[This essay was originally presented to the Ninth Annual Conference of the Association of Baha'i Studies. 'The Vision of Shoghi Effendi', November 1984 in Chicago, where it was read on behalf of the author. See proceedings of the conference to be published by the Association in late 1991.]
When, in 1921, Shoghi Effendi acceded to the office of
Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith, he was in his second year as a student at
Balliol College, Oxford. The traumatic shock of the Master's passing had barely
given way to consciousness of unbearable loss, when the second blow fell with
the reading of the Will and Testament, and this totally dedicated, modest young
man faced the awe‑inspiring, appalling prospect of his appointment. He was
overwhelmed. After a brief stay in Haifa he committed the care of the Faith to
the Greatest Holy Leaf and retired for eight months to solitude and
preparation.
Upon his return to Haifa it quickly became apparent that he
had assumed the full responsibilities of his office, while more gradually it
was realized that the functions of that office were unique in the history of
the world. Present‑day visitors to the World Centre, students of the Revelation
and the hosts of new believers now entering the Cause rapidly become aware of
his mighty works. They see the magnificent gardens at Bahji and on Carmel, the
Shrine of the Báb, the International Archives Building, the great arc which he
created on the Mountain of God upon which Baha'u'llah has established His
throne; his translations into English of the Sacred Word are the daily food of
anglophone believers and the foundation of translations into other languages;
one whole generation and more witnessed the rise of the Administrative Order
under his direction, responded to his constant call to spread the knowledge and
establish the institutions of the Faith throughout the earth, and all stand
amazed at the vast range of his achievements and the character of his
leadership, a leadership which evoked in a handful of ordinary people powers
and capacities which they did not know they possessed and which enabled them to
achieve, under his guidance, tasks inconceivable and impossible without his God‑given
genius.
But all these are ancillary to the two great functions of our beloved Guardian, bounties flowing out to us and posterity from his own character and total dedication to the Cause of God. In the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l‑Baha the two essentials of his appointment are protection of the Cause ‑- 'the mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God' ‑- and exposition ‑- 'He is the Expounder of the Word of God'. It is the latter function which we are now to consider. It would be wise, however, in passing, to recognize that all his works, whether of exposition, translation, construction, propagation, protection, development, literary, executive, administrative or historical are of one piece, not separate activities, but each affecting all and all affecting each, summed up in the magic words, 'Guardian of the Cause of God'.
The situation facing Shoghi Effendi in November 1921 was
truly daunting. The Baha'i world community consisted of a few thousand
dedicated zealots in Persia, ready then, as now and always, to suffer torture
and death rather than deny their Faith, a handful of believers in the West, and
a few individuals scattered in a very small number of countries. There were no
Hands of the Cause. There was no National Spiritual Assembly in existence and
not even the rudiments of the Administrative Order were generally known. Bereft
of their all‑glorious Master, the Centre of the Covenant, invested with supreme
authority by Baha'u'llah Himself, where were these spiritually illumined,
eager, loyal, but uninformed and desperately anxious believers to turn for
guidance and a source of authority? The appointment of a successor was balm to
their souls and all hearts turned in relief and gratitude and love to the lone,
young scion of nobility who was now to embark upon his destiny. This is not the
occasion to examine the defection and activities of the Covenant‑breaking
members of Baha'u'llah's Own family and one or two supreme egoists who sought
leadership, but the subject cannot go unnoticed for it added tragedy to the
burden of the young Guardian.
That great institution, the secondary House of Justice, now
known as the National Spiritual Assembly, was created and established by
'Abdu'l‑Baha in His Will and Testament, the document which proved to be the
Charter of the Administrative Order. One of Shoghi Effendi's first acts was to
call to the attention of the believers in the West the “vital necessity of
having a Local Spiritual Assembly in every locality where the number of adult
declared believers exceeds nine, and of making provision for the indirect
election of a Body that shall adequately represent the interests of all the
friends and Assemblies . . . “ He later specified the methods and circumstances
of these elections.
