November 23. On this date in 1950, Shoghi Effendi sent a warning to Australian Bahá'ís about Joseph Perdu, urging " that his name was removed from the voting list."
Joseph Perdu was a Bahá'í who was active in Australia, having arrived from India in 1948 and earning the praiseof Shoghi Effendi for his "enthusiastic support". Perdu's explanations of the Islamic teachings concerning the "day of resurrection" and the "seal of the prophets" from a Bahá'í perspective were instrumental in converting Fazel "Frank" Khan and his family. He and his family were the first Muslims in Australia to convert to the Bahá'í Faith, doing so in 1948. Frank Khan would serve on the NSA of Australia, as would his children Joy Vohradsky and Peter Khan, who also served on the International Teaching Centre and Universal House of Justice.
In July of 1950 Joseph Perdu visited Fiji, and converted some Islamic (Ahmadi) Indian Fijians.
Joseph Perdu attracted many people to the Bahá'í Faith in Australia as well as Fiji, until his habit of borrowing money from his listeners and failing to repay them became intolerable.
Messages to Australian Bahá'ís about Joseph Perdu include those dated November 23, 1949; June 28, 1950; March 1, 1951; and June 3, 1952.
A warning was sent to American Bahá'ís on August 23, 1950 about Perdu's travels to Hawaii and the United States mainland. A warning was sent to British Bahá'ís on September 6, 1950, about Perdu's having met Ahmad Sohrab.
In the 1950's, Joseph Perdu became resident in South Africa. From Shamil Jeppie's Language, Identity, Modernity: The Arabic Study Circle of Durban...
Perhaps the most controversial of these was Joseph Perdu, already resident in South Africa, and active in Cape Town. Invited to Durban in 1954, "Monsieur" Perdu proved to be a persuasive and charismatic speaker, a challenging gadfly, well-versed in the Koran and hadith, drawing large numbers to his talks. He later offered tafsir classes. But, the unorthodoxy of his views soon drew opponents and he was attacked in pamphlets. His critics were indeed justified, inasmuch he was an undercover Baha'i missionary. With the exception of a few of Perdu's converts in Cape Town, the Baha'i religion was unknown in South Africa and the true nature of Perdu's beliefs were not readily recognized, even by his critics. Suspicions were verified by Mall, who visited Baha'i headquarters in Bombay where he learned the identity of Perdu, who was an Iranian and who had already proselytized in several other countries. The Circle then quietly distanced itself from Perdu, but this episode tainted the group for decades with its critics. Perdu left South Africa in 1959, having been excommunicated by his hierarchy. Jeppie has also published a separate article in the Journal of Islamic Studies on this influential figure. (Shamil Jeppie, "Identity Politics and Public Disputation: A Baha'i Missionary as a Muslim Modernist in South Africa," Journal of Islamic Studies 27 (2007): 150-172.)
In South Africa, Joseph Perdu employed an indirect teaching method, giving lecture on Islam to Muslims and only overtly introducing those he felt were prepared to the Bahá'í message.
From the book Heroes and Heroines of the Ten-year Crusade by Lowell Johnson, pages 283-86...
Majiet and Asa Noor enrolled as Baha'is in Cape Town on 3 September 1961. Both of them had attended Joseph Perdu's lectures on Islam along with the Davids and Gallow families. But they, like the Davids, had not been singled out by Perdu to receive the direct Baha'i Message because Perdu felt that they were still too attached to the Qur'an and Islam. However, when the Gallows enrolled they, along with the Davids, the Tarin and Bayat families, began to re-examine Islam in the light of Baha'u'llah's teachings. Majiet and Asa were the first to declare, followed within a few days by the Davids, theTarins and the Bayats.
Majiet explains in detail how the Faith was spread after the declarations of the Gallow family and his role in it: 'I heard about a lecture at the Avalon Bioscope, Hanover St., Cape Town. It was a very rainy day and I did not feel like going but opposite my house was a bus stop, and I stood on my stoep debating to myself. Along came a bus and I jumped in. It made up my mind for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture on "Koran and Science" given by Joseph Perdu (whom I later was to find was a Covenant-breaker). He delivered a series of lectures and I attended them all. I was much impressed by this new learning; it gave me great thought as it threw so much light on religion itself. 'This same man, Perdu, afterwards, held classes for about a dozen of us. In these he pointed directly to a new revelation and a new manifestation. The matter was so clear that we accepted the the idea but I thought this can only happen in a hundred years' time.
In those classes he never mentioned Baha'u'llah or the Baha'i Faith.
'One morning in late June 1961 I woke up and said my morning prayer. It was a beautiful winter's day. I read one of the chapters out of the Koran that Perdu spoke about. I sat and pondered over these verses and wished I knew the inner meaning. On my way to work I met Toyar Gallow. He asked me if I was still searching for Truth as he remembered that I attended classes with him. I was asking myself when all this was to take place. He laughed and told me to visit him at his workshop [at the Michaelis School of Art] as I worked close to him.
'Somehow I never made it, but Toyar came to visit me two days later. Funny enough, he asked me if it was possible for a new prophet to come. When I told him it was possible, he laughed and said two prophets had already made their appearance. He started to explain the verse I had read that particular morning, a wonderful feeling enveloped me and I knew that this was what I was seeking. He made me promise not to tell anyone what he had told me.
