Mention the word Crypto Jew, and you might think of Jews who converted to Catholicism after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492. These were Jews who were outwardly Christian, though some continued secretly to practice Judaism.

In fact, the term could just as easily refer to another group of Jews in the Muslim world. They lived in Mashhad, in the far northeastern corner of Persia, present-day Iran. The city was the second most populous after Tehran. It was also known as a holy city, an important place of pilgrimage and a center brimming with religious fervor.

Contrary to the prevailing myth that Jews and Muslims always lived in peace—at least, until the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979—the Jews of Iran had already suffered a decline in their fortunes under the 16th-century Safavid dynast

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