History calls him the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith. Yet, when one looks beyond the titles and carefully woven narratives, a far darker truth emerges. What kind of “Guardian” celebrates persecution, excommunicates his own family, and replaces humility with hierarchy? What kind of leadership stands in the name of unity, yet divides and destroys?
A Guardian Rejoicing in Tragedy
In The Messiah of Shiraz (Denis MacEoin, p. 528), we find chilling evidence of how Shoghi Effendi reacted to the martyrdom of innocent Baha’is in Iran. Instead of mourning, he celebrated the global attention it brought to the Faith. Writing to the American Baha’is in August 1955, Shoghi stated:
“Seldom, if at any time since its inception, has such a widespread publicity been accorded the infant Faith of God, now at long last emerging from an obscurity which has so long and so grievously oppressed it…
”To him, the shedding of Baha’i blood was publicity. The suffering of believers became a marketing opportunity. Even worse, he later directed that funds be used to hire “an expert publicity agent.” Was this the spirit of Baha’u’llah’s teachings — to find advantage in the suffering of others?
A Guardian Who Banished His Own Blood
The so-called Guardian excommunicated nearly every close relative of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l Baha — including his own parents and the granddaughters of Abdu’l Baha. Among those cast out were Ruhi Effendi Afnan, Mehr-Angiz (Shoghi’s own sister), and even Lady Munira, the beloved wife of Abdu’l Baha.
No tyrant in history was harsher toward his own kin. How could the grandson of the Master, who embodied love and service, become a source of pain and humiliation for those who carried the same sacred lineage?
A Greedy Guardian in the Age of Gold
Under Abdu’l Baha, generosity meant humility. He refused even the $18,000 offered by American Baha’is for his travels, returning it with instructions to “give it to the poor.” (Zimmer, A Fraudulent Testament).
But under Shoghi Effendi, money became the Faith’s new idol. Fundraising replaced service, bureaucracy replaced love, and temples of stone replaced temples of the heart. The shift was clear: the Cause became a corporate enterprise, and the faithful became financiers of an administration that fed itself.
A Guardian of Arrogance, Not of Grace
Accounts from those who met both the Master and Shoghi Effendi show the contrast vividly. Thornton Chase described Abdu’l Baha as “one who loved to serve others, even in little things.” There was no distance between the Master and the believer — only warmth and oneness.
Dr. G. Haynes Holmes, a minister from New York, recalls his shock upon meeting Shoghi Effendi:“
I was instructed that I must rise when Shoghi Effendi entered, and must under no circumstances approach his person. I had to keep my distance, as though I were in the presence of some king or pope.” (Sohrab, Grandson, 1943).
From servant to sovereign — this was the transformation that turned the Faith from a movement of hearts into an empire of fear.
The True Guardian – Abdu’l Baha’s Spirit of Love
Abdu’l Baha once said, “There are no officers in the Cause. I do not and have not appointed any one to perform any special service…”This simple, luminous statement was the death knell to any form of clerical control — yet Shoghi ignored it, introducing hierarchy under the guise of Guardianship. From this false step , the cancer of administration grew: the UHJ, the NSAs, the LSAs — all layers of control that now suffocate the Faith.
The Free Baha’i Stand
Today, the so-called Universal House of Justice walks the same path as Shoghi — distant, bureaucratic, and obsessed with funds and reports. The light of love that once defined the Faith is dimmed under piles of statistics, accounts, and decrees.
But the Free Baha’is remember. We hold fast to the essence of Baha’u’llah’s message: freedom from clergy, independence of thought, and the love that unites all hearts. We do not need Guardians to rule over us — we have Baha’u’llah to guide us.
A true Guardian protects. Shoghi Effendi destroyed. A true leader unites. He divided. A true servant uplifts. He oppressed.
The time has come to return to the purity of the Cause, to the radiant simplicity of Abdu’l Baha’s teachings, and to the heart of Baha’u’llah’s revelation — love without control, faith without fear.
Reference: The Caravan, Volume 9, Edition 5
