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eigned with impunity. The Makhzan archives provide an important corrective to previous
conceptions of the nature of the Moroccan state. 40
The Makhzan’s role as judicial authority over Jews was shaped by two opposing
elements of the relationship between Jews and the Makhzan. On the one hand, Jews were
subjects of the Makhzan just like Muslims, and thus could stake a claim to the Makhzan’s justice
like any other individuals under the sultan’s authority. On the other, there were particular
aspects of Jews’ legal and symbolic status that added incentive to the sultan’s interest in
responding to Jews’ petitions for redress.
The legal basis for the status of Jews and other non-Muslim monotheists under Islam is a
reciprocal contract (or pact—referred to as the Pact of ‘Umar or the dhimma contract). 41
Dhimmīs agreed to pay a special head tax and to abide by certain restrictions, which mostly
sought to guarantee that Muslims remained at the top of the social and religious hierarchy. In
return, the Muslim ruler agreed to protect dhimmīs (dhimma literally means protection). As the
supreme ruler of Morocco, the sultan had a personal responsibility to ensure the well being of his
dhimmī subjects. 42 This duty is an instance of the broader expectation that the ruler must ensure
justice and the rule of Islamic law. 43 (I discuss the specific nature of the dhimma contract in
nineteenth-century Morocco further in Chapter Six.)
Indeed, throughout Islamic history dhimmīs took it upon themselves to ensure that their
rights were respected by petitioning the Islamic state under which they lived. 44 As one historian
40
An important source for the Makhzan’s relationship with local officials is Ennaji and Pascon, Le Makhzen et le
sous al-aqsa.
41
For an overview of the Pact of ‘Umar, see Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross, Chapter 4.
42
Schroeter, The Sultan’s Jew, 11-12.
43
See, for instance, Patricia Crone, God’s Rule: Government and Islam (New York: Columbia University Press,
2004), 292-7.
44
For the Fatimid period, see Shlomo Dov Goitein, “Petitions to the Fatimid Caliphs from the Cairo Geniza,” The
Jewish Quarterly Review 45, no. 1 (1954); S. M. Stern, “Three Petitions of the Fatimid Period,” Oriens 15 (1962);
162