This first act of exposition is of supreme interest, for it
not only established basic administrative institutions, but very emphatically
dwelt upon the spirit of unity in the Cause, and clearly indicated that in this
new day of God, executive authority is to be exercised by institutions which
operate by consultation, and not by individuals. It is the first intimation of
how the Guardian would discharge the duties of his high office, particularly
the raising of the Administrative Order. Firmly basing his directives on the explicit
Text (in this case the Kitab‑i‑Aqdas), which he quoted, he then applied the
provisions of the Will and Testament relating to the subject, added further
passages from the Master's Writings about Local Spiritual Assemblies, their
duties, conditions, attitudes, method of consultation, and the obligation of
all believers to be loyal and obedient to them, and not to take any step
without consulting the Spiritual Assembly. He clarified the relationship
between the local and national bodies and declared that they would, in future,
be designated Houses of Justice. In later letters he confirmed that the present
Spiritual Assemblies would evolve into those basic institutions of the Baha'i
World Commonwealth. In other words he uncovered, expounded and implemented what
was already in the Sacred Text.
The Expounder does not add to the Revelation although his
exposition and interpretation have the same validity as the Text itself. It is
clearly recognized that Shoghi Effendi made no changes and added nothing new to
the Revelation. He disclosed to our astonished eyes and expounded what had
already been enshrined in the Writings by the three Central Figures of our
Faith. He initiated and supervised the practical application to Baha'i affairs
of directives, injunctions, laws and ordinances in the Sacred Text as he was
guided to do, clearly indicating that the Administrative Order of the Faith
will “as its component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with
efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be
regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order
destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind”. (Shoghi
Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
The Guardian disclosed three Charters within the Sacred Text
for the three major activities which he initiated. The Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l‑Baha he characterized as “the Charter of the New World Order which is
at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation”, and the
Administrative Order “the framework of the Will itself. . .”. The Will is
therefore the Charter for the development of the Administrative Order. The
Tablet of Carmel is the Charter for establishing the administrative centre of
the Faith on that holy mountain; “Erelong will God sail His Ark upon thee” is
Baha'u'llah's apostrophe. The Charter for the great programme of teaching which
he initiated is 'Abdu'l‑Baha's Tablets of the Divine Plan, fourteen letters
addressed during World War I to the believers in various parts of North
America. Everything he did derived from the Sacred Text, interpreted and
expounded with his God‑given authority, itself explicitly conferred in the
written Word.
Upon this theme we may note that while the Guardian
subordinated his entire will and desire to the exposition and implementation of
the Revelation, Baha'u'llah Himself did not invent World Order. The Baha'i
Administrative Order, the Christ‑promised Kingdom of God on earth, the World
Order of Baha'u'llah ‑ synonyms for that unity of the human race which
Baha'u'llah, in numberless texts, has declared to be the purpose of Almighty
God ‑ is not a new concept. It is implicit in the act of creation, explicitly
confirmed by 'Abdu'l‑Baha in this remarkable passage from His Writings in which
He comments on why Baha'u'llah accepted such terrible sufferings:
“…His reason for putting on the heavy iron chains and for
becoming the very embodiment of utter resignation and meekness, was to lead
every soul on earth to concord, to fellow‑feeling, to oneness; to make known
amongst all peoples the sign of the singleness of God, so that at last the
primal oneness deposited at the heart of all created things would bear its
destined fruit…” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
That primal oneness preceded the creation and God Himself
deposited it at its heart. Its fruition is the Administrative Order of
Baha'u'llah which, Shoghi Effendi says in The Goal of a New World Order,
represents the consummation of human evolution. I also refer you to George
Townshend's The Promise of All Ages, Chapter One, 'The Epic of Humanity', which
opens with this wonderful sentence: “Baha'u'llah revealed a sublime vision of
human history as an epic written by the finger of God and proceeding along an
ordered course to a climax, the nature of which was exactly defined before the
story opened and the appearance of which at the date ordained by the Author no
human misunderstanding nor opposition could prevent or postpone.”
There is also Kant's perceptive statement in his Essay on
Eternal Peace: “The history of the human race, viewed as a whole, may be
regarded as the realization of a hidden plan of nature to bring about a
political constitution, internally and externally perfect, as the only state in
which all the capacities implanted by her in mankind can be fully developed.”
The concept has inspired the ideals, the hopes, the dreams of humanity
throughout the ages.
