Source 1: A Summary from Chatgpt AI
Forced Conversion from Judaism to Islam under the Almohads (12th–13th c.): A Historical Summary
The Almohad movement emerged in the early 12th century in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa under the leadership of Ibn Tumart and later ʿAbd al-Mu’min. Founded on a rigorist interpretation of Islamic monotheism, the Almohads sought to purify religious practice and impose doctrinal uniformity across their expanding empire. As they conquered Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and eventually Muslim Spain (al-Andalus), their ideological program introduced one of the harshest periods of religious persecution experienced by Jews—and also Christians—in medieval Islamic lands.
Extent of the Persecution
Under earlier Islamic dynasties such as the Umayyads and the Almoravids, Jews generally lived under the status of *dhimmi*: non-Muslim subjects protected in exchange for a tax and certain social restrictions. The Almohads rejected the *dhimmi* system entirely. Around 1147, when they seized control of major North African cities and then entered al-Andalus, they demanded that Jews and Christians either embrace Islam or leave Almohad territory. In practice, the scale of Almohad power made leaving extremely difficult; many communities were surrounded by Almohad-controlled regions or faced perilous journeys to Christian Spain or more tolerant Muslim territories.
Forced conversions were implemented systematically. Jewish communities in Fez, Marrakesh, Tlemcen, Córdoba, Seville, and Granada were confronted with the ultimatum of conversion or expulsion. Many were compelled to publicly profess Islam while secretly maintaining Jewish practices—creating a large class of *crypto-Jews* generations before similar phenomena in Iberia under Christian rule. Those who refused faced confiscation of property, exile, or execution. Rabbinic sources from the period describe heavy demographic losses, community dispersal, and spiritual crisis.
Results and Historical Consequences
The immediate consequence was widespread displacement. Many North African Jews fled eastward to more tolerant regions such as Egypt under the Ayyubids, where the Cairo Geniza preserves evidence of refugees seeking aid. Others moved northward into the Christian-controlled zones of Iberia, contributing to the cultural and economic development of emerging Jewish centers in Toledo, Burgos, and Provence.
Within Almohad territory, the era produced generations of Jews who lived outwardly as Muslims while secretly observing Judaism. Conditions varied by location: in some cities, Almohad vigilance was strict; in others, local officials were more lenient, enabling underground Jewish practice. This hidden existence profoundly affected Jewish thought. One of the most important consequences was the impact on the young Moses Maimonides, whose family fled Córdoba during the Almohad advance. His later legal and philosophical writings, including discussions of forced conversion and the responsibilities of crypto-Jews, were shaped by these experiences.
By the mid-13th century, as Almohad authority fragmented and successor states relaxed religious policy, open Jewish life slowly re-emerged in some regions. Nevertheless, the Almohad period permanently altered the demographic map of Mediterranean Jewry, accelerated intellectual migration, and ended the era of relative stability enjoyed by Jews in much of Islamic Spain.
Source 2: A Summary from Grok AI
Mashhadi Jewish Community (Iran)
The Mashhadi Jews, also known as the Jadid al-Islam or Anusim (“the compelled ones”), trace their history to the 1839 Allahdad Massacre in Mashhad, Iran, during the Qajar dynasty. A pogrom erupted amid religious tensions during the Shia holy month of Muharram, leading to the deaths of 30-40 Jews and the forced conversion of the remaining 2,400 to Islam under threat of further violence. The community outwardly adopted Islamic practices and names but secretly maintained Jewish traditions as crypto-Jews for nearly a century. Under the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979), they began practicing Judaism openly again. Today, around 20,000 descendants live primarily in Israel (about 10,000), the United States (especially Great Neck, New York), and Tehran, where they remain deeply aware of their forced conversion history and emphasize their identity as survivors of religious persecution.
Dönmeh (Turkey)
The Dönmeh are descendants of 17th-century Ottoman Jews who followed the self-proclaimed Messiah Shabbatai Zevi, a Romaniote rabbi from Thessaloniki. In 1666, Zevi was arrested by Sultan Mehmed IV and forced to convert to Islam under threat of execution, prompting many followers to do the same to maintain their Sabbatean beliefs. The term “Dönmeh” means “converts” in Turkish, often pejoratively. They outwardly practiced Islam (e.g., observing Ramadan) while secretly adhering to Jewish rituals, Kabbalistic theology, and endogamous traditions in subgroups like the İzmirli, Yakubi, and Karakashi. Over time, they integrated into Ottoman and Turkish society as merchants, intellectuals, and officials, evolving into a heterodox Muslim sect with fading Jewish ties. Today, about 2,000 non-assimilated Dönmeh remain in Turkey (mainly Istanbul), with some having migrated to Israel. Many descendants are aware of their Jewish roots, though they face challenges in recognition as Jews by Israeli or Turkish religious authorities; some, like Ilgaz Zorlu in 1994, have legally affirmed their Jewish identity.
Certain Palestinian Clans in Hebron (e.g., Dweik, al-Jabari, al-Rajab)
In the West Bank city of Hebron, clans such as the Dweik (or Dwaik), al-Jabari, and al-Rajab are believed to descend from Jewish families who converted to Islam, possibly under duress during periods of Ottoman or earlier Arab rule. Historical accounts suggest these conversions occurred in the 15th–19th centuries, amid broader shifts where some Jews in Palestine adopted Islam for social, economic, or survival reasons following the 7th-century Arab conquests. Rumors and oral traditions persist about their Jewish origins, with some clan members acknowledging ties to ancient Israelite or Judean ancestry. For instance, the Dweik family has been linked to Jewish roots in local lore {end of quote}.
