Origin from 1921
In November 1921, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the appointed head of the Baha'i Faith and eldest son of its founder Baha'u'llah, died in Haifa, Palestine, at the age of seventy seven. Reading his Will and Testament, the Baha'i community learned that he had named his own eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, then twenty four years old and completing graduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, as Guardian of the Cause of God, the first holder of a new hereditary office empowered to interpret Baha'i scripture authoritatively. Shoghi Effendi returned at once from Oxford to Haifa to take up the position, opening what Baha'is call the Faith's formative age, the period between the founder's own ministry and the eventual election of the Universal House of Justice. Over the thirty six years of his guardianship, until his death in London in 1957, he translated and interpreted the writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, built the elected administrative councils the Will and Testament had outlined, and organized the global teaching plans that carried the Faith from a community centered on Persia and the Ottoman Levant into a religion established on every continent.
Facts
Dates
StatusEstablished marks this 1921 succession opening the guardianship of Shoghi Effendi at Haifa, a distinct institutional milestone from the Baha'i Faith reaching the United States in 1894 already recorded here, and earlier than the Mother Temple of Africa opening in Uganda in 1951 already recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Abdu'l-Baha directly: "In November 1921, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the appointed head of the Baha'i Faith and eldest son of its founder Baha'u'llah, died in Haifa, Palestine, at the age of seventy seven."
This source names Baha'u'llah directly: "Faith and eldest son of its founder Baha'u'llah, died in Haifa, Palestine, at the age of seventy seven."
This source names Global directly: "had outlined, and organized the global teaching plans that carried the Faith from a community centered on Persia and the Ottoman Levant into a religion established on every continent."
This source names Palestine directly: "founder Baha'u'llah, died in Haifa, Palestine, at the age of seventy seven."
This source names Persia directly: "the Faith from a community centered on Persia and the Ottoman Levant into a religion established on every continent."
This source names Shoghi Effendi directly: "he had named his own eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, then twenty four years old and completing graduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, as Guardian of the Cause of God, the first holder of a..."
This source names The Universal House of Justice directly: "ministry and the eventual election of the Universal House of Justice."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a specific, dated succession between the Baha'i Faith reaching the United States in 1894 and the Mother Temple of Africa opening in Uganda in 1951, both already recorded here: the November 1921 death of 'Abdu'l-Baha at Haifa and the reading of his Will and Testament naming his grandson Shoghi Effendi Guardian of the Cause of God, the office that led the Faith through its thirty six year formative age.
Sources
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