Conversion to Islam
Nehemiah, however, escaped to Constantinople, where he pretended to embrace Islam to get an audience with the kaymakam. He told him of Sabbatai's ambitions. The kaymakam informed the sultan, Mehmed IV. Sabbatai was taken from Abydos to Adrianople,[6] where the sultan's vizier gave him three choices; subject himself to a trial of his divinity in the form of a volley of arrows (in which should the archers miss, his divinity would be proven); be impaled; or he could convert to Islam.[15] On the following day (September 16, 1666) Zevi came before the sultan, cast off his Jewish garb and put a Turkish turban on his head. Thus his conversion to Islam was accomplished. The sultan was much pleased, and rewarded Sabbatai by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) Effendi, and appointing him as his doorkeeper with a generous salary. Sarah and approximately 300 families among Sabbatai's followers also converted to Islam. These new Muslims thereafter were known as dönmeh (converts).[5] The sultan's officials ordered Sabbatai to take an additional wife to demonstrate his conversion. Some days after his conversion he wrote to Smyrna: "God has made me an Ishmaelite; He commanded, and it was done. The ninth day of my regeneration."[6]
