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Al-Ntīfī offered a different explanation of the events in question, a version echoed by
another group of Jews from Ntifa. Al-Ntīfī explained to Mawlāy Ḥasan that his tribe had
become incensed at Dahan’s flagrant flaunting of Islamic law by living with a Muslim
woman. 110 The fellow members of his tribe, the Ntifa, were so incensed that they threatened to
expel all the Jews, reasoning that since one Jew had broken the dhimma contract, all dhimmīs
had lost their rights to protection from their Islamic rulers. Al-Ntīfī even claimed that the
surrounding tribes (including the Banī Manṣūr, the Ayt Ghatāb, and the Tadla) were threatening
rebellion, including attacking the millāḥ, if Dahan went unpunished. In order to avoid this, al-
Ntīfī “imprisoned him [Dahan] and gave him 100 lashes…and then released him after
[someone’s] intercession on his behalf (ba‘ada al-shafā‘a fīhi)…and he went to his house safe
and sound (ṣaḥīḥan sāliman).” After some time, Dahan died a natural death, one that had
nothing to do with the wounds he received from al-Ntīfī’s punishment. Al-Ntīfī concluded by
saying that “he obeys the sultan’s command to settle with the dhimmī’s relatives,” presumably
by offering blood money to Dahan’s heirs. 111 Although al-Ntīfī’s agreement to pay blood money
to Dahan’s heirs might indicate that he was guilty of Dahan’s murder, it is also possible that al-
Ntīfī was simply obeying the sultan’s orders in order to avoid further controversy.
Al-Ntīfī’s claims were corroborated by some of the Jews of Demnat, who wrote a letter to
al-ḥazān Avner, a Jewish notable in Fez, giving their version of events. On October 3, 1880,
Avner wrote to the sultan’s vizier, Muḥammad b. al-‘Arabī al-Mukhtār, explaining his
Ḥasan, 13 Muḥarram 1298; 35177, Mawlāy Ḥasan to Muḥammad Bargāsh, 16 Muḥarram 1298; 15589, Muḥammad
Bargāsh to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 7 Jumādā II 1298; ?? to Muḥammad Bargāsh, no date.
110
DAR, Yahūd, 24351, ‘Abdallāh b. al-Ḥasan al-Ntīfī to Mawlāy Ḥasan, 16 Ramaḍān 1297.
111
Wa-’l-ān ḥīna amaranī sīdī bi-faṣli al-qaḍīyati ma‘a awliyā’i al-dhimmī…fa-na‘am sīdī wa-sam‘an wa-ṭā‘atan
(ibid.). Al-Ntīfī explained that he was unable to settle with Dahan’s heirs since Dahan’s sons had left Ntifa for
Marrakesh; al-Ntīfī had contacted Corcos (presumably Yeshu‘a Corcos, the shaykh al-yahūd of Marrakesh) and was
awaiting a reply.
358