The greatness of this Revelation is seen, therefore, in the
fact that Baha'u'llah presides ‑ not only in His Own Dispensation but
throughout the Baha'i cycle ‑ over the fulfilment of God's ultimate purpose for
humanity. Being in the station of He doth whatsoever He willeth, the World
Order which He propounds is therefore His Own, and is properly called the World
Order of Baha'u'llah. It must also be realized that in organic growth there are
other factors involved than the potentiality within the seed. We are capable of
producing what God has deposited within us. Show forth that which ye possess,
says Baha'u'llah. But we can only do so under the influence of the Sun of
Truth, and until that Sun shines with its full meridian splendour we cannot
attain maturity either in our personal lives or socially. Again it is
Baha'u'llah's Revelation which shines from the zenith and brings to fruition
the seed of human life.
From this it is apparent that Shoghi Effendi, the appointed
Expounder of the Baha'i Revelation, is the one human being in all history,
whether of the past or the future, to have the greatest influence on the shape
and modus operandi of human society. For he is the one who understood the
vision of the Revealers and expounded and applied Their intentions in practical
terms to the organization of the world. There cannot be, on this planet, a
greater social or political unit than World Order. And it is Shoghi Effendi
who, while not the Architect of that consummation, is certainly its chief
builder and engineer. He it is who carefully nurtured this tender seedling at
its birth, sustained it with the life‑giving provisions of 'Abdu'l‑Baha's Will
and Testament, challenged its growing strength with gradual application of more
and more of the creative provisions of Baha'u'llah's law, infused into it the
powerful spirit of his all‑ encompassing vision and finally launched it, firmly
founded on the rock of the Covenant and protected within the divinely appointed
structure of the very Kingdom of God on earth, on its world‑encircling,
redemptive mission.
But although the ultimate shape of human society is now
being forged, individual progress within that form is never‑ending. For the
virtues, qualities and honours of men are limitless, deriving from God in Whose
image man is made. Thus while men may develop within that mature system they
cannot become mature outside it. Only within that divine shelter is it
possible. This whole subject is perspicuously presented in Shoghi Effendi's
World Order letters. Expounding “the principle of the oneness of mankind”, he
declares in The Goal of a New World Order:
“Let there be no mistake . . . It implies an organic change
in the structure of present‑day society, a change such as the world has not yet
experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn
shibboleths of national creeds ‑ creeds that have had their day and which must,
in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give
way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to,
what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the
reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world ‑ a world
organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political
machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and
language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of
its federated units.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
“The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as proclaimed by
Baha'u'llah, carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that
attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only
necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that
nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it.”
(Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
In the later ‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’ he
writes:
“The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, whose supreme mission is
none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole
body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as
signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It
should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the ever‑changing
fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive
Revelations, not even as the culmination of one of a series of recurrent
prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in the
stupendous evolution of man's collective life on this planet. The emergence of
a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a
world civilization and culture ‑ all of which must synchronize with the initial
stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Baha'i Era ‑ should, by their
very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the
furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an
individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue
indefinitely to progress and develop.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of
Baha’u’llah’)
“That mystic, all‑pervasive, yet indefinable change, which
we associate with the stage of maturity inevitable in the life of an individual
and the development of the fruit must, if we would correctly apprehend the
utterances of Baha'u'llah, have its counterpart in the evolution of the
organization of human society. A similar stage must sooner or later be attained
in the collective life of mankind, producing an even more striking phenomenon
in world relations, and endowing the whole human race with such potentialities
of well‑being as shall provide, throughout the succeeding ages, the chief
incentive required for the eventual fulfillment of its high destiny. Such a
stage of maturity in the process of human government must, for all time, if we
would faithfully recognize the tremendous claim advanced by Baha'u'llah, remain
identified with the Revelation of which He was the Bearer.” (Shoghi Effendi,
‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
Those early believers on whose shoulders we now stand ‑ a
debt we can never forget or repay ‑ although beatified by their recognition of
the Promised One of all ages, were, nevertheless, insofar as His Revelation was
concerned, largely uninformed, naive and not yet weaned from the old order
which Baha'u'llah was rolling up. Yet they were the Guardian's soldiers ‑ the
army of life: he trained them, enlarged their vision, and led them on to
victory.
The late Hand of the Cause H. M. Balyuzi related that even
the erudite among the Persians, who could read the entire Sacred Text in its
original, were not exempt from the general simplicity. He maintained that the
Bab's statement 'Well is it with him who fixeth His gaze upon the Order of Baha'u'llah
. . .', was understood by them to refer to Baha'u'llah's literary style. It was
Shoghi Effendi who put the capital 'O' to that Order ‑ a device not used
apparently in Persian orthography.
