converting the jewish prophet and jewish physicians 129As the twenty-fi ve-year-old ruler gazed down at the forty-year-old rabbi,
whose beliefs and practices were similar to those of the type of Sufi that the
sultan and Kadızadelis were attacking, he may have asked how a man could
proclaim himself a prophet. How dare he state that he could perform miracles?
If he had divine powers, he would have to prove it. Stories circulated that the
rabbi was told that if he was the messiah he would surely be able to defy death.
He was asked to remove his cloak so that the imperial bowmen could use him
as target practice, but Shabbatai Tzevi asked what his other choice was. As it
turned out, it was the religion of Islam. Making him a Muslim, and keeping
him around the palace as a reminder of his conversion, and humbling him,
would serve to remind others of the truth of the religion. After all, if even a
Jewish man who proclaimed himself a prophet could accept the truth revealed
by Muhammad, who could resist it? And if the rewards were so great—a palace
sinecure, the sumptuous garments forbidden to be worn by those who were
not Muslim—who could not see the rewards accruing to those who changed
religion? What could be better than a daily visible reminder that confi rmed the
superiority of the sultan’s religion?
These narratives illustrate that even a seditious rabbi could become a Mus-
lim, adopt a new name, and be cloaked in the dress of Muslims. To Abdi Pasha
there was no contradiction in juxtaposing a choice between death and con-
version and writing that the rabbi, “with the guidance of God, the King who
forgives, at that time became shown the right path, ennobled with the light
of faith and a believer responsible to God.” A Christian or Jew who was com-
pelled to become a Muslim was considered a sincere believer. Even though
Shabbatai Tzevi committed the crime of fesad, a Qur’anic term meaning sedi-
tion or rebellion against both the moral and political order, a crime punishable
by execution, yet the lives of rebels could be spared, as explained in Qur’an 5:33
(Al-Ma‘ida, the Feast): “Those that make war against God and His apostle and
spread disorder in the land shall be put to death or crucifi ed or have their hands
and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the country. They shall
be held up to shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter: ex-
cept those that repent before you reduce them. For you must know that God is
forgiving and merciful.”^22 The offer of conversion to save his life was meant to
illustrate God’s forgiveness and generosity manifested by his shadow on Earth,
the sultan. Jews thought it miraculous that Shabbatai Tzevi was not executed.
Yet this episode illustrates how Muslims perceived two opposite natures
of God: justice and mercy. God can be vengeful, angry, and capable of crush-
ing His enemies. We have already seen that Ottoman writers explained how
divine wrath, manifested in the great fi re of 1 660, destroyed the Jewish neigh-borhoods in Istanbul. But God is also merciful, compassionate, and forgiving.