The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf is the last major work of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, before his death in 1892. It is a letter written to a Muslim cleric, a violent opponent of the Bahá'ís who, along with his father (called by Bahá'u'lláh "the wolf"), also a Muslim cleric, had put to death a number of Bahá'ís. In this work Bahá'u'lláh quotes extensively from his own previously revealed scriptures. This makes a large portion of the work a summary of excerpts on critical concepts expressed in previous works in a condensed form. Two brothers Muhammad-Husayn Nahrí and Muhammad-Hasan Nahrí came from an aristocratic and established mercantile family in Isfahan. The Imám-Jum'ih of the city owed the brothers money and – when the two asked for a payment – he devised a plan to rid his debt. After confronting Shaykh Muhammad-Baqir, another influential Muslim cleric of Isfahan; and Sultán-Mas'úd Mírzá, the son of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh of this issue, the three devised a plan to imprison the brothers on account of their Bahá’í religion. The two brothers were subsequently arrested, paraded around Isfahan with crowds jeering abuse, and publicly executed in a humiliating manner. Bahá’u’lláh was heartbroken by the death of the brothers – he had met the two whilst a prisoner in Adrianople. He eulogized the two, naming them the King and Beloved of Martyrs, and the Twin Shining Lights. Bahá’u’lláh wrote the book in around 1891 to the son of the shaykh, named Áqá Najafí, whom he denounced as the wolf – hence the title Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Áqá Najafí was also known for his persecution of the Bahá’ís. Bahá’u’lláh calls for him to repent for his and his father's wrongdoings and to investigate the faith.

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Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

Born in ʻAkka in the Acre Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire in March 1897, Shoghi Effendi was related to the Bab through his father, Mirza Hadi Shirazi, and to Bahaʼu'llah through his mother, Ḍiyaʼiyyih Khanum, the eldest daughter of ʻAbdu'l-Baha. ʻAbdu'l-Baha, who provided much of his initial training, greatly influenced Shoghi Effendi from the early years of his life. Shoghi Effendi learned prayers from his grandfather, who encouraged him to chant. ʻAbdu'l-Baha also insisted that people address the child as "Shoghi Effendi", ("Effendi" signifies "Sir"), rather than simply as "Shoghi", as a mark of respect towards him.

Shoghi Effendi received his early education at home with the other children in the household, then attended a French Christian Brothers school in Haifa, and later boarded at another Catholic school in Beirut. He was to accompany his grandfather on his journeys to the West but was unable to proceed after port authorities in Naples prevented Shoghi Effendi from continuing due to illness.

He later attended the Syrian Protestant College (later known as the American University of Beirut) for his final years of high school and first years of university, where he earned an arts degree in 1918. He reports being very unhappy in school and often returned on vacations to Haifa to spend time with ʻAbdu'l-Baha. During his studies, he dedicated himself to mastering English—adding this language to the Persian, Turkish, Arabic and French languages in which he was already fluent—so that he could translate the letters of ʻAbdu'l-Baha and serve as his secretary.

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Shoghi Effendi

Shoghi Effendi

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Shoghi Effendi

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