June 28. On this date in 1950, Shoghi Effendi wrote Australian Bahá'ís about Joseph Perdu, "No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá'í Community for - in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it - his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá'ís."
28 June 1950 [National Spiritual Assembly]
Dear Bahá'í Friends:
Your letters of August 9, 19; September 14, 22; November 7, 10, 21; of 1949; January 19; February 28; March 8, 31; April 11; May 2 (two), 1950, have been received by our beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf. The many enclosures and material forwarded have, likewise, been safely received.
It has been impossible for our Guardian to keep abreast of his correspondence and other work this Winter and Spring. It is only during the last week that he has been able to turn to the mountain of mail, representing the correspondence of the various National Assemblies, and commence replying. The reason for this regrettable delay is that in order to get the arcade of the Shrine of the Báb finished in time for the centenary of His Martyrdom he had to undertake extensive excavations into the solid rock of the mountain behind the Shrine - the new edifice being much larger than the precious original building it is designed to enshrine and protect. This work he personally supervised in order to ensure the Shrine was in no way damaged, and to see the cost was kept within bounds. You can imagine this was a very exacting and tiring ordeal for him.
Then, just as he had hoped to take up his overburdening correspondence, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of the Shrine, at the beginning of April became desperately ill, and for ten weeks absorbed the anxious care and attention of us all, as his condition was seemingly hopeless. Thanks to the Mercy of Bahá'u'lláh and the determination of the Guardian, he is recovering and our lives are getting back to normal routine.
The Guardian regrets very much the conduct of Mr Perdu; it seems now fairly clear that he is a former Bahá'í from India who misconducted himself there over a period of years and then showed up, under a different name, in Australia. No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá'í Community for - in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it - his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá'ís.
The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the Assemblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more Assemblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every Assembly within the limits of the Municipality its members reside in.
As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Bahá'í life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland Assembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford's), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.
The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your Assembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the institutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other than of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.
The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport Assembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.
I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton's letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will constitute a precedent for similar things in the future.
It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by Assemblies. There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with Assemblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Bahá'í life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Bahá'í World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.
With Bahá'í love, R. Rabbani.
P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of "Bahá'í World" as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.96
Dear and valued co-workers:
The remarkable progress achieved by the Bahá'í communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Bahá'í institutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.
The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and constitute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an unassailable foundation for its rising Administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.
The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the masses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.
For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Bahá'í communities, may, under the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Bahá'í century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Bahá'í community, centred in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Bahá'ís of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.
As the various Bahá'í national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and participate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Bahá'í community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Bahá'u'lláh, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan, the Canadian Bahá'í community is busily engaged in establishing the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Bahá'í communities are, moreover, assiduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pushing the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Bahá'í community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Bahá'í community in that continent. Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.
In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Bahá'í communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are participating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and constituting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith, - in such an enterprise the Bahá'í communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested - all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompassing crusade now unfolding itself in, and constituting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Bahá'í century.
With this glorious vision before them, assured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission. Shoghi.
Joseph Perdu was a Bahá'í who was active in Australia, having arrived from India in 1948 and
earning the praise of 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 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 (Michael) and Asa Noor
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.)
