God Passes By is Shoghi Effendi’s account of the first hundred years of the Bahá’í Dispensation—from 1844 to 1944. It provides a dense summary of the victories and crises experienced by both the followers of Bahá’u’lláh and by the world at large both of whom were both significantly impacted—knowingly and unknowingly respectively—by the appearance of a Manifestation of God.

Breaking the first century of the Faith into four distinct periods - the Ministry of the Báb; the Ministry of Bahá’u’lláh; the Ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; and the rise of the Administrative Order—Shoghi Effendi describes the processes by which the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh rose from obscurity despite the determined efforts of leaders—both secular and ecclesiastical—to suppress it.