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All of the sale contracts attested to transactions in which one of the Assarrafs bought
something—almost always an animal—from a Muslim. 95 Mules were the most commonly
traded beast, but there are also documents concerning the sale of cows, donkeys, and horses
(surprising given that dhimmīs were not allowed to ride horses under Islamic law). 96 The
descriptions of the animals usually includes their sex, color, and other identifying features. For
instance, on May 23, 1871, Shalom bought a male mule from Jafār b. Muḥammad al-Dalīmī al-
‘Asharī for 150 mithqāls. 97 The mule was described as “red in color, five years old, with white
under its hindquarters.” 98 Only two documents concern the sale of something other than
animals; in one, Ya‘aqov bought a room from a Muslim. 99 In another, Shalom bought a knife for
thirteen mithqāls. 100 However, the fact that the Assarrafs mostly bought animals from Muslims
is not necessarily representative of broader patterns; in the other collections I examined, it was
far more common for Jews to buy and sell property from Muslims than to acquire beasts of
burden. 101
95
Of the sixteen sale contracts, thirteen were for animals.
96
See TC, File #8, 14 Sha‘bān 1297, in which Shalom bought a white, male horse from al-Ḥājj ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b.
al-mu‘allam ‘Alī al-Sūsī for 157 mithqāls and five ūqīyas. See also TC, File #10, 2 Muḥarram 1323, in which the
Jew Rafael b. Aharon al-Sukūrī bought a red work horse (birdhawn) from a Muslim. (I am grateful to Professor
Michael Cook for this translation.)
97
TC, File #10, 3 Rabī‘ I 1288.
98
Aḥmaru al-lawni, rabā‘u al-sinni al-waqti [sic], bayāḍan [sic] taḥta ẓahrihi. Lane translates rabā‘ as “shedding
its tooth called the rabā‘īya, q. v.; applied to the sheep or the goat in the fourth year, and to the bull and cow and the
solid-hoofed animal in the fifth year, and to the camel in the seventh year” (Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon,
1018). I assume that a mule counts as a solid-hoofed animal, and thus rabā‘u al-sinn means that the mule in
question is five years old.
99
TC, File #5, 6 Rajab 1303.
100
TC, File #2, 14 Jumādā II 1288.
101
For documents in which Jews bought or sold real estate from Muslims, see UL, Or.26.543 (1), 8 Rabī‘ I 12??
(Ḥaim Corcos, Marrakesh); UL, Or.26.543 (2), 14 Shawwāl 1331 (Yeshu‘a Corcos, on a long document including
many other transactions of the same property); YBZ, 280, 30 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1302 (‘Azīzī b. David al-Dabdūwī, no
city mentioned); PD, 30 Ṣafar 1274 (Makhlūf b. Shalom b. Ghazlān al-Ṣayrafī, Fez); PD, 20 Rabī‘ II 1266 (Ya‘aqov
b. Avraham Sabbāgh, Fez); PD, 19 Ṣafar 1295 (Makhlūf b. Shalom b. Ghazlān al-Ṣayrafī, Fez); PD, 1317 (no
further date: Avraham ha-Kohen, Tetuan); PD, 2 Rajab 1274 (Yeshu‘a b. Yehudah al-Lībī, Tetuan); PD, 8 Jumādā II
1271 (Ḥaim b. Shmuel, Fez).
96