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

imprisoned them and beaten them without just cause. In response, the sultan sent someone to
investigate the claim; nearly two months later, the Minister of Complaints was informed that the
Jews had appeared before the khalīfa of Ūrika in court to voice their concerns. The khalīfa later
sent a release which the Jews had given him following their settlement. 67 The khalīfa and the
Jews under his jurisdiction resolved their dispute without the sultan giving any specific orders
regarding the case. 68
Often the Makhzan officials suspected of mistreating Jews proclaimed their innocence,
accusing the Jewish petitioners either of lying or of exaggerating their claims. This occurred
when the Jews of Demnat charged their governor with mistreating them in the summer of 1864. 69
Mawlāy Muḥammad (reigned 1859-73) sent a representative, al-Ṭayyib al-Yamānī, to Demnat to
investigate the complaints. 70 Al-Yamānī informed the sultan that the Jews did not have any legal
proof (bayyina) with which to verify their accusations, so Mawlāy Muḥammad ordered al-
Yamānī to drop the case. Although at first the Jews refused to be appeased until their governor
was dismissed, they eventually agreed to sign a document saying they had no further
complaints. 71
Schroeter, “Atlas Mountains (Morocco),” in Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, ed. Norman Stillman
(Leiden: Brill, 2010).
67
BH, K 174, p. 10, 25 Muḥarram 1308.
68
In another instance, the Jews of Debdou had complained about their qā’id, but subsequently settled the matter
before the qāḍī of al-Rashīdiyya: BH, K 157, p. 94, 16 Ṣafar 1307.
69
See DAR, Demnat, al-Ṭayyib al-Yamānī to Muḥammad Bargāsh, 24 Muḥarram 1281; al-Ṭayyib al-Yamānī to
Muḥammad Bargāsh, 30 Muḥarram 1281; Muḥammad Bargash to Mawlāy Muḥammad, 27 Rabī‘ I 1281.
70
Al-Yamānī was an important vizier; in 1864 he was already 68 years old (see Ḥajjī, Ma‘lamāt al-Maghrib, v. 6,
1796-7).
71
For similar accusations, see: BH, K 157, p. 62, 24 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1306 (in this case a group of Jews (their
residence is not given) complained that their governor had cut off their access to water; the governor responded that
the stream providing water to the city reaches the Jews before the Muslims—implying that their accusation was
groundless); DAR, Marrakesh, 24807, Muḥammad al-Hādī b. ‘Abd al-Nabī al-Fāsī to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 20 Ṣafar 1309
and 20266, Muḥammad al-Hādī b. ‘Abd al-Nabī al-Fāsī to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 20 Ṣafar 1309 (in these letters, about an
incident in Marrakesh discussed above, al-Fāsī accused the Jews of lying and exaggerating the nature of the
mistreatment they suffered; in particular, he noted that the Jews’ accusations against the Muslims who tried to
plunder the millāḥ were inconsistent, and that their claims about the number of Jews injured while attempting to
return to the millāḥ were greatly exaggerated); DAR, Yahūd, Jalūl b. Muḥammad al-Misfīwī to Mawlāy ‘Abd al-
246