# Prayers of Shoghi Effendi

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> 0 1 2 3
> Posting one:
> 
>  11 December 1994
> 
> Dear Bahá'í Friend,
> 
>  At the request of the Universal House of Justice, the Research Department
> has provided the enclosed response to your email message of 12 November 1994,
> in which you inquire about the reason that the prayers of the Guardian are not
> translated into English.
>  With loving Bahá'í greetings,
>  For Department of the Secretariat
> 
> ---------------------------
>  Prayers of Shoghi Effendi
> 
>  In her email letter of 12 November 1994 to the Universal House of Justice,
> xxxx enquires about the prayers written in Persian and Arabic by
> Shoghi Effendi. She wishes to know why these prayers have not been translated
> into the English language.
> 
>  The following two extracts from letters written on behalf of the Universal
> House of Justice provide information which pertains to Miss xxxx's query:
> 
>  Even though the beloved Guardian wrote some prayers in his letters to
>  the eastern friends, he did not encourage their translation into the
>  western languages. In a letter written on his behalf to the National
>  Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States on 23 February
>  1957, his secretary stated:
> 
>   He sees no necessity for translating prayers that he has
>  written in Persian into English. The Bahá'ís have a great many
>  wonderful prayers already translated, and he feels that now is
>  not the time to spend money on these things.
>  (4 December 1985 to an individual believer)
> 
>  In response to your Email message of 6 November 1986 regarding
>  the possibility of publishing a selection of the prayers of Shoghi
>  Effendi translated into English, the Universal House of Justice
>  instructs us to advise that it does not feel that the time has
>  come for this to be done. We are to convey its further comments.
> 
>  There is no doubt that one day the general messages of the
>  beloved Guardian addressed to the friends in the East, particularly
>  to the friends in Iran and written in Arabic and Persian, will be
>  translated for the benefit of the English-speaking world. In the
>  context of such a project, the prayers of Shoghi Effendi, which
>  usually form part of these communications, will of course be
>  translated and made available to the friends.
>  (23 November 1986 to a Bahá'í Publishing Trust)
> 
> 
> 
> Posting two:
> 
> From The Bahá'í World, XVIII, 1979-1983, p35
> 
> 			He is God
> 
> O Mighty Lord! Thou seest what hath befallen Thy helpless lovers
> in this darkest of long nights; Thou knowest how, in all these
> years of separation from Thy Beauty, the confidants of Thy
> mysteries have ever been acquainted with burning grief.
> 
> O Powerful Master! Suffer not Thy wayfarers to be abased and
> brought low; succor this handful of feeble creatures with the
> potency of Thy might. Exalt Thy loved ones before the
> assemblage of man, and grant them strength. Allow those
> broken-winged beings to raise their heads and glory in the
> fulfilment of their hopes, that we in these brief days of life
> may gaze with our physical eyes on the elevation and exaltation
> of Thy Faith, and soar up to Thee with gladdened souls and
> blissful hearts.
> 
> Thou knowest that, since Thy ascension, we seek no name or fame,
> that in this swiftly passing world we wish henceforth no joy, no
> delight and no good fortune.
> 
> Then keep Thy word, and exhilarate once more the lives of these,
> Thy sick at heart. Bring light to our expectant eyes, balm to
> our stricken breasts. Lead Thou the caravans of the city of Thy
> love swiftly to their intended goal. Draw those who sorrow
> after Thee into the hight court of reunion with Thee. For in
> this world below we ask for nothing but the triumph of Thy
> Cause. And within the precincts of Thy boundless mercy we hope
> for nothing but Thy presence.
> 
> Thou art the Witness, the Haven, the Refuge; Thou art He who
> rendereth victorious this band of the innocent.
> 
> 		Shoghi Effendi
> 		The Bahá'í World,  XVIII, 1979-1983, p35
> 
> 
> Posting three:
> 
> The following brief prayer is cited in Marcus Bach's Shoghi Effendi: An Appreciation:
>  
>  O God! Thy nearness is my hope,
>  And to commune with The, my joy;
>  Thy love is my comfort
>  And Thy name, my prayer
>  - Shoghi Effendi
>  
> However, according to Bach, when the beloved Guardian heard that one of 
> the friend's had translated it into English, he was not pleased. I 
> suspect that it had something to do with his humility. Bach himself was 
> a minister in the New Thought movement and was friendly toward the 
> Faith. 
>  
>  There is also the following prayer by the Guardian to the 
> Master. It is an excerpt from a longer prayer/apostrophe addressed to 
> the Greatest Holy Leaf, shortly after her passing: 
>  
>  Intercede, O noble and well-favored scion
>  of a heavenly Father, for me no less than
>  for the toiling masses of Thy ardent
>  lovers, who have sworn undying allegiance
>  to Thy memory, whose souls have been
>  nourished by the energies of Thy love,
>  whose conduct has been moulded by the
>  inspiring example of Thy life, and whose
>  imaginations are fired by the imperishable
>  evidences of Thy lively faith, thy
>  unshakable constancy, Thy invincible 
>  heroism, Thy great renunciation.
> Bahá'í Administration, p.196
>
> — *Prayers of Shoghi Effendi (Used by permission of the curator)*