Articles and Resources

Shoghi Effendi’s chronicle of the first hundred years of the Bahá’í Faith. God Passes By has been described as the “most brilliant and wondrous tale of a century that has ever been told…a book wherein every word counts, every sentence burgeons with thought, every thought leads the way to a field of its own.”

This publication consists of seven letters, dating from 1929 to 1936, in which Shoghi Effendi expounded upon the fundamental principles and necessary institutions of the system, designed by Bahá’u’lláh, which is destined to “exercise an abiding influence upon mankind.”

Originally written as a letter to the American Bahá’í community in 1938, Shoghi Effendi explored the imperative characteristics required of Bahá’ís to carry out their mission, mentioning rectitude of conduct, freedom from prejudice, and an abiding sense of undeviating justice.

Written in the midst of the Second World War, Shoghi Effendi explained and clarified the significance of that crisis, from where it emerged and to what it would ultimately lead.

A compilation of letters written from 1923 to 1933 in which Shoghi Effendi begins to expound upon the establishment of the administrative order.

A collection of the major communications penned by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the world during the last seven years of his life.

In this essay, originally published in 1997, Glenford E. Mitchell describes the Bahá’í community as a global laboratory in which an unprecedented transformation in individual and collective behaviour is progressing. In this community, the article states, can be discerned, thanks to the indispensable ministry of Shoghi Effendi, the glimmerings of a new world order.

This account was composed just one month after Shoghi Effendi’s passing by his widow Ruhiyyih Khanum, and John Ferraby, who assisted in the arrangements for the Guardian’s funeral.

From his brief sojourn at Oxford University to the nightly meetings with pilgrims to the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi made a profound impression on all who met him.

In July 1958, Hand of the Cause of God Amelia Collins paid tribute to Shoghi Effendi in a presentation at the Intercontinental Bahá’í Conference held in Frankfurt.

Born Mary Maxwell in Montreal, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum’s life spanned almost the entire 20th century. To her husband, Shoghi Effendi, she was his “helpmate”, “shield” and “tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I shoulder.” This portrait was written by Violette Nakhjavani.

A list of further reading on this subject is available here.