The Letter That Changed a Young Man's Life

A retelling for children, based on The Priceless Pearl by Rúḥíyyih Khánum.

In the city of London, in a busy office, a young man sat reading a letter — and as he read, the room seemed to fall away around him.

His name was Shoghi Effendi. He was twenty-four years old, and he was a student at Oxford, far from his home in the Holy Land. He was studying hard, but his heart was already turning toward home. Soon, he hoped, he would return to be near his grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and to help Him with His great work.

Then, one day near the end of November, a message came across the sea. It was a cable — a short, urgent letter sent by wire. It arrived at the office of a kind man named Major Tudor Pole, who helped carry messages between far-off lands. The moment Major Tudor Pole understood what the cable said, he sent for Shoghi.

The cable carried the saddest news Shoghi could imagine: his beloved grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, had passed away.

When the young man read those words, the sorrow was too great to stand under, and he sank down. There had been no warning. The people in the office could see that his grief was deep, deeper even than they could understand. Gently, his friends gathered around him, helped him to be calm again, and began to arrange his long journey home.

Shoghi crossed all of Europe to reach the Holy Land, arriving in the last week of December. He had come home to mourn the grandfather he loved so dearly. But something waited for him there that he did not expect at all.

'Abdu'l-Bahá had left behind a special letter of His own — His Will and Testament. Now, at last, it was time to open it and read what it said. And inside was news that no one in the whole Bahá'í world had known. 'Abdu'l-Bahá had chosen who would guide the Faith after Him — and the one He had chosen was His own grandson, Shoghi.

Imagine how the young man felt. He had traveled all that way simply to say goodbye. Now he learned that a great and holy task had been placed upon his shoulders, one he had never once dreamed would be his.

The task felt almost too big to carry. Some months later he wrote words that were honest about just how heavy it felt:

The task is so overwhelmingly great I cannot but give way and droop whenever I face my work.

So for a while he went up into the quiet mountains of Switzerland — to grieve, and to rest, and to gather his strength. After a time, his mother came to bring him home. And when he returned, he took up the work he had been given and carried it faithfully for the rest of his life.

He did not even ask to be called by a grand new name. In one of his very first letters he wrote simply:

I desire to be known by no other name save the one our Beloved Master was wont to utter.

That name was Shoghi.

Sometimes a great responsibility comes to us when we least expect it, and it can feel far too big for us to manage alone. Shoghi shows us something brave and humble: even when a task feels overwhelming, we can still step forward, do our honest best, and never set it down.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Cable in London: Shoghi Effendi Learns of His Appointment".

Khánum, R.. (1969). *The Priceless Pearl*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.