§ 4 Making a Revolution, 1908
A conversation between the sultan and the chief rabbi at Yıldız Kiosk
in Istanbul in spring 1908 just before the Constitutional Revolution that
summer alerts us to the role the Dönme played in progressive politics. It
also points out that still by this late date, even a sultan intent on promot-
ing an orthodox Sunni Islam to marginal Muslims in his empire consid-
ered the Dönme pious Muslims. Because he was convinced of Shabbatai
Tzevi’s genuine conversion, Abdülhamid II overlooked the political role
Dönme played in the movement conspiring against him:
§ Sultan Murad V had been a Freemason, installed in the imperial seat
by Freemasons, and he did not last long. They called him mad and
deposed him just over three months after his enthronement in 1876. He
was replaced by a sultan forever etched in the mind of the West with a
hooked nose and red fez, Abdülhamid II. By now Abdülhamid has been
in power for over three decades. A devout Muslim, Abdülhamid II seeks
to preserve the leading position of Muslims in the state, not sell out to
the Muslim liberals and Freemasons and their foreign masters. He sends
spies throughout the empire and into western Europe and Egypt to
keep an eye on those who stand in the way of forging a stronger, more
Muslim empire. But despite his best efforts, the opposition is gaining
momentum. He asks who is beyond the agitation against his rule. He
expects to hear that it is Armenian and other Christian separatists backed
by foreign missionaries, or even the covetous czar’s Jews, buying land in
Palestine. When he is informed instead that Salonika is the main center
of the movement and that the Dönme make up a large segment of those
working to topple him, he is surprised, and seeks information about
Shabbatai Tzevi.^1