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SHOGHI EFFENDI

The Servant at the Threshold

Hitjo Garst Translated by Suzanne Gerstner With illustrations by Anja Shanmugampillai

GEORGE RONALD OXFORD

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George Ronald, Publisher www.grbooks.com

ISBN 978-0-85398-642-3

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover design: Steiner Graphics

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1 The Servant at the Threshold This book is about Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. At the same time, it is also about the first period of the Formative Age of the Faith. It is impossible to write about Shoghi Effendi without looking at the beginning of the Formative Age. Conversely, one cannot write about the beginning of the Formative Age without understanding the life of Shoghi Effendi. They are so closely intertwined. The Formative Age began after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This was the beginning of the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi and, at the same time, the beginning of the building of the Administrative Order of the Faith. The Formative Age is the second period in the history of the Bahá’í Faith. The first period was the Heroic Age. That was the time of the birth of the Faith. The Central Figures in this period were the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Báb prepared the people for the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. The Báb made Himself known to His first disciple in 1844. The Faith of the Báb quickly spread throughout Persia. With this began a particularly stormy period. His followers, the Bábís, were subjected to severe persecution. This was a time of unprecedented heroism by the Bábís. Thousands sacrificed their lives for their new Faith. After six years, the Báb was executed by a firing squad. His religion only lasted a brief period, after which began the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. In 1863, in Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh revealed Himself to be the Promised One of all religions. He taught the oneness of 1

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God, the oneness of religions and the oneness of humankind. Bahá’u’lláh and His followers also encountered fierce opposition. Bahá’u’lláh was a prisoner for forty years and was exiled four times, finally to ‘Akká in the Holy Land. Despite His imprisonment, He revealed so many Writings and prayers as to fill a hundred books. These are all sources of divine guidance to humanity. After Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension in 1892, the leadership of the Faith was left in the hands of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s eldest son. In His Will and Testament, Bahá’u’lláh named ‘Abdu’lBahá to be the Centre of His Covenant and the Head of His Faith. By this He meant that the Bahá’ís must accept ‘Abdu’lBahá’s leadership and they should direct their questions to Him. He was the infallible interpreter of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá preserved the oneness of the Faith. In 1921, after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, His eldest grandson, became the Guardian of the Faith. ‘Abdu’lBahá appointed him in His Will and Testament. It was a great shock for Shoghi Effendi when he heard that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had appointed him as the Guardian of the Faith. Nobody knew of this ahead of time, including Shoghi Effendi. It only became known when the Will and Testament was opened. This shock came on top of the other shock, shortly before, of the unexpected passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi was only twenty-four years old. From one day to the next, an immensely heavy burden had been laid upon his shoulders. In the beginning it was too much for him and he went a number of times to Switzerland, leaving his great aunt Bahíyyih Khánum temporarily in charge of the worldwide Bahá’í Community. After a period of about three years, Shoghi Effendi could fully take the Guardianship upon himself. As the Heroic Age was the period of the coming into 2

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existence of the Faith, the Formative Age – which we are still in – is the period of the building up of the Administrative Order of the Faith. At the beginning of the Formative Age there were already many places in the world where Bahá’ís lived. But their activities weren’t coordinated with each other. In all these places they served the Faith in their own way, and many thought that any sort of organization wasn’t necessary. However, the goal of the Bahá’í Faith is to bring about the unification of the human race. For this to happen, a system of organization is necessary so that Bahá’ís, worldwide, can work together to bring about unity. This system is the Bahá’í Administrative Order. Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá provided for such a system in their Writings. Local and National Houses of Justice needed to be established. At the head of the Administrative Order would be the Universal House of Justice. At present, the Local and National Houses of Justice are still called Local and National Spiritual Assemblies. In addition to His Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left us another extremely important document, the Tablets of the Divine Plan. This Plan is made up of fourteen letters addressed to the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. They received the mission to take the Faith to all areas of the world. ‘Abdu’lBahá named about one hundred and twenty areas and islands, spread out over the whole earth, where the Faith should be established. Shoghi Effendi could not immediately begin carrying out this Divine Plan. First, the Administrative Order needed to be sufficiently developed. Shoghi Effendi began building it. He taught the Bahá’ís that if there were nine Bahá’ís living in a locality, they should form a Local Spiritual Assembly. He taught them how to hold an election, how they needed to consult with each 3

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other and make decisions and carry out the matters they had decided on, and much more. After sixteen years, the Bahá’ís were ready. The Administrative Order was sufficiently developed to carry out the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi gave the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada a Seven Year Plan. In all the provinces and states of their countries, a Spiritual Assembly had to be established, and all countries in South and Central America had to be opened to the Faith. This meant that at least one Bahá’í had to live in each of those countries. After World War II, a Second Seven Year Plan came into being in order to bring the Faith to Europe. Subsequently, Shoghi Effendi gave the Bahá’ís the Ten Year World Crusade. He named 131 countries and regions in which the Faith should be established. The stated goals of each plan were almost completely achieved. The Guardianship included much more than the building the Administrative Order. Shoghi Effendi was designated as the interpreter of the Writings of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and Abdu’l-Bahá. He translated them from Persian and Arabic into English. He translated the book, The Dawn-Breakers, about the history of the Báb and His followers. He wrote God Passes By, a history of the first hundred years of the Faith. He provided for the expansion and safeguarding of the possessions around the Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, and he built the dome of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. He defended the persecuted Bahá’ís in Iran and other countries. He wrote a great many letters in which he guided the Bahá’ís and explained what processes were happening in the world. He also defended the Faith against the attacks of the Covenant-breakers. And, in the final years of his life, he appointed a number of devoted Bahá’ís to serve as Hands of the Cause of God, to spread and protect the Faith. 4

