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when amounts are specified they tend to vary widely: in one case the blood money for a Jew
amounted to 500 riyāls, in another to 1,300 riyāls, and in a third to 2,500 riyāls. 45
Like theft cases, those who murdered Jews do not seem to have been motivated by anti-
Jewish sentiment. 46 The nature of the murder cases suggests that Jews were often killed in order
to steal their goods rather than out of any personal or religious motivation. 47 Indeed, Jews and
Muslims were at times murdered under similar circumstances. 48 The fact that many Jews
travelled long distances peddling goods probably made them better and easier targets for murder,
as for theft. It is also possible that the prohibition on Jews owning weapons contributed to their
greater vulnerability.
Relatives of the deceased were usually the ones to report the case to the Makhzan and
complain that they had not yet been compensated. 49 The compensation which relatives
demanded comprised blood money and, in some cases, the return of whatever goods had been
stolen (or their value). As relatives of victims, Jewish women appear in the Ministry of
45
BH, K 174, p. 51, 21 Jumādā I 1308; BH, K 181, p. 345, 6 Sha‘bān 1310; BH, K 181, p. 260, 23 Ṣafar 1310. In
one case the murderer’s family paid only 212 riyāls, but this was only part of the total amount of blood money (BH,
K 181, p. 275, 27 Rabī‘ I 1310). This sum was paid by only one of the murderers; it is not clear how many others
still had to pay and whether they would have paid the same amount.
46
Daniel Schroeter made the same observation for the area around Essaouira: Schroeter, Merchants of Essaouira,
171-2.
47
Although only nine out of the forty-two cases specifically mention that goods were stolen at the time of murder,
the vast majority of cases occurred in rural areas and many specify that the Jewish victims were from elsewhere
(usually a larger city). Also, the elliptical nature of the entries is such that many details of the murder cases are left
out—making it likely that other cases also involved theft even if this was not specified in the entry. For a case
which specifies that Jews generally came to rural regions to sell wares and to loan money, see BH, K 181, p. 200, 16
Dhū al-Qa‘da 1309. See also DAR, Tetuan, 20829, ‘Abd al-Qādir Ash‘āsh to Mawlāy ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, 1
Muḥarram 1265. In this case the murderer’s motive is unclear; at one point he claimed he killed the Jewish victim
because the Jew had been sleeping with his wife, though at another point he claimed that he only killed him in order
to steal his goods.
48
See, for instance, BH, K 157, p. 39, 2 Shawwāl 1306; p. 56, 12 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1306 (in this case the Muslim victim
was murdered and robbed). There is also some evidence that Muslims were killed for personal or political reasons
more often than Jews. For instance, in one entry a qā’id was accused of killing a notable (who was a brother of Ibn
‘Atīk al-Tusūlī); although it is possible that the qā’id simply happened to kill a notable, it seems more likely that he
did so for political reasons (BH, K 157, p. 39, 2 Shawwāl 1306).
49
The relationship between the petitioners and the victim is not always specified. In one instance the uncle of the
murdered Jew petitioned (BH, K 171, p. 61, 17 Ramaḍān 1307). In another case it was the victim’s cousin (BH, K
181, p. 69, 6 Jumādā I 1309). See also DAR, Yahūd, 34484, Muḥammad al-Ṣaffār to Muḥammad Bargāsh, 6
Jumādā II 1293, in which the brother of the victim pursued the case.
195