'Afterwards, Toyar took me to his brother Amien's place [in Surrey Estate] where I learned more about the Baha'i Faith and they told me they were declared Baha'is. I made enquiries about a photo of 'Abdu'l-Baha that was displayed on a table and was told this was the "Mystery of God". I wasn't very happy with this reply as I was not used to seeing pictures of Holy Souls. When I left, Amien gave me the Dawn-Breakers to read.
'All this that I had read and heard, worried and fascinated me and I felt I must speak to others about it although I was warned not to. I met Gabeba Davids at Cassiem's house in Horstley St. I told her there was much more to the lectures we attended [together] and that there's a new spirit in the world. She did not actually know what I was speaking about but agreed there was a new feeling. 'Toyar promised to take me to a meeting. He picked me up at my house in Stegman Rd, Claremont, and took me to Tommy Heuvel's house in Maitland. Lowell and Edith Johnson were also there. I was impressed by the happy fellowship that prevailed. I was hoping to attend all the meetings they had. After the meeting Lowell took me home as he was staying quite near.
'That Sunday morning Amien came to see me to find out how far I was with the Dawn-Breakers. I told him this book was quite heavy reading and I was not used to reading this kind of literature. I walked with him to his car. As he started to leave, my wife and Naomi Rasiet returned from Arabic classes. I told them had some Great News, so we set a date to bring them to his house.
'The three of us [plus Gabeba] visited his house one Sunday and had a class together. We all learned a lot. As we read The Hidden Words I knew that this was nothing but the Truth. That night before we left, Amien showed us an album of photographs of Baha'u'llah's bed, His slippers, the Prison in which He was held, etc. This seemed to have stunned all of us. As we looked at each other we saw the expressions on each other's face that it could not be right as our Muslim belief did not go with such things. However, when we left, Amien gave Gabeba and Naomi each a book. He gave me the Kitab-i-Iqan to read.
'In the meantime I had ordered some books from the C.N.A. [Central News Agency] and the very next day I received three books, one was Baha'u'llah and the New Era. That night I started reading the Kitab-i-Iqan. I could not stop reading it and found myself still reading when the sun came up.
'During the time that Lowell took me to meetings I met Leon Tarin and took him home with me. I asked him if he believed a new prophet could come. He said "perhaps", as he also had attended Perdu's lectures. When I told him that a new prophet had already come, he said I was mad.The next day I gave him Baha'u'llah and the New Era to read, and the following day he brought it back agreeing that the book was good. Leon was very receptive. While we were speaking Lowell came to pick me up for a meeting and I told him Lowell was a Baha'i. Leon called me aside and asked permission to go with us, so we all left. Leon had now met the Baha'is and was making his own investigations.
'I made up my mind to visit Cassiem Davids and tell him about this new Faith. As I walked into his shop in Stuckeris St., he asked me what is this we were busy with, and I told him what I had read about the Baha'i Faith. Afterwards, Cassiem and myself with Asa, Gabeba, Naomi and the rest of our families had many discussions. At the same time Ismail Bayat also joined in.
'I was now strongly convinced the Baha'i Faith was true and Toyar was telling me it was time for me to declare. Somehow or other I did not get down to it, although I was now more or less following the Baha'i principles more than my own.
'On Sunday the 3rd September 1961 about 3 o'clock, the Tarins were all ready to go somewhere. I asked them where they were going. They said they were going to Tommy's place in Maitland and asked me to go with them. I got a feeling they were going to declare. I knew that I was going to declare, but we said nothing to each other.
'Through all this period my wife was watching my actions, and at one time became quite negative toward me. This did not last very long as I pointed out to her why I was going to become a Baha'i. I asked Leon if I could phone my wife and ask her to go with us, so we picked her up on the way to Tommy's house. When we got there we sat around the table and Tommy came in with the declaration cards and a prayer book and said to Leon, "I believe you are ready to declare," and he handed him a card. Leon took the card. Tommy then asked him if the others were ready to declare. He said, "Yes, my wife [Amina], daughter Qameela] and son-in-law [Abdullah Gameeldien] are ready."
'Tommy asked me, "What about you?" I said "Yes, I was ready long ago." He then asked me about my wife. I remembered Lowell had told me a story of someone who was blamed for influencing his wife to become a Baha'i. I was not going to allow myself to fall into that same situation. But to my astonishment she said that she would declare.
'As I watched them sign I was watching for my wife to sign first, as I remembered that story from Lowell.
'I then declared.'
Soon Majiet and Asa were put to the test by challenges from the clergy and being disowned by their parents and relatives. Majiet lost his job as he was also a tailor like Cassiem Davids, but employed by clothing factories managed by Muslims. Asa was a teacher at a Muslim School and also lost her job. The Noors and their children struggled against such prejudices for many years.
After the Crusade, both Asa and Majiet served at various times on the Spiritual Assembly of Cape Town and in the teaching field, Majiet as a travelling teacher to many parts of southern Africa, as far as South West Africa and Swaziland. Their children also became active Baha'i teachers and administrators. Later in life Majiet changed his name to Michael to avoid an Islamic label. Asa went on pilgrimage to the Baha'i World Centre in 1968 and Majiet on pilgrimage to both the Holy Land and to Iran in 1970 (See entries for Davids, Gallow, Perdu.)
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