After the passing 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 founded on the "twin pillars" of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice.

This administrative order was originally envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh in his Book of Laws and was given further shape by `Abdu'l-Bahá, particularly in His Will and Testament. In that document He appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith and also referred to the future election of the Universal House of Justice.
 

Shoghi Effendi, before his appointment as Guardian, at his small typewriter on the balcony of the room he occupied next to that of `Abdu'l-Bahá.

 
The Universal House of Justice was not established in `Abdu'l-Bahá's lifetime; it fell to the Guardian to lay the base for its foundation throughout the thirty-six years of his tenure as head of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.

Throughout those years, Shoghi Effendi educated the Bahá'í community about the administrative order of the Faith and prepared it for the eventual establishment of that order's other central institution by writing consistently about the interconnection of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, both of which he described
as "divine in origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose."   He continued on to state that their common purpose is "to insure the continuity of that divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings."   The institution of the Guardianship is Bahá'u'lláh's means for providing for the continuation of the unerring interpretation of His word. The function of the Universal House of Justice, on the other hand, is to legislate upon matters "not expressly revealed in the Sacred Texts."   As Shoghi Effendi said, "Acting in conjunction with each other these two inseparable institutions administer [the Bahá'í Faith's] affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions."

The interconnection of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice is further evidenced by the Guardian's ceaseless labor to foster the expansion of the Bahá'í community around the world in order to establish and develop the national legislative bodies of the administrative order; the goal of this work was the election of the
Universal House of Justice and the full development in all aspects of the order ordained by Bahá'u'lláh.
He safeguarded the unity of the Faith by acting, as `Abdu'l-Bahá before him had acted, as the authoritative interpreter and expounder of the Bahá'í sacred writings. All questions regarding interpretation were to be directed to him. Although he did not have the authority to alter in any way what Bahá'u'lláh or `Abdu'l-Bahá had revealed, he performed the crucial tasks of clarifying points which may not have been clearly understood and of elaborating upon previously revealed teachings. To this end, he wrote thousands of letters to individual believers and to Bahá'í communities around the world. Through such guidance, the Bahá'ís remained unified in their clear understanding of the Faith's sacred writings.

Shoghi Effendi translated the Bahá'í writings from the language in which they were revealed -- either Persian or Arabic -- into a majestic style of English. In 1921, relatively few of Bahá'u'lláh's extensive writings were available in English. The Guardian translated Bahá'u'lláh's central works and compiled them so the Bahá'ís would have access to authoritative translations, and he published, under the title of The Dawn-Breakers, his annotated and edited translation of the main historical account of the early years of the Bahá'í Faith by Nabíl-i-A`zam so the English-speaking Bahá'ís would be able to gain inspiration from the examples of their spiritual forebears and to read eye-witness accounts of those who met the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Shoghi Effendi also penned his own historical account of the first century of the Bahá'í Faith called God Passes By.

Shoghi Effendi's resting place near London, England

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