It is not an official commemoration on the Bahá’í calendar, but sixty years ago today “The Guardian of the Cause of God”, Shoghi Effendi, who was entrusted with the authority to guide the worldwide Bahá’í community and to interpret the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, his great-grandfather and grandfather, passed away, unexpectedly early, having fallen victim to an Asian flu pandemic.
There would be little point in trying to pen an adequate blog post about who Shoghi Effendi was, the workload he carried, the challenges he faced and the victories he won. His wife, Hand of the Cause of God ‘Amatu’l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum’s biography of his life, The Priceless Pearl, runs to 482 pages and Earl Redman’s story of his life through the recollections of those who met him, Shoghi Effendi through the Pilgrim’s Eye, contains two volumes totalling 879 pages, and both of those publications make it clear that this life was so full of sacrificial endeavours that – even were the records of all his efforts to exist – no number of volumes would contain adequate testimony to the service he rendered humanity in the course of his lifetime.
