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

Individuals directly involved in a given case could also request to have the matter settled
in a sharī‘a court. It is unsurprising that Muslim debtors sometimes wanted to bring their Jewish
creditor before the qāḍī. 78 More unexpected is that in one instance, the Makhzan official refused
to allow two Muslim debtors to appeal to a sharī‘a court concerning the settlement of a debt they
owed a Jew. 79 In the end, despite the local Makhzan official’s refusal to let them settle the
matter before a qāḍī, they went anyway, “without his knowledge.” In one instance a Jewish
creditor requested that a case be brought before a sharī‘a court. An entry recorded on March 14,
1891, concerns the complaint of the Jew Ibn al-Baḥar, who was owed money by the late Barīk b.
Muḥammad al-Zīzūn. 80 Ibn al-Baḥar “requests that the heirs be brought to the sharī‘a court.” 81
Undoubtedly Ibn al-Baḥar believed his case would hold up before a qāḍī, which is why he
wanted the matter judged according to sharī‘a.
Nonetheless, it was more common for Jews to refuse to bring a case to a sharī‘a court.
Although I only found four instances of Jews attempting to avoid settling a matter before a qāḍī,
this is one of the rare instances in which Jews expressed preferences for the venue of
settlement. 82 It is, however, significant that I also found an entry in which a Muslim refused to
go to a sharī‘a court, suggesting that Jews’ reticence was not always based on the religious
78
BH, K 181, p. 241, 23 Muḥarram 1310; p. 255, 14 Ṣafar 1310; p. 334, 12 Rajab 1310; p. 361, 6 Ramaḍān 1310.
79
BH, K 181, p. 361, 6 Ramaḍān 1310. The debtors argued that they had handed over their livestock in payment
and were ready to sell their land to the creditor (presumably at an attractive price). They wanted to reach a final
settlement in a sharī‘a court.
80
BH, K 174, p. 80, 3 Sha‘bān 1308. See also DAR, Meknes, 20591, ‘Abdallāh b. ?? to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 21 Rajab
1302. This letter concerns the request of the Jewish creditors Ibn al-Baḥar, Yitzḥaq Būsitta, and Ibn al-Dara‘ī to
send their case to the sharī‘a court.
81
Ṭāliban iḥḍāra warathatihi li-i‘māli al-shar‘.
82
BH, K 157, p. 114, 10 Rabī‘ II 1307; BH, K 174, p. 75, 23 Rajab 1308; BH, K 181, p. 151, 10 Ramaḍān 1309; p.
340, 24 Rajab 1310. See also DAR, Yahūd, Muḥammad b. Qāsim to Muḥammad Tūrīs, 6 Muḥarram 1320, in which
the Jew refused to go before the qāḍī of Casablanca and stated that he would only be judged by the sharī‘a court in
Tangier. Finally, see also MAE Nantes, Tanger A 161, ?? to Ordega, 4 November 1884, in which al-Misfīwī (the
Minister of Complaints at the time) summoned Yosef Kohen, an Algerian Jew living in Fez, to the Ministry of
Complaints about a petition he submitted concerning unpaid debts. Kohen was summoned on Friday afternoon, and
when al-Misfīwī declared that he had to go to the sharī‘a court, Kohen protested that he would not do so on the
Sabbath. According to Kohen, al-Misfīwī insisted and even ordered his soldiers to beat him.
202