The Guardian's first World Order letters gradually brought
the friends to a more adequate understanding of the significance of the New
Day. His gentle but firm exposition and educative method are seen in his early
letters ‑ 1922 and 1923 ‑ in which he discouraged them from unBaha'i individual
activity and urged them to operate through the Local Spiritual Assemblies. But
it was ‘The Goal of a New World Order’, released at the end of 1931, which
galvanized the already expanding world community, widened its horizon, thrilled
its soul and prepared it for the spate of expository instruction which
thereafter flowed from his pen. In this essay, in language at once forceful and
uplifting, he made it clear that the current systems and attitudes of the world
were, in face of the needs of a maturing humanity, moribund and lamentably
defective, incapable of repair or improvement:
“If long‑cherished ideals and time‑honored institutions, if
certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the
welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs
of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the
limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world
subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the
deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal
standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the
interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the
preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine.” (Shoghi
Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
“. . . The principle of the Oneness of Mankind ‑ the pivot
round which all the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve ‑ is no mere outburst of
ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is
not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and
good‑will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious
cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper,
its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance.
Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself
primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all
the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute
merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an
institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and
perpetuate its influence.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
It was apparently still necessary, ten years after the
Master's ascension, to correct these inadequate and limited views. And it was
in this essay that he began to stress the cataclysmic nature of this age of transition
when the old order is being rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead.
Such was the nature of Shoghi Effendi's exposition of the
Word of God ‑ an astonishment and a new breath of life to all who had thought
religion to be limited to 'the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill', to idealism
and the expression of vague and pious hopes, to personal salvation, requiring
the believers to have patience and firmness in faith that the Promised One
would bring about the Kingdom of God on earth in His Own good time. It was
Shoghi Effendi who said, in effect, Oh no; you must study and toil and sweat
and sacrifice and God of His bounty will reward your efforts. He uncovered for
us all that marvellous guidance and direction of which we knew nothing, led us
into his dynamic programme for building that Kingdom of God on earth ‑ long
anticipated, Christ‑ promised, and now to be ushered in through our services to
the King of Glory.
‘The Goal of a New World Order’, which so thrilled,
challenged and uplifted the Baha'i world, was followed three years later by
‘The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah’, a letter which the Guardian himself
described as a statement of “certain fundamental verities”, “certain truths
which lie at the basis of our Faith”. It has been referred to as Shoghi
Effendi's own confession of faith. It is the appointed Expounder's presentation
of the stations of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l‑Baha, of the transition
from 'the Heroic and Apostolic Age' of the Faith to its Formative Age through
the 'indissoluble link' of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l‑Baha, a summation
of the spirit and chief provisions of that historic document and a marvellous
presentation of the unique and distinguishing features of this Supreme
Revelation, which make it 'unlike the dispensations of the past'. He emphasizes
the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice
'permanently and fundamentally united in their aims'. Without deep study of
this basic document, no Baha'i can claim to be truly knowledgeable of his
Faith. Indeed no one can have a deep, authentic knowledge of the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah without study of all these expository and exegetical works of the
Guardian.
‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’ describes the two
processes at present operating in the world, disintegration and construction.
The former affects every department of human life, is universal and
accelerating. The latter has two aspects, the gradual spread of Baha'u'llah's
universal principles to become the hallmark of a modern outlook, and the
emergence of a world community bearing His Name and dedicated to the building
of “the necessary instruments wherein the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah
can mature and develop”. Its closing paragraphs present an enthralling picture
of the unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah ‑ a portrayal so
compelling that it has been quoted again and again and has even been read to
the assembled Senate of the United States by one of its members who presented
it as his adopted vision of the brotherhood of man. It is a passage which all
Baha'is might well commit to memory.
‘The Advent of Divine Justice’ dwells upon the
preponderating role that North America is called upon to play in the promotion
of the World Order of Baha'u'llah. It sets out the high standards of conduct,
moral rectitude, freedom from prejudice, chastity and nobility required of
Baha'is and challenges the Baha' communities there to scale the heights of self‑sacrifice
and devotion which will enable them to meet their destiny.
