Sabatayism from the Ottoman Empire to the Present and Its Reflections on the Present

Sabatay Sevi pioneered the birth of a great political, religious and social movement in the Ottoman geography in the middle of the 17th century. In time, this movement attracted the attention of the whole of Europe, but the movement has continued its existence in secret ever since. 
In 1924, this movement managed to maintain its secrecy until Karakaşzade Mehmet Rüştü, one of the Sabatayists, revealed the secrets of the clan he belonged to. So who is this Sabatay Sevi? 
Sabatay Sevi was born in Izmir in 1626 to a Jewish family originally from Spain. His father, Mordehay Sevi, known as Kara Menteş among the Turks, came to Izmir from the Peloponnese. His teacher taught Sabatay the Torah and Talmud. He also read religious books related to Judaism and started to interpret their meanings according to his own opinion. Thus, he was equipped with the infrastructure to pioneer this secret Judaism movement that emerged as Sabatayism in the future. Sabatay Sevi, who was an intelligent person, also progressed to become a well-known person in his community in the rabbinate profession. Sabatay was also handsome and eloquent, and when he came out with the claim of Messiahship, he used these qualities and talents to become a personality that created excitement among the Jews in a short time. 
He prepared himself and those around him to be the Messiah, who was foretold by mysterious signs in Jewish books and who was expected to appear in 1648. Thus, in 1648, he emerged with the claim of Messiahship at the age of 22. When he received reactions from the rabbis of Izmir, Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Jerusalem, his Messiahship attempt failed. Nevertheless, he persevered in his claim and when he reached the age of 40 in 1666, things started to change. 
In the meantime, Sabatay travelled to Jerusalem and Egypt in 1663, and in order to get the Jews living there to accept him as the Messiah, he showed a stance that he was leading a lifestyle according to the Jewish legends and traditions described in the Talmud. Thus, he endeavoured to make everyone who saw him believe that he would be the Messiah. During this journey, he married Sara, the daughter of a Polish vagabond Jew, and returned to Izmir in 1665. 
The wind of Messiahship awakened by Sabatay influenced the Jewish communities residing in Chios, Rhodes, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Belgrade, Peloponnese, Germany and Poland. Again, many people flocked to Izmir from distant lands to see this false Messiah. 
Thus, Sabatay, who had a community following him, made some changes in religious rites and ceremonies, as well as in the prayers recited in the synagogues. While the name of Sultan Mehmet IV should be mentioned in the prayers in the Ottoman geography, he abolished this tradition and ordered his own name to be mentioned instead. Thus, the false Messiah sat on the spiritual throne of the Jewish kingdom. 
The crazy atmosphere surrounding him was enchanting Sabatay, son of Kara Menteş, the penniless crier of yesterday, and he took great pleasure in this situation. Unfortunately, such callous tolerance in the lands under Turkish rule and the indifference of the Turkish officials to the developments made Sabatay openly declare that he was the Messiah. Seeing that his victory had grown beyond his imagination, Sabatay now began to see himself as the King of Kings and divided the world into 38 Kingdoms and declared 38 of his disciples as Kings, each of them being connected to his brothers and relatives. He prepared and published a declaration and while introducing himself, he went so far astray as to say: ‘Greetings to all the Children of Israel from Sabatay Sevi, the only and first-born son of God, the Messiah and saviour of Israel’. He even performed a ‘rite of resurrection of the dead’ for his disciples and Jews who came to see him and made them believe in him and made them become attached to him. 
During this period, Josef Penhoz, an Italian Jew, also came to Izmir. He first made everyone believe that he was dead, and then, after reciting a few Hebrew prayers over the fake dead, Penhoz suddenly stood up and claimed that Sabatay had given him a new soul. Thus, Sabatay was able to earn the title of ‘raiser of the dead’ with a simple cunning. However, this cunning of raising the dead was not enough to show his ability to escape from the hands of the Ottoman Sergeant Major. Upon complaints, he was summoned to the palace in Edirne, questioned in the court, and stated that he was not the Messiah and did not want to be hanged. Sultan Mehmet IV watched this trial from behind the scenes. 
The false Messiah Sabatay accepted the offer to ‘convert to Islam’ and took the name Mehmet Efendi, and was given the position of janitor in the Edirne Palace and an allowance of 150 akçe. Sabatay's Muslim faith was as fake as his Messiahship. The Turks unfortunately helped an insidious Jewish convert to enter their midst. Worse still, the followers of the false Messiah came from distant places, changed their names and became false Muslims. The Turks nicknamed them ‘Dönme’. In those years, the Ottoman Empire was engaged in the conquest of the island of Crete. After a while, Sabatay, or Mehmet Aziz Efendi with his Muslim name, was released. 
He prepared the 18 commandments summarising the principles and worship of Sabatayism and the declaration of the 16 holidays of Sabatayists and announced them to his followers. When it was discovered that Sabatay Sevi was secretly performing Jewish rituals in Istanbul under the name of Mehmet Aziz Efendi, he was exiled to the town of Berat in Albania. Sabatay Sevi died in 1675 at the age of 49. 
After his death, the Sabatayism movement continued secretly. Unfortunately, these Jewish converts, who are ostensibly genuine Muslims and in reality Sabatayists, have been able to maintain their secrecy until today and continue to be effective as an invisible secret power within the Turkish State. 
By the way, when you question these converts and devshirs, you may receive a reaction saying ‘You are being racist’. But hidden Jews under these false Muslim names can do anything they wish. Even if it is against our State and Nation. But I think their so-called Muslim images continue to make them valuable. What can we say, may Allah protect our State and Nation from open and hidden evil centres and Sabayatayists.