Source 3: Translation of pages 131 & 132 from the Tribes of Israel written by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail
The Tribes of Israel – Page 131
2) Testimony from the mouth of Mr. Hanania Davidov
“I was part of a cooperative group of merchants who peddled all kinds of goods in villages. Because of our work we also reached the most remote areas of the country. It should be noted that in the regions close to India most trade was concentrated in the hands of Indian merchants, whereas in the isolated and distant regions of the country – such as the areas near the Pakistan border, which is a distinctly mountainous region – the Indian merchants exploited the situation and prices for all kinds of goods were extremely high. These merchants saw us as serious competitors and therefore, of course, did not look kindly upon our presence in areas that had been under their exclusive control for many years.
During one of our commercial trips, my group of ten people arrived at a remote mountainous area near the Pakistan border. While we were in one of the villages we also made contact with the sheikh (the village’s religious leader) and told him that we were Jews. This fact aroused his curiosity and that of the people of his community, and he visited us frequently. Each time he asked us all sorts of questions about Judaism. He told us that he and the people of his community in the surrounding villages belonged to the tribe of Benjamin – they were of the Children of Israel – and that at the time of the Islamic conquests they were forced to convert to Islam.
Our group stayed in the village for several days, and we saw that on Friday evening they lit a candle and then covered it. They were interested in every single detail of our behavior, and especially in how strictly we ourselves observed our religion. In most cases only they questioned us, but we were afraid to ask them or to investigate their customs, because Afghanistan is a staunch and fanatical Muslim country. We feared establishing contact with those lost brethren of ours, because we were afraid of the severe prison sentences that prevail there; for even a minor matter one can rot for years in a prison of hair-raising torture. Had it not been for the fear that prevented us from inquiring into their customs and their past, we could have gathered a great deal of factual material that would have confirmed even more strongly the tradition they preserve about their Jewish past.
We also learned that on the other side of the Pakistani border there are large areas populated entirely by members of the same tribe. As for the occupation of the people in the area we visited, they have a few orchards here and there, almond trees, etc., and we heard that sometimes members of the tribe attack the caravans that pass along the roads.
As we mentioned above, the Indians, in whose hands village trade was concentrated, did not look kindly on our presence in the area, and they did everything possible to drive us away from the region, including from that particular village. After a few days we received an order from the Afghan authorities to leave the place on the grounds that we were causing economic damage to the local merchants, who were long-time residents and citizens of the country.”
Tribes of Israel – Page 132
Testimony from the mouth of Mr. N. Mashiach
“I am from Persia and have already been in the Land [of Israel] for decades, yet I cannot forget what happened to me once when I visited Afghanistan on commercial business. During the time I spent in Afghanistan I reached a small town near the Pakistan border. At that period the British still ruled India, and in the town and its surroundings British influence was very noticeable. The area was distinctly mountainous, and the inhabitants of the mountain villages were bold and aggressive warriors. In order to ensure regular traffic on the roads that passed between the mountains, the British had learned from their bitter experience in clashes with the tribesmen that it was far better to come to terms and reach agreements with the sheikhs, the tribal leaders, rather than to come into conflict with them. That had already cost them many casualties. Therefore they paid quite respectable sums to the tribal leaders in the area as “money so that the sword would not be unsheathed.”
And so, during the time I was staying in that village, the British delayed the payment to the head of the tribe in the area and stopped paying altogether. Then one bright day we suddenly felt a strange quiet in the town – it was truly was the calm before the storm. And then, all of a sudden, hordes of horsemen began galloping down from the mountain region all around, and the town was flooded with them. Those troops were valiant fighters of tall stature, and terror fell upon the representatives of the Afghan government and the local police – they fled in panic in every direction. The shops and houses were emptied by them, and in a short time the place was simply swept clean and left empty. They gathered the loot the way one gathers fish from a pond, without encountering any resistance.
While they were collecting the spoils they came across me and immediately realized that I was a foreigner and not a Muslim. They did not harm me and began questioning me. I explained that I was a Jewish merchant from Persia, and they allowed me to speak with their leader, the sheikh of the tribe. And this is what that sheikh told me:
‘We know about our Israelite origin. It has been transmitted to us from man to man that we are of the Children of Israel, and until the period of the Islamic conquests we were full Jews, until we were forced to accept Islam. They have a tradition that roughly 100 years before the representatives of Islam appeared in their area, the idolatrous fire-worshipping tribes in the surrounding area attacked them, robbed and plundered everything they found, and also took their ancient books. As a result of that event many of the fundamentals of the religion were forgotten, because only an oral tradition remained. And under the harsh conditions and constant fear, the bond with the Torah and tradition weakened, and when the representatives of Islam came to them and threatened them to accept Islam, and when they heard their declarations that they too believe in the Oneness of God, they agreed to accept Islam upon themselves in order to escape annihilation, but in secret they continued to preserve the tradition of their Israelite origin.’”
Clarification: I refuse to state an opinion regarding the halachic status of the descendants of all the groups mentioned in this article in our times.
In any case knowing the history will help us form a strategy of how to deal with the other side.