The Alhambra Decree targeted unconverted followers of Judaism: Jews who refused conversion were ordered to leave Spain in 1492.
Issued on 31 March 1492 by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the decree followed the Christian conquest of Granada. It gave Jews a short deadline to convert to Christianity or depart, while confiscation and severe penalties threatened those who remained or helped them.
The policy was closely tied to anxiety about conversos, Jews who had converted to Christianity. Authorities feared that some converts were secretly continuing Jewish practices or encouraging others to return to Judaism. The Spanish Inquisition investigated such alleged “Judaizing,” but it did not mean that Islam or Protestantism was the target of this particular decree.
A common mix-up is confusing the Alhambra Decree with later measures against Muslims and Moriscos. Those policies belonged to a different phase of Spain’s drive for religious uniformity. The 1492 decree specifically concerned practicing Jews and their possible influence on Jewish converts.