the expulsion in 1492, three categories of Jews
had emerged: conversos (Sp., “converts”), mar-
ranos (Sp., derogatory term for crypto-Jews, who
converted while maintaining Jewish practices in
secret), and those who refused to convert. Some
emigrants established Portuguese-speaking com-
munities in Western Europe, while most resettled
in the Ottoman Empire, where they continued to
speak Arabic and Ladino.
The Ottoman sUlta n welcomed this mass
immigration of talented Sephardic Jews, whose
connections to Europe and allegiance to the Otto-
mans made them exceptional diplomats, transla-
tors, and purveyors of European medicine and
military technology. Sephardic communities, such
as those of Salonika and Istanbul, were famous
for their printing presses and academies. Their
magnificent yeshivas and synagogues are distinct
from Ashkenazic buildings, and in fact the syna-
gogue service and unique rituals also reflect local
customs and Islamic influences.
The decline of Ottoman Jewry accompanied the
decline of the empire itself. The tanzimat reforms
of 1839 attempted to curtail foreign intervention by
bringing minorities under the control of the cen-
tral government. However, the Damascus Affair of
1840, in which the Syrian Jewish community was
charged with a blood libel, provoked international
Jewish defense efforts and increased demands by
Britain and France for Ottoman reforms. This
international solidarity was the catalyst for the Alli-
ance Israélite Universelle, begun in 1860 by liberal
French Jews. This program introduced Eastern
Jews to Western ideas and values in an attempt to
achieve full citizenship for the Jews of the Ottoman
Empire. The Sephardic community split between
supporting the alliance and adopting the Zion-
ist position that emancipation was possible only
within a Jewish state.
After the victors of World War I split apart the
former Ottoman Empire, the majority populations
persecuted the Sephardic ethnic and religious
minorities. World War II decimated the Sephardic
community. Those few who survived emigrated
primarily to israel, France, and North America
in the following years. Each community shows
evidence of maintaining a distinct Sephardic cul-
tural and religious identity while at the same time
assimilating into the broader community.
See also andalUsia; almohad dynasty; istanbUl;
JUdaism and islam; ottoman dynasty; reFUgees.
Jessica AndrussFurther reading: Shlomo Deshen and Walter P. Zenner,
eds., Jews among Muslims: Communities in the Precolo-
nial Middle East (New York: New York University Press,
1996); Daniel J. Elazar, The Other Jews: The Sephardim
Today (New York: Basic Books, 1989); Jane S. Gerber,
The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience
(New York: The Free Press, 1992); Norman A. Stillman,
The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times (New York: Jew-
ish Publication Society, 1991).scripture See holy books.
sermon
Islam developed three homiletic traditions: the
khutba (sermon), pious exhortation (mawiza, waaz,
or tadhkir), and homiletic storytelling (qasas).
The khutba belongs to a larger genre of public
oratory that predates islam and was performed
in a variety of ceremonial contexts, including
official receptions, war declarations, and wedding
speeches. In Islam, the canonical or liturgical
sermon (khutba shariyya) forms a prescribed part
of ritual observances, notably the Friday congre-
gational prayer, the two feast days, and communal
rogations for rainfall. It also became customary to
perform liturgical sermons during other festivals
and to exhort Jihad.
Islamic legal sources stipulate that the canoni-
cal sermon comply with the liturgical condi-
tions that mUhammad reportedly instituted in the
seventh century. For example, on Fridays, the
khutba must precede the communal prayer, but
in all other rituals the prayer comes first. After
the call to prayer, the preacher (khatib) should
arise, grasp a sword or staff (pre-Islamic symbols
of authority), and ascend the pulpit steps right
foot first. He pronounces two sermons standing,K 612 scripture