Ruth White is an American author with links to the Bahá'í Faith. She challenged and then left the religion, based on her claim that the will of `Abdu'l-Bahá was a forgery. Her claim was based in part, she says, on that `Abdu'l-Bahá would never advocate for a hierarchy, much less the establishment of a "papacy". White was virtually the only Bahá'í to question the authenticity of `Abdu'l-Bahá's will, including many who opposed Shoghi Effendi.