Prayers of Shoghi Effendi
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-19 - 1 clipping

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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)