Shoghi Effendi Rabbani was the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He was appointed to that station in the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi was the eldest grandson of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He was born on March 1st 1897. From his earliest childhood he had a special relationshop with his grandfather 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He studied at the American University of Beirut and later at Balliol College, Oxford in England. After the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on November 28th 1921 Shoghi Effendi began to guide the Bahá'í community, he set up the administrative principles upon which all future Bahá'í institutions are to function, he translated the writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá and built the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb in Haifa, Israel. During his ministry from 1921-1957 the Bahá'í-Religion developed to a global faith. When he took office there existed about 100.000 Bahá'ís, most of them of Persian origin. Only a few Bahá'ís lived in India, Europe and in the United States of America. Bahá'ís lived in about 35 countries. 36 years later at the end of his ministry more than 400.000 Bahá'ís lived in 250 countries. He was married to Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khanum, a Hand of the Cause of God, which is the highest position occupied by individuals in the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi died in England on November 4th, 1957 of Asian flu while on a visit to purchase furnishings for the Bahá'í archives building on Mount Carmel, Israel.

Genealogy of Shoghi Effendi

Below are thumbnail illustrations of the genealogy of Shoghi Effendi, showing direct lineage going back to Adam. Because of the image length, this chart has been divided into top and bottom sections. The chart was drawn by Grover Gonzales, and is also available here http://bahai-library.com/?file=visuals_genealogyguardian.html and here (mirrored) http://farrid.20m.com/gu.htm .

This article is related to: The Bahá'í Faith Central Figures: The Báb Bahá'u'lláh `Abdu'l-Bahá Shoghi Effendi Institutions: Universal House of Justice, Bahá'í House of Worship Individuals: Táhirih, List of Bahá'ís Topics: Kitáb-i-Íqán, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Qiblih, Bahá'í calendar

See also: Orthodox Bahai Faith.

External links

• The Bahá'í World http://www.bahai.org
• The work and life of Shoghi Effendi http://www.bahai.org/article-1-3-0-5.html
• Writings of Shoghi Effendi http://bahai-library.com/writings/shoghieffendi/
• Biography of Shoghi Effendi http://bahai-library.com/biography/life.shoghi.effendi.html
• Directions to the Resting Place of Shoghi Effendi http://www.bahai.org.uk/shoghi/
• Writings of Shoghi Effendi in English, Persian, and Arabic http://reference.bahai.org
• Divine standard unfurled http://www.bupc.org/genealogy.html