The Sabbatean Prophets

36 The Sabbatean Prophets
against the Christians; the gradual defeat of the Andalusian Muslims and
their expulsion in 1492; the growth of Sufi orders in the Mediterranean; and
the reciprocal influence of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim expectations. 157
When this wave was already ascending, the rise of the Safavid ruler Isma’il
in 1501, also a heavily eschatological figure, 158 and that of the great Ottoman
Sultan Suleiman in 1520, added more fuel to the fire.
The Ottoman conception of Selim and then Suleiman as the Last World
Emperor competed with those of Isma’il and the Persians on the one hand,
and with the messianic imperialism of the Hapsburgs on the other. 159 A
long battle between Ottomans and Europeans, personified by Suleiman and
Charles V respectively, gained even greater cosmic significance by the messianic
claims of each ruler. 160 The expectation of a coming world ruler, and indeed
the claim of kings and sultans to be that ruler, was one of the proofs
that the whole Mediterranean basin shared certain essential cultural elements
in the sixteenth century. 161 Istanbul and Salonika were rife with the
same kind of prophetic excitement as Rome, Venice, and Barcelona. “Living
seers and prognosticators teemed in the heart of Muslim Istanbul, and prophetic
wisdom that yielded clues to the apocalyptic nature of the times, and
which was culled from pre-Islamic and Islamic authorities, was ‘rediscovered’
and reworked.” 162 This continuity between European and Ottoman
cultures was a major factor in the spread of Sabbateanism. 163
Some of the acute messianic atmosphere in Islam died out in the seventeenth
century, after repeated defeats for all sides and the deaths of one
potential world ruler after another. There were, however, still important
Mahdist movements close to the time of Shabbatai. One centered around
Muhammad an-NiyÁzÅ (b. 1617, Aspuzi, Turkey; d. 1694, Lemnos), a Sufi
with Bektashi associations, whose status as a prophet and redeemer was
confirmed by himself and many followers. An-NiyÁzÅ is a particularly significant
figure for Sabbatean history because he operated in many of the
same cities (Brusa, Adrianople, Salonika) in which Shabbatai and his adherents
were active. Contact between them is highly likely, and it is certain that
after his conversion Shabbatai frequented some of the same dervish monasteries
and prayer cells as an-NiyÁzÅ. 164 Another fascinating event with ties to
Shabbatai occurred a year after Shabbatai’s conversion, in 1667, when a
Kurdish dervish proclaimed his son to be the redeemer and formed an army
to overthrow the state. The Kurdish rebels were quickly subdued by the Ottoman
authorities and hauled before the sultan. They were forced to recant
their rebellious claims, and the boy messiah was given the office of palace