Shoghí Effendí Rabbání (1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957), better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Great Grand-son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh (The Glory of God). When Bahá’u’lláh passed away, His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (The Servant of the Glory) accepted the reins of the Faith as outlined in Bahá’u’lláh’s Will and Testament. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called “The Master” by his father insisted that he was nothing but a servant to Bahá (his father). ‘Abdu’l-Bahá accepted the reins of the Faith in 1892, the year Bahá’u’lláh passed away until 1921.

Shoghi Effendi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s eldest grand-son, had only one desire in life and that was to learn the English language to such a degree as to be an expert translator of the writings of  Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. To that end, he worked hard to be accepted at the American University of Beirut where he excelled and then to secure a seat at Oxford University in London. He was at his college in Oxford when news of the passing of his grandfather came.

Other than the college years in Beirut and London, and a few short climbing trips to the Alps of Switzerland, Shoghi Effendi had spent his entire life in “Akká (Acre), Palestine studying and acting as one of his grandfather’s secretaries.

After the death of ʻAbdu’l-Bahá in 1921, and at the direction of Shoghi Effendi the leadership of the Baháʼí community changed 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, respectively. Shoghi Effendi was referred to as the Guardian, and had the 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.

The Advent of Divine Justice is a collection of Shoghi Effendi’s letters to the United States and Canada written in 1938. It is above all a book about the destiny of America and the means by which that destiny can be ensured. It is equally important to realize that he wrote these letters during that period when Fascist and Imperialist governments in Germany, Italy and Japan were beginning their invasions of Europe, Africa, China and Indo-China (now known as Southeast Asia. Although the dark clouds of division were tearing the nations apart, Shoghi Effendi boldly presented the teachings of the Faith that he led as a beacon to the frightened masses of humanity.