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Iggeret ha-Shemad (Letter on Forced Conversions)This letter discusses the desired Jewish response to the phenomenon of forced conversion to Islam in Morocco and Spain , an experience all too familiar to Maimonides from his stay in Fez . It discusses the status of Anusim (forced converts) who ostensibly converted to Islam in order to save their lives. He ruled that they should not be considered idol worshippers or as having committed a capital transgression. However he beseeches these converts to flee from their countries as soon as possible so that they might continue to practice their religion openly and without threat. It seems that this letter was composed a short time after he himself left North Africa while on his way to Eretz Israel in 1165. It may have been written during the time he spent in Eretz Israel . The original version has not been preserved, but the letter is known to us through two anonymous translations: one found in several manuscripts and first published by A. Geiger, Breslau 1850; of the second, only the first half has survived, formerly in the Y. Badhab collection and today in the M. Benayahu collection in Jerusalem . It was published by Shilat, “ Sinai”, 95 (1984), pp. 157-164. A new translation by Qafih in his edition of Maimonides’ letters was published in Jerusalem , 1972, pp.103-120.
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