IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...

Islamic legal document at all, since according to Islamic law there was no such thing as a
ḥazaqah. Yet this document not only recognized the existence of a ḥazaqah, but officially
notarized the fact that the ḥazaqah remained in the hands of the Jewish seller. It was signed by
two ‘udūl and a qāḍī, all in the presence of al-Razīnī, 89 suggesting that the qāḍī knew about the
clause exempting the ḥazaqah from the sale. Were the qāḍī’s signature absent, one could argue
that the ‘udūl had simply agreed to draw up a somewhat unorthodox document without full
knowledge of what Islamic law would have to say about the matter. Presumably, however, the
qāḍī was aware that Islamic law did not recognize the existence of something called a ḥazaqah
and yet decided to notarize the document anyway.
Sharī‘a courts also tacitly recognized and reinforced Jewish law in their reliance on
rabbis as expert witnesses. 90 We have already seen this in the cases in which Jews who had
arrived at inheritance agreements in a Jewish court notarized these agreements in a sharī‘a court
as well. For instance, when Shalom Assarraf passed away, his three sons had ‘udūl draw up a
document confirming the inheritance division. 91 A prominent dayyan, Vidal ha-Tzarfati, came
and testified “that [Shalom’s] heirs are his three sons, the full brothers Ya‘aqov, Yehudah, and
the bachelor Moshe—[and that Shalom] has no other heir according to their religion (fī
millatihim).” 92 Ha-Tzarfati was described in this document as one of “the religious experts
(asāqifa) of the Jews who know which Jews inherit and which do not according to their
religion.” In this and in other such inheritance cases, the qāḍī and ‘udūl drew upon the expertise
89 This is a somewhat exceptional addition since most legal documents did not specify that either of the parties to the
contract was present; perhaps it reflects the unusual nature of the document.
90 On expert witnesses in Islamic law, see Ron Shaham, The Expert Witness in Islamic Courts: Medecine and Crafts
in the Service of Law (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 27-98.
91 TC, File #3, 5 Ṣafar 1336.
92 Al-‘ārifīn bi-man yarithu min al-yahūdi mimman lā yarithu minhum fī millatihim.
144