What Jewish group am I thinking of?

February 1, 2007 9:24 AM

What is the name of the Jewish group with origins somewhere in Persia or the vicinity who were forced to convert to Islam but continued practicing Judaism in secret?

To avoid intermarrying with actual Muslims, they insisted on marrying only within their own community. So they could maintain the appearance of being Muslims, whilst preserving their Jewish lineage. With the formation of Israel, many emigrated to Israel and the United States. Remarkably, many still refuse to intermarry even with other Jews, the habit of marrying only within their own community having become so ingrained. As a result, they typically suffer from genetic disorders at a higher rate than Jews in general.

These are the facts as far as I remember them... I'd like to find the name of this group and any more information about them.

posted by tabulem to society & culture (13 comments total)

Mashadi?
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:30 AM on February 1, 2007

(via)
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:32 AM on February 1, 2007

Wikipedia has a bit on the subject here.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:34 AM on February 1, 2007

I believe the word for these people in Iran would be "Apostate" because they are worshipping a god who is not Allah. I don't think there is a word to describe the Jewish community in Iran, except perhaps Parthian (from the bible for Jewish persian).

I think it's safe to say that since the time of Cyrus the great and the Babylonian captivity there have always been Jews in Persia. I think what you are trying to figure out is where did they come from. But I don't think there is an answer. I would expect that if you were to look at the DNA of most Persian Jews you would discover they are in fact Persian and did not travel to Iran, but are descendents of those who converted there.
posted by parmanparman at 9:34 AM on February 1, 2007

Jewish Muslims?

Maybe this?

But from what my father told me about his travels, it's the Cochin Jews in India who have a high prevalence genetic disorders.
posted by chelseagirl at 9:34 AM on February 1, 2007

See also the Wikipedia article on Crypto-Judaism, and for the Iberian peninsula, The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies.
posted by OmieWise at 9:36 AM on February 1, 2007

The general rabbinic term for a forced convert is אנוס "anus". And among Persian speaking Bukharan Jews (from the area around Uzbekistan), the term for these crypto-Jews is chala.
posted by felix betachat at 9:45 AM on February 1, 2007

Is it the Falashas? I remember reading about them in The Sign and the Seal by Graham Hancock.
posted by kimdog at 9:52 AM on February 1, 2007

Thirteenkiller got the right answer right off the bat, it was the Mashadi I was thinking of. Thanks everyone... ask mefi rules!
posted by tabulem at 9:55 AM on February 1, 2007

Wall high. Power of Thirteenkiller Google-fu higher!
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:19 AM on February 1, 2007

I believe the word for these people in Iran would be "Apostate" because they are worshipping a god who is not Allah.

No, an apostate is someone who abandons Islam for another religion.
posted by languagehat at 11:17 AM on February 1, 2007

To be clear, the Hebrew word mentioned by felix betachat is pronounced "AH-noos". So no "Uranus" jokes.
posted by prophetsearcher at 11:18 AM on February 1, 2007

And just for any other history/religion/anthropology nerds out there, the story of the Donmeh is incredibly interesting. The descendents of the followers of 17th century mystic Sabbatai Zevi, a Jew who claimed to be the Messiah and later converted to Islam, they kept a form of crypto-Judaism alive in the former Ottoman Empire well into the 20th century.
posted by huskerdont at 12:24 PM on February 1, 2007 [1 favorite]