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about its image in the eyes of foreigners, particularly foreign diplomats and Jewish activists
(such as the AIU). These foreigners criticized the Makhzan’s treatment of religious minorities,
especially Jews. 49 Moreover, Jews took advantage of new connections with foreigners to call on
consular officials and international Jewish organizations when they felt their rights had been
violated. 50 Ensuring that Jews felt they were able to resolve their legal disputes helped the sultan
refute accusations that his state discriminated against non-Muslims. Addressing Jews’ appeals
would also prevent his Jewish subjects from turning to foreign consular officials or international
Jewish organizations when they felt they had been denied justice—a strategy that more and more
Jews adopted. 51 In most instances, there is no way to tell to what extent the Makhzan was
motivated by a more traditional role as protector of Jews and to what extent the Moroccan state
simply wished to avoid providing a pretense for foreign nations to meddle in its internal affairs.
Yet there is little question that the changing dynamics of international relations had an impact on
the Makhzan’s relationship with its Jewish subjects. 52
The Ministry of Complaints in Morocco
Scholars have written next to nothing about the history and functioning of the Moroccan
Ministry of Complaints (wizārat al-shikāyāt), also referred to as wizārat al-‘adl (the Ministry of
49
See, e.g., Laskier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle, 43-61; Kenbib, Juifs et musulmans, esp. 130-42, 94-224.
See also examples of this sort of attitude in Fenton and Littman, L’exil au Maghreb, esp. 245-6, 57-9, 84-5, 319-20,
43-6, etc.
50
On the changing relationship among Jews and the Makhzan in general, see Laroui, Origines, 310-14.
51
See DAR, Yahūd, 15118, Mawlāy Ḥasan to Muḥammad Bargāsh, 22 Jumādā II 1297, in which Mawlāy Ḥasan
instituted a new policy whereby Jewish subjects of the Makhzan had to first bring their complaints to Moroccan
authorities, through Bargāsh, before the sultan would entertain the intercession of foreigners on their behalf. Three
months later, Bargāsh reported that he was inundated with complaints sent by Jews (DAR, Yahūd, 24355,
Muḥammad Bargāsh to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 15 Ramaḍān 1297).
52
Some contemporary observers interpreted the improving condition of Jews in Morocco as a result of pressure
from western diplomats; see, e.g., Stephen Bonsal, Morocco as it Is: With an Account of Sir Charles Euan Smith’s
Recent Mission to Fez (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1893), 323-5.
165