born in `Akká in March 1897, Shoghi Effendi was related to the Báb through his father, Mírzá Hádí Shírází, and to Bahá'u'lláh through his mother, Ḍíyá'íyyih Khánum, the eldest daughter of `Abdu'l-Bahá. From the early years of his life, Shoghi Effendi was greatly influenced by `Abdu'l-Bahá, who provided much of his initial training. Shoghi Effendi learned prayers from his grandfather `Abdu'l-Bahá, who encouraged him to chant. It was also `Abdu'l-Bahá who insisted that the appellation given to the child should be "Shoghi Effendi", ("Effendi" signifies "Sir"), rather than simply "Shoghi", as a mark of respect towards him. From his early years, Shoghi Effendi was introduced to the suffering which accompanied the Bahá'ís in Akká, including the attacks by Mírzá Muhammad `Alí against `Abdu'l-Bahá. As a young boy, he was aware of Sultán `Abdu'l-Hamíd's desire to banish `Abdu'l-Bahá to the deserts of North Africa where he was expected to perish. At one point, Shoghi Effendi was warned not to drink coffee in the homes of any of the Bahá'ís in the fear that he would be poisoned. Being the eldest grandson of `Abdu'l-Bahá, from his earliest childhood he had a special relationship with his grandfather. Dr. Baghdadi reports that when Shoghi Effendi was only 5 years old, he was pestering his grandfather to write a tablet for him, which was common for `Abdu'l-Bahá. He wrote the following for his grandson: O My Shoghi, I have no time to talk, leave me alone! You said 'write' - I have written. What else should be done? Now is not the time for you to read and write, it is the time for jumping about and chanting 'O My God!', therefore memorize the prayers of the Blessed Beauty and chant them that I may hear them, because there is no time for anything else.[3] Shoghi Effendi then set out to memorize a number of prayers, and chanted them as loud as he could. This caused family members to ask `Abdu'l-Bahá to quiet him down, a request which he apparently refused.[3] He was originally educated at home with the other children in the household, and then attended a French Christian Brothers school in Haifa, and then boarding at another Catholic school in Beirut.[4] Shoghi Effendi later attended the Syrian Protestant College (later known as the American University of Beirut) for his final years of high school and first years of university where he earned an arts degree in 1918.[4] He reports being very unhappy in school and often returned on vacations to Haifa spent with `Abdu'l-Bahá. During his studies, he dedicated himself to mastering English — adding this language to the Persian, Turkish, Arabic and French, languages in which he was already fluent - so that he could translate the letters of `Abdu'l-Bahá and serve as his secretary. After studying at the American University of Beirut he later went to Balliol College, Oxford in England, where he matriculated in "Economics and Social Sciences", while still perfecting his translation skills.[5] The issue of successorship to `Abdu'l Bahá was in the minds of early Bahá'ís, and although the Universal House of Justice was an institution mentioned by Bahá'u'lláh, the institution of the Guardianship was not introduced until the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá was publicly read after his death. Bahá'u'lláh's own will mentions Mírzá Muhammad `Alí as following `Abdu'l Bahá in leadership, but he was excommunicated as a covenant-breaker and shunned by Bahá'ís. On the occasion of some Persian believers asking him about a successor, `Abdu'l Bahá responded: On another occasion, Western believers, hearing of the birth of Shoghi Effendi, wrote to `Abdu'l Bahá and asked if this child is the one mentioned in the Bible in Isaiah 11:6 where it says "a little child shall lead them". The response was: While studying in England, on 29 November 1921, the news of `Abdu'l-Bahá's death reached Shoghi Effendi, which, according to Tudor Pole, the deliverer of the cable, left him "in a state of collapse." After spending a couple of days with John Esslemont,[8] and after some passport difficulties he sailed from England on December 16 and arrived in Haifa on 29 December, and a few days later opened `Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament, which was addressed to Shoghi Effendi.[9] 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 Bahá'ís had to look to for guidance.[4] `Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament is considered one of the three charters of the Bahá'í administrative order, and in it `Abdu'l-Bahá laid down the authority of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, the elected governing body of the Bahá'í Faith that had been written about by Bahá'u'lláh, and had not yet been established: 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, `Abdu'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. During his leadership the Bahá'í religion developed into a global faith. From the time of appointment until his death, the Bahá'í Faith grew from 100,000 to 400,000 members, and the countries in which Bahá'ís had representation went from 35 to 250. As Guardian and head of the religion, while Shoghi Effendi was initially traumatized, he had a clear vision of how he believed the religion should progress, and he communicated his vision to the Bahá'ís of the world through his numerous letters and his meetings with pilgrims who would come to Palestine.[4] During the 1920s, he first started to systematize and extend the Bahá'í administration throughout the world where there existed Bahá'í communities; because the Bahá'í community was relatively small and undeveloped when he assumed the leadership of the religion, he strengthened and developed it over many years to the point where it was capable of supporting the administrative structure envisioned by `Abdu'l-Bahá. Under Shoghi Effendi's direction, National Spiritual Assemblies were formed, and many thousands of Local Spiritual Assemblies sprang up as the Bahá'í Faith spread around the globe. Then, during the 1930s he worked on a series of major translation projects, translating the works of Bahá'u'lláh into English. Starting in 1937, he set into motion a series of systematic plans to establish Bahá'í communities in every country of the world.[4] The culmination of these plans was the Ten Year Crusade that covered the years from 1953 to 1963. Starting in the late 1940s, after the independence of Israel, he also started to develop the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, including the construction of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb and the building of the International Archives as well as beautifying the gardens at Bahji, where the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh is located; these plans continued through the 1950s.[4] In the 1950s he also continued building the Bahá'í administration, establishing in 1951 the International Bahá'í Council to act as a precursor to the Universal House of Justice, as well as appointing 32 living Hands of the Cause — Bahá'ís who achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion and whose main function was to propagate and protect the religion.[4] He also acted as the official representative of the religion to legal authorities in Israel. He also was concerned with matters dealing with Bahá'í belief and practice — as Guardian he was empowered to interpret the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, and these were authoritative and binding.[11] His leadership style was however, quite different than that of `Abdu'l-Bahá, in that he signed his letters to the Bahá'ís as "your true brother" and he did not refer to his own personal role, but instead to the institution of the guardianship.[4] He requested that he be referred in letters and verbal addresses always as Shoghi Effendi, as opposed to any other appellation.[12] He also distanced himself as a local notable.[4] In a more "secular" cause, prior to World War II he supported the work of restoration-forester Richard St. Barbe Baker to reforest Palestine, introducing St. Barbe Baker to religious leaders from the major faiths of the region, from whom backing was secured for such an effort.[13] In his lifetime, Shoghi Effendi translated into English many of the writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, including the Hidden Words in 1929, the Kitáb-i-Íqán in 1931, Gleanings in 1935 and Epistle to the Son of the Wolf in 1941.[11] He also translated such historical texts as The Dawn-breakers.[11] His significance is not just that of a translator, but he was also the designated and authoritative interpreter of the Bahá'í writings. His translations therefore are a guideline for all future translations of the Bahá'í writings.