Upon his death in 1957 leadership passed to the Hands of the Cause, and in 1963 the Baháʼís of the world elected the Universal House of Justice, an institution which had been described and planned by Baháʼu’llah.

[4] Effendi, an Afnán, was born Shoghí Rabbání[c] in ʻAkká (Acre) where he spent his early life,[5] but later went on to study in Haifa and Beirut, gaining an arts degree from the Syrian Protestant College in 1918 and then serving as ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's secretary and translator.

[7] During his 36 years as Guardian Shoghi Effendi translated and expounded on many of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, established plans by which the faith was enabled to spread globally,[4] and sent more than 17,500 letters.

He kept in touch with progress in all existing Bahá’i communities as well as monitoring and responding to the situation in the Middle East, where the believers were still suffering persecution.

[10] Born in ʻAkká in the Acre Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire in 1896 or 1897, Shoghi Effendi was related to the Báb through his father, Mírzá Hádí Shírází, and to Baháʼu'lláh through his mother, Ḍíyáʼíyyih Khánum, the eldest daughter of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.

[12] As a child Shoghi Effendi was aware of the difficulties endured by the Baháʼís in ʻAkká, which included attacks by Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí against ʻAbdu’l-Bahá.

[13] As a young boy, he was aware of the desire of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876–1909) to banish ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to the deserts of North Africa, where he was expected to perish.

Zia Baghdadi, a contemporary Baháʼí, relates that when Shoghi Effendi was only five years of age, he pestered his grandfather to write a tablet for him, which ʻAbdu'l-Bahá obliged: He is God!

[14] Shoghi Effendi's early education took place at home with other children from the household, and was taken care of by private tutors who gave him instruction in Arabic, Persian, French, English, and literature.

In 1910, during the time that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was residing in Egypt prior to his journeys to the West Shoghi Effendi was briefly enrolled in the college des Freres in Ramleh.

Plans for him to accompany his grandfather on his travels fell through when the port authorities in Naples prevented him from continuing, ostensibly due to health issues.

[18] Shoghi Effendi's personal life was largely subordinate to his work as Guardian,[10] and it was not until 1950 that he was able to secure the secretarial support he required in order to deal with mounting correspondence.

By then he had established a timetable involving continuous hard work when he was in Haifa, with breaks during the summer during which he spent time in Europe, initially in the Swiss Alps, traversing Africa from south to north in 1929 and 1940.

[5] Shoghi Effendi was 24 when he became Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith, and following a short break in which he prepared himself for what this entailed, he began to address the task in hand.

He expended his energy on building the Faith worldwide, distanced himself from local Palestinian nobility, and never travelled overseas in order to visit Baháʼís, relying instead on correspondence.

Between late 1924 and 1927 he received assistance initially from Dr John Esslemont, and following his untimely death a year later, from Ethel Rosenberg, both of them Baháʼís from the UK.

During the early years of his guardianship Shoghi Effendi focused on the formation and nurturing of national and local Spiritual Assemblies by way of encouraging the spread of the Faith and as a prerequisite for the election of the Universal House of Justice.

[21] In1951 Shoghi Effendi began expanding international Baháʼí institutions, appointing twelve Hands of the Cause as stipulated as one of his responsibilities by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in his will.

In the same year he established the International Baháʼí Council, a secretariat and advisory body whose members were initially appointed and subsequently elected, and which increasingly took on responsibility for communicating with the community and interacting with the government of Israel.

The purpose in forming these international institutions appeared to be the provision of support in carrying out expansion goals for the Ten Year Crusade in conjunction with preparation for the election of the Universal House of Justice.

[22] Shoghi Effendi was instrumental in developing the  Baháʼí World Centre, initially buying the mansion at Bahji, near Akko (formerly Acre), in which Baha’u’llah lived until he passed away in 1892, where the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh is situated, and around which he purchased extra land and created extensive gardens.

[25] On 23 August 1955 Shoghi Effendi announced that Africa would build its first House of Worship, to be situated in Kampala, Uganda; the temple was dedicated in January 1961.

[24] During the years in which Shoghi Effendi was Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith the number of believers expanded to more than 400,000, and the plans which he instituted during this time surpassed their goals.

[32] Shoghi Effendi's death came unexpectedly in London, on 4 November 1957, as he was travelling to Britain and caught the Asian Flu,[33] during the pandemic which killed two million worldwide, and he is buried there in New Southgate Cemetery.

Urge believers remain steadfast cling institution Hands lovingly reared recently reinforced emphasized by beloved Guardian.

[39] That summer after a conclave of the Hands in Haifa, Remey abandoned his position and moved to Washington D.C., then soon after announced his claim to absolute leadership, and attracted about 100 followers, mostly in the United States.

Bahá'u'lláh envisioned a scenario in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in which the line of Guardians would be broken prior to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, and in the interim the Hands of the Cause of God would administer the affairs of the Baha'i community.

He would also be responsible for the receipt of Huqúqu'lláh, appoint new Hands of the Cause, provide "authoritative and binding" interpretations of the Baháʼí writings, and excommunicate Covenant-breakers.

[29] Building on the foundation that had been established in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's will, Shoghi Effendi elaborated on the role of the Guardian in several works, including Baháʼí Administration and the World Order of Baháʼu'lláh.

"[44][45] Shoghi Effendi wrote that the infallibility of his interpretations only extended to matters relating to the Baháʼí Faith and not subjects such as economics and science.