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The Double Bind of Race and Religion: The Conversion of the Dönme to Turkish Secular Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2005

Marc Baer
Marc Baer
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine
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Extract

For over two centuries the Dönme lived an open secret in Ottoman Salonika following their conversion from Judaism to Islam in the wake of the conversion of the messianic rabbi Shabbatai Tzevi in 1666. Neither the category “Jewish” nor “Muslim” expresses their religious identity. Unlike Jews, the Dönme ostensibly followed the requirements of Islam, including fasting at Ramadan and praying in mosques, one of which they built. Unlike Muslims, the Dönme maintained a belief that Shabbatai Tzevi was the messiah, practiced kabbalistic rituals, and recited prayers in Hebrew and Judeo-Spanish. According to the descendants of Dönme in Istanbul, the Dönme in Salonika saw themselves as a community apart; fulfilling the commandments of Shabbatai Tzevi caused Dönme to only marry among themselves, avoid relations with Jews, maintain their separate identity guided by detailed genealogies, and bury their dead in distinct cemeteries. (Dönmeler 1919:15; Galanté 1935:67; and Stavroulakis 1993).

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Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 2004 , pp. 682 - 708
Copyright
© 2004 Society for Comparative Study of Society and History

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