Shoghi Effendi, The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith
Shoghi Effendi is known as the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. He is the eldest grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the great-grandson of the Faith’s prophet founder, Bahá’u’lláh.
On 28 November 1921, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away peacefully in His sleep. Like His father, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left a clear and explicit will and testament — an extension of the Covenant established by Bahá’u’lláh. In that document, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, to succeed Him as the head or “Guardian” of the Bahá’í Faith. The Guardianship was an institution anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh. In this office, Shoghi Effendi was designated as the authoritative interpreter of the Bahá’í teachings. With the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, the line of hereditary leaders of the Bahá’í Faith came to an end.
The Bahá’í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God, working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about.
— Shoghi Effendi