ABSTRACT

This relatively short chapter surveys the writings of Shoghi Effendi (1897–1957), the head of the Bahá’í religion and the authorized interpreter of its teachings from 1921 to 1957, in Persian, one of three languages (English and Arabic being the others) in which he wrote. Following a brief introduction to Shoghi Effendi’s thirty-six years of communication with Bahá’í institutions, communities, and individuals around the world, the chapter focuses on his long, almost periodic, and usually annual collective letters to the Bahá’ís of the East. It discusses the ubiquitous themes these communications contained and the functions they served—functions that are categorized as follows: encouraging and empowering, educating and informing, providing vision, and offering prayers and outpourings of spiritual emotion. Where authorized English translations of relevant passages are available, examples have been provided. Discussing Shoghi Effendi’s prayers in Persian, the author suggests the emergence of a new genre in the liturgical literature of the Bahá’í religion, in which supplication to God and narration of the history of the religion merge. The chapter ends with a brief overview of the publication of collections of Shoghi Effendi’s letters in Persian, which, due to the circumstances in Iran, was carried out years after these letters were composed and out of the chronological order in which they were issued.