The false prophets and the mysterious intrigues - 3

If we consider the story of Shabbetai as an organized circulation, the Jewish oligarchy based in the Ottoman Empire had to have a dual way upon it: In order to gaining the trust and support of the members of Jewish communities, some Jews had to conjoin him (such as rabbis and Jews of Gaza and a part of the leaders of Jewish community of Izmir) and some, especially in the capital, had to regard themselves separated from Shabbetai Zevi and blazon him as an insane man to the Ottoman authorities to prove that the adverse consequences of his deeds and words are not related to Judaism and the Jews. This was a quite normal and rational way to maintain the political and economic concessions of the Jews in Ottoman government. Such a procedure was also adopted.
At this time, many Jews in the Ottoman Empire fostered the “myth” of Shabbetai through the letters to Europe and they also attributed the munificence and miracles to him. Shabbetai freely met with Jewish rabbis and his followers in prison and he could send his correspondences to the Jews around the world. At this time, he claimed that he is the God, and he signed some of his letters as so: “I am the Lord your God, Shabbetai Zevi”. Shabbetai’s prison was decorated as like as a “royal palace” and besides it, the Jewish Encyclopedia states that this was conducted through the bribery.
According to these accounts, it is clear that Shabbetai Zevi has been faced with a non-stringent treatment in prison and he was not under any pressure. But it is not obvious why he suddenly converted to Islam. Due to the lack of Ottoman documents, presenting the story of Shabbetai’s conversion is possible only based on Jewish traditions. According to this tradition, Nehemiah Kohen, one of the leaders of “Cabala” cult in Poland, went to meet Shabbetai at the third or fourth day of September and he did a theoretical debate to deny his Messianic claim. During the discussion, Nehemiah Kohen suddenly announced that he become Muslim in front of Ottoman guards. Then, Cohen went to the Ottoman court, converted to Islam and he urged the Ottoman authorities to Islamize Shabbetai. After Cohen returned to Poland, once again, he converted to Judaism and claimed that he was the Jesus. He evoked a wave in the region that the Jewish Encyclopedia refers as “A Great Messianic Awakening” in the East of Europe.
After this event, the Ottoman authorities transferred him to Adrianople (Edirne), and on September 15, 1666, he declared that he is Muslim in the presence of Sultan Mehmet IV and his court members. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, as the Sultan was a deeply religious man, he was affected under the influence of Shabbetai’s conversion, hence he called Shabbetai by the name of “Aziz Mohammad Effendi” and he gave him the epithet of “Demijohn rider” and he also granted a daily allowance of 150 Piaster. Sultan naively though that he has achieved a great success in favor of Islam.
Jewish sources, according to the conventional method, claim that Shabbetai converted to Islam through the intimidation and Sultan situated him at the crossroads of choosing the death or Islam. The story is not so simple. As we have seen; Shabbetai declared that he become Muslim but it was occurred after above mysterious meeting with Nehemiah Kohen and “Mustafa Hayatzade”, the proselyte Jew and the doctor of Sultan Mehmet IV, had an important role in the rite of conversion of Shabbetai to Islam.
Close scrutiny of late events indicates that pretended conversion of Shabbetai Zevi to Islam was a deliberate and purposeful action which has been had decisive political consequences and it also seriously raises the following questions: Did not Nehemiah Kohen have an important message from Amsterdam’s oligarchy for Shabbetai? Could not the declaration of Islam be considered whether as an instruction to Shabbetai by Nehemiah Kohen or his new mysterious strategy? And finally, was not the event designed and implemented in order to create a similar wave of Marranos in the Islamic world?
It is clear that the conversion of a large group of Jewish people to Islam and their admission in the political structure of the Ottoman state could not be occurred without any reasonable justifications or augments, as a sudden event or with no rational and justifiable preparations. As well as, Shabbetai’s action created the basis for this development. Based on this wave, the secret and mysterious organization of Shabbetai’s proselyte followers was formed; its members gradually infiltrated in administration of Ottoman Empire, and gained an extraordinary power in the nineteenth century, and eventually captured the Ottoman Empire from within.
After the declaration of Islam by Shabbetai Zevi in Adrianople, then he settled in Constantinople (Istanbul) and adopted an ambivalent habitude. He overtly did the Islamic rites but he was covertly a Jewish man. In that time, Shabbetai was at the head of a cult called “The Crypto-Jews” who converted to Islam following him. The Jewish Encyclopedia states: “They were all the Crypto-Jews who acted as a group of furtive fighters against the caliph”. Shabbetai Zevi attended the secret ceremony of cult, which has a completely Jewish background, and its main representatives and spokesmen, headed by Nathan of Gaza, officially were all Jewish.
Moreover, since Shabbetai Zevi was favorite and beloved for the Sultan, he was allowed to have the communication with the Ottoman Sufi Muslim sects and by virtue of his effort and his cult members, the new ideas and beliefs was formed among some Sufi sects which was a combination of the Islamic traditional Sufism with Jewish beliefs and rites.
Shabbetai’s cult rituals were associated with “sexual immorality”. Later, this trend was more pronounced in Jacob Frank’s cult. Not long after, the secret of scrambling of Shabbetai’s cult was revealed and finally on August 1672, Shabbetai Zevi and some of his followers were arrested for promoting “sexual immorality” among the Muslims. On January 1673, Ahmed Köprülü ordered to exile Shabbetai Zevi and the heads of his cult to the region of Dulcigno in Albania. In the exile period of Shabbetai, his followers also went to visit him in the garb of Muslims. In 1674, Sarah, i.e. Shabbetai’s wife died and he married for the fourth time. Shabbetai’s new wife named Esther was the daughter of Joseph Filosof who was a prominent rabbi of Thessaloniki and also one of his main supporters. On September 17, 1676, Shabbetai Zevi died at the age of fifty in Albania.
The ontology of Shabbetai which was expressed as the name of “Raze di-Maheimanuta” [The secret of true faith [in his writing and epistles, based on two Gods: The original God that was intoned as the “First Cause”, or the “Invisible God” or the “Holy Ancient One” (Attika Kaddisha) according to Greek philosophy; and the “Israel’s God”, or the “True God” that was issued from the “First Cause”. Shabbetai describes “Attika Kaddisha” (or the “First Cause”) as the God of Incontinence that has not any intervention in the fate of his creatures. On the contrary, he believes that the “Israel’s God”, that he called “Malaka Kadisha” (The Saint Lord), is the Sovereign and Decisive God.
Regardless of the conspicuous polytheism of this theory, which is also incompatible with traditional monotheism of the Jews, the above thought has the obvious political and psychological consequences. According to this ontology, the creatures are divided into two distinct groups, a large group of creatures that are servants of the “Invisible God” or the “First Cause”; the Incontinent God has not the least intervention in the lives of the servants and in this relationship, divine providence is completely separate from the material life. These are all abandoned servants that no “Invisible Hand” supports them. There is the second and smaller group who are also servants of the “Israel’s God”. They are regarded as the “Chosen People”, and they are permanently under the aegis of their God; the servants that their destinies are continually monitored and they paced a guided path which is relied on an “Invisible Support”.