Call to the Nations: Extracts from the Writings of Shoghi Effendi

by Shoghi Effendi

Bahai Baha'i Faith Shoghi Effendi

Genres: Baha I

69 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Shoghí Effendí Rabbání was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. After the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Bahá'í community entered a new phase, evolving from that of a single individual to an administrative order with executive and legislative branches, the head of each being the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. Shoghi Effendi was referred to as the Guardian, and held the explicit authority to interpret the writings of the three central figures of the religion and define the sphere of legislative authority. His writings are effectively limited to commentaries on the works of the central figures, and broad directives for the future.

Further information

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this many times and it is never anything but brilliant, exciting, inspiring and awesome

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Rainn Wilson's book, "The Bassoon King" I have become interested in knowing more about the Bahai religion.
I read a book that describes how it began, what the beliefs are, and what is happening today (although written in 2006, I believe). I became even more interested since it is a call for a united world, without prejudice, and with complete acceptance of all faiths, with adherents following the teachings of Baha u llah (of the 19th century).
That encouraged me to read some of the original writings which were found in this book. I must admit I am intrigued.

[Melissa Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book as additional research for studying the Baha'i faith as part of an Interfaith seminary program.

As I read this book in early 2017, I was struck by how much the lesson and teaching is applicable today, in these times. This book was published in 1977, but it's based on Baha'i teachings far older. I couldn't help but relate the writing to our current culture. It did give me some hope, where I was lacking it.

I believe the following paragraph gives the most powerful and profound message of the entire book:

Ours rather the duty, however confused the scene, however dismal the present outlook, however circumscribed the resources we dispose of, to labor serenely, confidently, and unremittingly to lend our share of assistance, in whichever way circumstances may enable us, to the operation of the forces which, as marshaled and directed by Baha'u'llah are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory.

At another point in my life, I may have only rated it 3 stars, but given its value in our current political, religious, and cultural climate right now, I bumped it up.

[Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perennially prescient - and increasingly so! This small collection of letters gives me hope and clarity for a better world.“The vital necessity of world order is largely acknowledged today, but the means to achieve it baffle even its most passionate advocates” reads the foreword. “Meanwhile the process of disintegration continues unchecked, and mankind’s condition approaches the stage of despair. At this critical juncture, the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith, feels moved to proclaim again the meaning and purpose of the Baha’i message and its pertinence to our very existence on earth. It is therefore selected the following passages from Shoghi Effendi’s World Order letters and offers them as a light and guidance to all mankind in this dark period of our history, a period, nevertheless, whose distant horizons is brilliant with the promise of that most glorious day of all, foretold and sung throughout the ages by prophets, seers and poets, and now actually dawning upon the harassed and desperate children of men.”

These selections from Shoghi Effendi’s World Order letters identifies and analyzes the conditions of the world and it’s trends, the dimensions and scope of the vision of Baha’u’llah for a world united in its diversity, the features of this new order found within the Baha’i writings, the advancing crystallization of spiritual forces found in the Baha’i Revelation into institutions and organic patterns of life, and the role of individual and collective transformation in spiritual and material progress. This short collection inspires me to read the full volume of World Order letters that expands on the themes of passages selected in this edition.

Shoghi Effendi writes:
“Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.”

“The world is, in truth, moving on towards its destiny. The interdependence of the peoples and nations of the earth, whatever the leaders of the divisive forces of the world may say or do, is already an accomplished fact. Its unity in the economic sphere is now understood and recognized. The welfare of the part means the welfare of the whole, and the distress of the part brings distress to the whole. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh has, in His own words, “lent a fresh impulse and set a new direction” to this vast process now operating in the world. The fires lit by this great ordeal are the consequences of men’s failure to recognize it. They are, moreover, hastening its consummation. Adversity, prolonged, worldwide, afflictive, allied to chaos and universal destruction, must needs convulse the nations, stir the conscience of the world, disillusion the masses, precipitate a radical change in the very conception of society, and coalesce ultimately the disjointed, the bleeding limbs of mankind into one body, single, organically united, and indivisible.”

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an address to the people of the world calling us to heed the call of Baha'u'llah, the Messenger for this day. It talks about the ordeal that humanity is going thru like an adolescent child, rebelling and how this is the time for our coming into maturity for mankind. We are being tested through violence and catastrophes, that is sweeping the earth right now. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith writes about what the world will be like after we have gone through these tests and trials. He helps us to see what the future will be like which is glorious.