In 1892, ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá ' í Faith.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm.

Along with his father, ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was exiled to Baghdad where the family lived for nine years.

By the age of 64 after forty years imprisonment ` Abdu ’ l-Bahá was freed by the Young Turks and he and his family began to live in relative safety.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá's given name was ` Abbás, but he preferred the title of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá ( servant of the glory of God ).

` Abdu ' l-Bahá was born in Tehran, Iran on 23 May 1844 ( 5th of Jamadiyu ' l-Avval, 1260 AH ), the eldest son of Bahá ' u ' lláh and Navváb.

As a child, ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was shaped by his father's position as a prominent Bábí.

` Abdu ’ l-Bahá had a happy and carefree childhood.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá enjoyed playing in the gardens with his younger sister whom he was very close to.

With his father's declination of the position as minister of the court ; during his young boyhood ` Abdu ’ l-Bahá witnessed his parents ' various charitable endeavours, which included converting part of the home to a hospital ward for women and children.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá received a haphazard education during his childhood.

Despite a brief spell at a traditional preparatory school at the age of seven for one year, ` Abdu ' l-Bahá received no formal education.

Years later in 1890 Edward Granville Browne described how ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was " one more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans ... scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent.

When ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was seven, he contracted tuberculosis and was expected to die.

One event that affected ` Abdu ' l-Bahá greatly during his childhood was the imprisonment of his father when ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was eight years old ; the imprisonment led to his family being reduced to poverty and being attacked in the streets by other children.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá accompanied his mother to visit Bahá ' u ' lláh who was then imprisoned in the infamous subterranean dungeon the Síyáh-Chál.

Bahá ' u ' lláh was eventually released from prison but ordered into exile, and ` Abdu ' l-Bahá then eight joined his father on the journey to Baghdad in the winter ( January to April ) of 1853.

After a year of difficulties Bahá ' u ' lláh absented himself rather than continue to face the conflict with Mirza Yahya and secretly secluded himself in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah in April 1854 a month before ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's tenth birthday.

In the Will and Testament ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's half-brother, Muhammad ` Alí, was mentioned by name as being subordinate to ` Abdu ' l-Bahá.

With the increase of pilgrims visiting ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, Muhammad ` Alí worked with the Ottoman authorities to re-introduce stricter terms on ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's imprisonment in August 1901.

In ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's Will and Testament, He appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Bahá ' í Faith, called for the eventual election of the Universal House of Justice, and defined in the same manner opposition to these two institutions as Covenant-Breaking.

Contrary to ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's specific instruction, certain family members established illicit links with those declared Covenant-breakers by ` Abdu ' l-Bahá.

Ruhi Afnan, Shoghi Effendi's cousin through ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's daughter Tuba:

* " Treacherous Ruhi Afnan, not content with previous disobedience, correspondence with Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, contact with old Covenant-breakers, sale, in conjunction with other members of family, of sacred property purchased by Founder of Faith, and allowing his sister to marry son of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's enemy, is now openly lecturing on Bahá ' í movement, claiming to be its exponent and is misrepresenting the teachings and deliberately causing confusion in minds of authorities and the local population.

Concerning Munib Shahid, Shoghi Effendi's cousin through ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's daughter Ruha, Shoghi Effendi sent the following cable to the Bahá ' í world in November 1944:

There was an absence of a valid descendant of Bahá ' u ' lláh who could qualify under the terms of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's will.

While studying in England, on 29 November 1921, the news of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's death reached Shoghi Effendi, which, according to Wellesley Tudor Pole, the deliverer of the cable, left him " in a state of collapse.

" After spending a couple of days with John Esslemont, and after some passport difficulties he sailed from England on December 16 and arrived in Haifa on 29 December, and a few days later opened ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's Will and Testament, which was addressed to Shoghi Effendi.

He also was concerned with matters dealing with Bahá ' í belief and practice — as Guardian he was empowered to interpret the writings of Bahá ' u ' lláh and ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, and these were authoritative and binding, as specified in ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's will.

Other branches of Bahá ' u ' lláh's family had already been declared Covenant-breakers in ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's Will and Testament.

Mary Williams noted that she was impressed with ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's generosity of spirit in bringing people of social standing to the Bowery as well as that he then gave money to the poor rather than accepting it.

After Bahá ' u ' lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Bahá ' u ' lláh named ` Abdu ' l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Bahá ' u ' lláh's writings.

` Abdu ' l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that set up the framework of administration.

The Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá states that Guardians should be lineal descendants of Bahá ' u ' lláh, that each Guardian must select his successor during his lifetime, and that the nine Hands of the Cause of God permanently stationed in the holy land must approve the appointment by majority vote.

On the basis of the authority granted ` Abdu ' l-Bahá he extended forms of the authority vested in him to the Guardianship, who's sole member was Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal, or International, House of Justice through his Will and Testament.

The issue of successorship to ` Abdu ' l Bahá was in the minds of early Bahá ' ís, and although the Universal House of Justice was an institution mentioned by Bahá ' u ' lláh, the institution of the Guardianship was not introduced until the Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was publicly read after his death.

According to the framework of the Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, it was not possible to appoint a successor, and the legislative body " possessing the exclusive right to legislate on matters not explicitly revealed " was not yet established in the world.

It determined that under the circumstances, given the criteria for succession described in the Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, there was no legitimate way for another Guardian to be appointed.

Therefore, although the Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá leaves provisions for a succession of Guardians, Shoghi Effendi remains the first and last occupant of this office.

Later, ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, Bahá ' u ' lláh's son and successor, in his Will and Testament, elaborated on its functioning, its composition and outlined the method for its election.

Then I (` A ’ ishah ) said, ` Will you not make this public ’ He replied,

At the time of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá's death, Shoghi Effendi was appointed as the Guardian of the Faith by ` Abdu ' l-Bahá in his Will and Testament, while Muhammad ` Alí was reprimanded in the same document.

After Bahá ' u ' lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Bahá ' u ' lláh named ` Abdu ' l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Bahá ' u ' lláh's writings.

According to The Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá, they are to be nominated and appointed by the Guardian of the Cause of God and are to be under his direction and obey his command and a quote of Bahá ' u ' lláh's is also used as a prayer for them.

* Will and Testament of ` Abdu ' l-Bahá