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

which four entries over a period of five weeks were dedicated (from January 16 to February 22,
1891), concerned the confusion over where David b. Dīnār was killed. ‘Īsā b. Mubārak al-
Raḥmānī claimed that the murder occurred in the region of the Tījānīya, which al-Misfīwī (the
governor of Misfīwa), confirmed. 109 Originally al-Raḥmānī had been ordered to split the
indemnity with al-Misfīwī and al-Tījānī, but the sultan now wanted him to carry the entire
burden 110 —probably because another official claimed that the murder had occurred in al-
Raḥmānī’s region. 111 In the end, al-Raḥmānī grudgingly paid an indemnity of five-hundred
riyāls, though it seems that the Makhzan never fully resolved where David had been murdered.
When it came to theft cases, it was not always entirely clear who was responsible for
paying the indemnity even if everyone agreed on the location of the theft. An entry concerning a
theft in Demnat involved deciding whether the governor or the night watchmen were responsible
for paying the indemnity. In the first entry concerning this incident, recorded on May 6, 1889,
al-Ḥājj al-Jīlālī al-Dimnātī reported that a hole was drilled through a Jew’s wall (probably his
storehouse), and money was stolen from him. 112 Another official claimed that “the custom was
to fine the official [al-Jīlālī] al-Dimnātī [for] what they [the Jews] lost [because the theft] fell
under the bailiwick of the guards.” 113 As the governor of the city, al-Jīlālī was presumably
responsible for the quality of the watchmen, and thus for reimbursing a theft caused by their
ineptitude. But al-Jīlālī declared that this argument was unfounded because each individual Jew
109
BH, K 174, p. 54, 5 Jumādā II 1308 and p. 55, 7 Jumādā II 1308. Al-Raḥmānī also claimed that David’s wife
Esther had confirmed this location.
110
BH, K 174, p. 60-61, 24 Jumādā II 1308.
111
BH, K 174, p. 70b, 13 Rajab 1308.
112
BH, K 157, p. 27: 6 Ramaḍān 1306.
113
Anna al-‘ādata hiya ghurmu al-khadīmi al-Dimnātī mā ḍā‘a lahum wa-rujū‘uhu ‘alā al-‘asāsa [sic]. The word
khadīm is an unusual form in Arabic (for example, it is not found in the dictionaries of either Wehr or Lane). A
colloquial Moroccan dictionary translates khadīm as “servant bénévole,” usually serving a zāwiya or a saint (De
Premare, Dictionnaire arabe-français, v. 4, 31). However, in the context of this letter—and indeed Makhzan
correspondence more generally—khadīm referred to a Makhzan official, that is, a servant of the sultan.
210