[5][6] This antinomian doctrine led Zevi and his followers to deliberately violate Jewish commandments, a controversial practice that later inspired movements like the Frankists.

In September of that same year, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to the imperial courts' seat in Adrianople (now Edirne), he was judged on accusations of fomenting sedition.

Sabbatai was given the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal or of converting to Islam by the Grand Vizier representing Sultan Mehmed IV.

[11] Subsequently, the Ottomans banished him twice, first to Constantinople, and, when he was heard singing Psalms with Jews, to a small town known today as Ulcinj in present-day Montenegro.

This belief was so prevalent that Menasseh Ben Israel, in his letter to Oliver Cromwell and the Rump Parliament, appealed to it as a reason to readmit Jews into England, saying, "[T]he opinions of many Christians and mine do concur herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their native country is very near at hand.

To prove this, he started to pronounce the Tetragrammaton, an act which Judaism prohibited to all but the High Priest of Israel in the Temple in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur.

[17] Sabbatai revealed his claim to being the Messiah early on to Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro, the latter a brother-in-law of the Italian rabbi and Kabbalist Joseph Ergas.

Even though he had led the pious life of a mystic in Smyrna for several years, the older, more established rabbinic leadership was suspicious of his activities and the local college of rabbis.

For instance, he celebrated his marriage to the Torah, referring to it as the "One Without End" (the Ein Sof), and organized a solemn festival to which he invited his friends.

Reports vary on his subsequent movements, with Alexandria, Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Smyrna mentioned as possible temporary bases he might have taken.

[13] There he befriended Raphael Joseph Halabi (of Aleppo), a wealthy and influential Jew who held the high position of mint-master and tax-farmer in Cairo under the Ottoman government.

Raphael Joseph led an ascetic life, which included fasting, bathing in cold water, and scourging himself at night, and used his great wealth for charity, supporting poor Talmudists and Kabbalists, 50 of whom reportedly dined at his table regularly.

He was said to have a good voice and attracted large audiences when he sang psalms all night long or Spanish love songs to which he gave mystical interpretations.

[13] At the time, the Jewish community in Jerusalem desperately needed money to pay the heavy taxes levied by the Ottoman government.

Known as the favourite of the rich and powerful Raphael Joseph Halabi in Cairo, Sabbatai was chosen to appeal to him for money and support, and his success in getting the funds to pay off the Turks raised his prestige.

Subsequently, she traveled to Livorno, where reports indicated that she led a life of prostitution while also embracing the belief that she would become the bride of the Messiah, whose arrival was thought to be imminent.

[13] When a report of her adventures reached Cairo, Sabbatai claimed that such a consort had been promised to him in a dream because he, as the Messiah, was bound to fall in love with an unchaste woman.

The Messiah would lead the Ten Lost Tribes back to the Holy Land, "riding on a lion with a seven-headed dragon in its jaws".

"[13] His followers then began to refer to him as AMIRAH, a Hebrew acronym for the phrase "Our Lord and King, his Majesty be exalted" (Adoneinu Malkeinu Yarum Hodo).

[13] Jewish readiness to believe Sabbatai Zevi's messianic claims may largely be explained by the desperate state of European Jewry in the mid-17th century.

The bloody pogroms of Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the cossack riots had wiped out an estimated 10,000–20,000 Jews in Eastern Europe and destroyed many centres of Jewish learning and communal life.

Probably with his consent, Sabbatai's adherents planned to abolish most of the Halakha, including the mitzvos, because, according to a minority opinion in the Talmud, in the messianic time there would no longer be holy obligations.

[13] In contrast to this viewpoint, Professor Maoz Kahane demonstrated that Shabbtai Zevi himself did not aim to alter the entirety of halakha, but rather sought to modify specific aspects of it.

Solomon Algazi, a prominent Talmudist of Smyrna, and other members of the rabbinate who opposed the abolition of the fast, narrowly escaped death at the hands of Sabbatai's followers.

As Sabbatai had arrived on the day preceding Passover, he slew a paschal lamb for himself and his followers and ate it with its fat, a violation of Halakha.

"[13] The immense sums sent to him by his rich followers, the charms of the queenly Sarah, and the cooperation shown by the Ottoman officials and others enabled Sabbatai to show off almost royal splendor in prison at Abydos.

In Hamburg, the council introduced the custom of praying for Sabbatai not only on Shabbat but also on Monday and Thursday; unbelievers were compelled to remain in the synagogue and join in the prayer with a loud Amen.

[21] On the following day (September 16, 1666), Zevi appeared before the sultan, cast off his Jewish garb, and put a Turkish turban on his head, thereby accomplishing his conversion to Islam.

Either Sabbatai or one of his followers published a mystical work claiming he was the true Messiah despite his conversion and that his goal was to bring thousands of Muslims to Judaism.

[31][25] According to a review published in the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, the branch known as Karakaş follow Sufi-influenced practices, while the Kapancıs have not been influenced by Islam at all and are now completely secular.