‘The Promised Day Is Come’ is an historical work expounding
the direct effect of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah upon the fortunes of
humanity at large, and of the particular monarchs whom He addressed. The
disruption of the world is portrayed as both divine chastisement and
purification, while the condign punishments visited upon those rulers who
either scorned or neglected His message are related directly to their
responses. “For what thou hast done”, Baha'u'llah wrote to Napoleon III, “thy
kingdom shall be thrown into confusion, and thine empire shall pass from thine
hands, as a punishment for that which thou hast wrought.” Within months
Napoleon went down to defeat at Sedan.
‘God Passes By’, the Guardian's monumental yet concise
history of the first hundred years of the Baha'i era, singly and by itself
establishes the fact of his God‑given genius and divine inspiration. Couched in
the form of history, it is supremely a work of exposition, showing how the new
Revelation reshapes the attitudes and conventions which have crystallized from
former dispensations, into universal views, morals and standards, bringing
about a “new race of men” able to bear and practise all the implications of the
oneness of mankind and bring about the Most Great Peace.
Even so brief and inadequate a comment on Shoghi Effendi as
the Expounder of the Word of God as may be given in the short span allocated to
this presentation cannot fail to mention his translations. To enumerate them is
not necessary to this scholarly gathering but we may regard them from a point
of view not yet given prominence by Baha'i scholars. I refer to the Guardian's
life‑long effort to bring into relatedness, through the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah, the vastly differing cultures of the East ‑ represented by Persia ‑
and the West.
Dissociated at the very bases of their societies in their
religious assumptions, social conventions, forms and aspirations, it was the
Master's longing to see them embrace as long‑lost lovers and the chief motivation
of His revealing ‘The Secret of Divine Civilization’. Shoghi Effendi, without
in the least compromising the accuracy of his translations, expended great
effort to make the exalted, richly decorated language of Baha'u'llah's
Revelation ‑ a miracle to Persians and Arabists ‑ acceptable to western
literary usage. All his translations are imbued with this intention, which is
exposition of the highest order, befitting the universality and integrity of
the Cause of God. This subject is dealt with in considerable detail in Chapter
Six of my ‘Life of George Townshend’, with particular reference to The Dawn‑
Breakers and the Guardian's insistence that Mr. Townshend write the
Introduction.
Some inkling of the bounties conferred upon mankind by the
appointment of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Cause of God may be obtained
from a study of the enormous contrast between the development of that Cause in
this Dispensation and in previous ones. The rise of Christianity, chronicled by
Bishop Barnes, is a record of formulation of creeds, crystallization of
doctrines, disputation in councils and inevitable schism. Our beloved Guardian,
trusted by God with supreme authority, was indeed the guardian of our unity,
our educator, guide and true brother ‑ the Expounder of the Word of God.
In conclusion let me share with you two brief paragraphs
from Shoghi Effendi's exposition of the vision and declared intention of
Baha'u'llah:
“A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and
exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources,
blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from
the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the
available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which
Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal
recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation ‑ such is
the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is
moving.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
And:
“Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy,
misconceive its character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its
purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God's
immutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its
inspiration is no one less than Baha'u'llah Himself. Its shield and defender
are the embattled hosts of the Abha Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less
than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be
born and flourish. The axis round which its institutions revolve are the
authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l‑Baha. Its guiding
principles are the truths which He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the
teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses
throughout the West. The laws that govern its operation and limit its functions
are those which have been expressly ordained in the Kitab‑i‑Aqdas. The seat
round which its spiritual, its humanitarian and administrative activities will
cluster are the Mashriqu'l‑Adhkar and its Dependencies. The pillars that
sustain its authority and buttress its structure are the twin institutions of
the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. The central, the
underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as
adumbrated by Baha'u'llah. The methods it employs, the standard it inculcates,
incline it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor
poor, neither white nor coloured. Its watchword is the unification of the human
race; its standard the "Most Great Peace"; its consummation the
advent of that golden millennium ‑ the Day when the kingdoms of this world shall
have become the Kingdom of God Himself, the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah.” (Shoghi
Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
(David Hoffman, the late member of the Universal House of
Justice, from an essay: ‘Shoghi Effendi, Expounder of the Word of God’; included
in ‘Studying the Writings of Shoghi Effendi’, published by George Ronald)
