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

have written directly to the Minister of Complaints, or he might have written to some other
Makhzan official either in his place of residence or in one of the capital cities. The precise
channels through which complaints liked this one reached al-Misfīwī and thus were entered into
the registers of the Ministry of Complaints are usually impossible to trace. Nonetheless, we can
gather from this entry that at some point a scribe from the Ministry of Complaints wrote to al-
Būmīdmānī concerning Isḥāq’s request. The letter recorded here was most likely al-
Būmīdmānī’s reply to the initial letter about the debts. He responded that he would settle the
matter when he returned from his participation in the sultan’s military campaign, at which point
he would send the case to a sharī‘a court.
Many entries preserve the sultan’s response to the official’s letter. These entries end with
“our lord says,” followed by his opinion or command. Most of the time the sultan answered with
a directive—perhaps most commonly that the case should be “settled” (yufāṣal, or simply al-
faṣl). 105 Often the sultan asked for more information or requested documentation of the matter at
hand. 106 The sultan sometimes responded “it is ordered,” acquiescing in the request of the
author. 107 At other times, the sultan rejected the official’s request or claim—as in the case in
which al-Tusūlī was commanded to settle the debts of Ḥayyim b. Ṭāṭā. 108 Al-Tusūlī pleaded that
the case fell under the jurisdiction of another Makhzan official, but Mawlāy Ḥasan did not accept
this excuse and ordered al-Tusūlī to investigate, since he had appointed al-Tusūlī as his
representative. Finally, a number of entries have no answer whatsoever recorded; it is not clear
105
There are innumerable such cases: see, for instance, BH, K 181, p. 270, 12 Rabī‘ I 1310.
106
See in particular the discussion in the following chapter of the common response from the sultan that the matter
had to be settled with “legal proof” (mūjib: on this word, see Sinaceur, Dictionnaire Colin, v. 8, 2028).
107
See, e.g., BH, K 174, p. 102, 18 Ramaḍān 1308.
108
BH, K 181, p. 110, 9 Rajab 1309. For another case in which the sultan refused to believe an official’s claim, see
BH, K 181, p. 83, 25 Jumādā I 1309.
178