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2 Now is the Time to Play Shoghi Effendi was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s eldest grandson. His mother was the eldest daughter of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the granddaughter of Bahá’u’lláh. His father was a descendent of the family of the Báb. Thus, Shoghi Effendi was an offshoot of the families of two Divine Messengers. In His Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá referred to him as ‘the blest and sacred bough that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees’ and ‘the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the Twin surging seas’. He was born in the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in ‘Akká. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knew that his first grandchild had a special destiny. Was He the only one who knew this? Bahá’ís in ‘Akká pleaded constantly with Mírzá Hádí Shirazí Afnán, Shoghi Effendi’s father, to show his son to them. Shoghi Effendi was four months old when he brought the baby to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s room. The friends were beside themselves with joy. ‘Abdu’lBahá’s doctor was there too. The doctor did his utmost to see Shoghi Effendi as a normal Bahá’í child, but a strong urge came over him to bow his head and observe the deepest respect. For about a minute he was completely fascinated by the beauty of Shoghi Effendi’s face. He tenderly kissed the soft hair of his blessed head and, when he kissed him, he felt that the child had incredible qualities. It reminded him of the infant Jesus in the arms of His mother, Mary. For days the image of his radiant face remained clearly before his eyes. Years later, he experienced the same experience feelings twice more. He discussed it with one of his loyal friends, also a Bahá’í. He understood what 7

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the doctor meant. Together they decided not to talk to anyone about it. By the age of two, Shoghi Effendi already had a very close bond with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He had great respect for his Grandfather. Once there were American pilgrims visiting. At the time, Shoghi Effendi was still ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s only grandchild. Naturally the pilgrims were curious about him. One of them even wrote about him in her diary. One day this pilgrim had joined the ladies of the Holy Family in the room of the Greatest Holy Leaf (‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sister) for early morning tea. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was sitting in His favourite place on the divan, where His had a view of the blue Mediterranean Sea. He was busy writing Tablets. It was quiet in the room. You could only hear the bubbling of the samovar brewing the tea. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked one of His daughters to chant a prayer. The pilgrim wrote: As she finished, a small figure appeared in the open doorway, directly opposite ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Having dropped off his shoes he stepped into the room, with his eyes focused on the Master’s face. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá returned his gaze with such a look of loving welcome it seemed to beckon the small one to approach Him. Shoghi, that beautiful little boy, with his exquisite cameo face and his soulful appealing, dark eyes, walked slowly toward the divan, the Master drawing him as by an invisible thread, until he stood quite close in front of Him. As he paused there a moment ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not offer to embrace Him but sat perfectly still, only nodding His head two or three times, slowly and impressively, as if to say: ‘You see? This tie connecting us is not that of a physical grandfather but something far deeper and more significant.’ While we breathlessly watched to see what he would do, the little boy reached down and picking up the hem of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s robe he touched it reverently to his forehead,

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and kissed it, then gently replaced it, while never taking his eyes from the adored Master’s face. The next moment he turned away, and scampered off to play, like any normal child.

As a boy of five, Shoghi Effendi desperately wanted ‘Abdu’lBahá to write something for him. He continued begging Him until ‘Abdu’l-Bahá finally wrote the following for him: He is God! 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.

Shoghi Effendi did what ‘Abdu’lBahá had written. He learned some of Bahá’u’lláh’s prayers by heart and chanted them so loudly that the whole neighbourhood could hear him. His parents and other relatives protested, but Shoghi Effendi replied, ‘The Master wrote to me to chant that He may hear me! I’m doing my best.’ He continued, as loudly as he could, for hours every day. Then his parents begged ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to make him stop, but He replied that they should leave Shoghi Effendi alone. Another time, Shoghi Effendi went to Abdu’lBahá’s room with his Grandfather’s 9

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pen and tried to write. Abdu’l-Bahá pulled Shoghi Effendi towards Him, gently tapping his shoulder and saying, ‘Now is not time to write, now is the time to play, you will write a lot in the future.’ Shoghi Effendi was a boy filled with overflowing energy. He would run inexhaustibly up and down the stairs of the inner courtyard – to the great concern of the pilgrims, since this was quite dangerous. He also made sure that there were always things to do. If there was any mischief going on, they could always count on Shoghi Effendi being behind it. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá once wrote about him: ‘Shoghi Effendi is a wise man – but he runs about very much!’ Shoghi Effendi wanted to know everything. He was five or six years old when he went with his family to visit a doctor. Shoghi Effendi spent most of the time in the doctor’s study, viewing the drawings in his medical books. However, pictures alone were not enough. One time, one of Shoghi Effendi’s uncles had shot a wildcat. The doctor dissected the dead animal and explained everything to Shoghi Effendi. To the doctor’s surprise, his young medical student could repeat back all the important points very accurately. The same doctor also described what Shoghi Effendi was like with his friends. He said that if Shoghi Effendi had had any disagreement with one of them, he always made sure to make it right with them again before he went to bed, even if it was not his fault. He advised his friends always to do the same. For decades, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His family were prisoners in ‘Akká. Shoghi Effendi could visit the Bahá’ís in the city or visit the pilgrims at the inn, but the family could not leave the city. ‘Akká was surrounded by thick walls and only had two gates, with watchmen at each gate. It was impossible to go out of town unnoticed. Yet, it was not always so strict and sometimes 10

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End of this sample. To learn more or to purchase this book, Please visit Bahaibookstore.com or your favorite bookseller.