Sabbatai Zevi

Sabbatai Zevi (Hebrew: שַׁבְּתַי צְבִי, romanized: Šabbəṯay Ṣəḇī, August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676), or Shabtai Tzvi, was a former Jewish mystic and rabbi from Smyrna who converted to Islam. His family were Romaniote Jews from Patras.

Active throughout the Ottoman Empire, Zevi claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah and founded the Sabbatean movement, which gained significant traction among Jews. Central to his teachings was the belief that during the Messianic Age, acts traditionally considered sinful would transform into righteous ones. This antinomian doctrine led Zevi and his followers to deliberately violate Jewish commandments, a controversial practice that later inspired movements like the Frankists.

Upon arriving in Constantinople in February 1666, Sabbatai was imprisoned on the order of the grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha. In September, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to the imperial courts' seat in Adrianople (now Edirne), he was convicted of fomenting sedition. Sabbatai was given the choice of death or conversion to Islam by the Grand Vizier representing Sultan Mehmed IV. He chose conversion, donning an Islamic turban from then on. The heads of the Ottoman state rewarded him with a generous pension for complying with their political and religious plans. About 300 families who followed Zevi also converted to Islam and became known as the Dönme, Turkish for "converts".