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

governor). 46 The next winter the Jews of Radānā appealed to the sultan to curb the abuse of their
governor. 47 These cases show the regularity with which Jews submitted complaints to the
Makhzan. 48 Although the registers of the Ministry of Complaints are only preserved from the
years 1889 through 1893, the numerous petitions found in other parts of the archives suggest that
the frequency of collective complaints registered during these years was typical of Mawlāy
Ḥasan’s reign. 49
In certain cases Jews did not appeal directly to the sultan or his viziers, requesting instead
that local Makhzan officials press their case with the central government. For instance, in 1885
the Jews of Meknes complained to the local muḥtasib (market inspector) that their commercial
goods were being tithed twice, and that they were thus paying twice the amount of taxes they
owed. 50 The muḥtasib communicated their complaint to the tax collector, who then wrote to the
sultan on their behalf. 51 It is likely that Jews of Meknes initially chose to approach the muḥtasib
because they already had good relations with him and were confident that he would transmit
their complaint to the proper authorities.
A group of Jews sometimes chose to write to another Jewish community, requesting their
coreligionists to ask for the sultan’s intervention on their behalf. In the incident which began this
46
BH, K 171, p. 115, 1 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1307.
47
BH, K 174, p. 79, 29 Rajab 1308.
48
See also: BH, K 157, p. 35, 22 Ramaḍān 1306; BH, K 181, p. 16, 5 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1308; p. 120, 22 Rajab 1309; p.
137, 21 Sha‘bān 1309; p. 285, 11 Rabī‘ II 1310.
49
The incomplete nature of the archives makes it impossible to definitively establish with what frequency Jews
petitioned the Makhzan. I explain why a greater proportion of petitions date from Mawlāy Ḥasan’s reign in the
introduction to this chapter.
50
DAR, Meknes, Muḥammad b. Bil‘īd al-Radānī to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 15 Muḥarram 1303.
51
Muḥammad b. Bil‘īd al-Radānī was the tax collector (amīn al-mustafādāt) of Meknes. It makes sense that the tax
collector would be the one to bring the matter to the sultan’s attention since he was ultimately responsible for tithing
commercial goods. See also, for instance, DAR, Marrakesh, Mawlāy Ḥasan to Muḥtasib Mawlāy ‘Abdallāh b.
Ibrahīm, 14 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1296. Here the sultan wrote that Aḥmad Amālik, pasha of Marrakesh, complained to him
that ‘Abdallāh was infringing upon his jurisdiction by mistreating Jews in the millāḥ. Although the sultan did not
specify that Jews were the ones who originally brought this complaint to Amālik, this is clear from the
circumstances of the case.
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