Jacob Querido

Jacob Querido or Yakub Çelebi(‘the Beloved’, ca. 1650–1690, Alexandria, Egypt) was the successor of the self-proclaimed Jewish Messiah Sabbatai Zevi. Born in Thessaloniki, he was the son of Joseph the Philosopher and brother of Jochebed(Esther), Shabbatai Zevi's last wife. Jochebed was the fifith and final wife of Sabbatai Zevi which Sabbatai took as her wife following her father's conversion to Islam on the orders of Sabbatai. Her father was renamed Abdulgaffar Efendi. The marriage took place in 1675 and Querido known as Yakub b. Abdullah became a disciple of Zevi. Sabbatai Zevi became terminally ill in 1676 and according to Donmeh tradition, Querido was the last person to see him alive. The question of authority became problematic after the failed redemption, and Jochebed now known as Aisha was seen as the sacred widow of the messiah. Yakub and Aisha were the last two people to see Sabbatai in exile. On their way back, Yakub carried a letter signed by the Sabbatai proclaiming him as the Caliph (successor) of the messiah. When Aisha returned she claimed Sabbatai Zevi's soul has transmigrated to Yakub and confirmed the authenticity of the letter. Despite some resistance the elders accepted the claim. The dissidents departed for Izmir and later became the basis for the Kapanci community. They believed the messiah was going to return himself and appointing a successor constituted blasphemy.

He attracted a considerable following of his own, called Ya‘qōviyīm or Yakubiler. Querido consequently became a major successor figure among Sabbateans in Salonica; together with his father and the Talmudist Solomon Florentin, he attracted a substantial following. Around 1683, a large group of Salonican Sabbateans converted outwardly to Islam, forming an important nucleus of what became known as the Dönmeh. The precise chronology of the mass conversion is disputed in the sources, with dates ranging from 1683 to 1686. Sources claim that such large voluntary conversion of Jews to Islam was never before seen in history. Never before jews embraced islam on mass without compulsion.²