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preventing members of the community from being properly compensated for their losses. 65 The
French commander of the region of Fez believed that the indemnity claims of Ya‘aqov and his
allies were falsified; he noted that Ya‘aqov had requested a compensation of 900,000 pesetas
hassani, “even though his building was one of the few that escaped damage during the pillage.” 66
It is impossible to know for sure whether Ya‘aqov inflated his claims for damages. 67
Nonetheless, the fact that he led a group of Jews against the French-appointed administrator
suggests that he possessed considerable influence in his community. Ya‘aqov died at some point
between 1920 and 1934, leaving behind four sons and two daughters. 68
The Sharī‘a Courts of Fez
By the second half of the nineteenth century, three different sharī‘a courts operated in
Fez. Two of these courts were located in the heart of Fez, the part of the city known as Fās al-
Bālī (or old Fez). The qāḍī al-quḍā (chief judge, also known as the qāḍī al-jamā‘a) presided
over the city’s most important court in Fās al-Bālī (“Old Fez,” the main walled city). This court
was located near the Qarawīyīn mosque, Fez’s greatest religious establishment and the premier
institution of Islamic learning in Morocco. 69 Specifically, this court was convened in a small
65
Ya‘aqov was elected as one of fifteen representatives to speak directly with the French authorities in order to
counter Elmaleh’s claims: Ovadyah, Fas ve-ḥakhameha, 234. See also AIU, Maroc III C 10, g.07, Giveron to
Lyautey, 7 August 1913.
66
Ibid.
67
There is some further evidence that the Assarrafs were stolen from during the pillage. On June 14, 1912
Ya‘aqov’s son Eliyahu requested that the pasha of Fez, Sa‘īd b. Muḥammad al-Sharādī, appoint two ‘udūl to record
all the items that had been stolen from the family’s two houses during the pillage. The resulting document survives
in the Assarraf collection: TC, File #5, 28 Jumādā II 1330.
68
Although I have not found a death date for Ya‘aqov, he is mentioned as living in documents from 1920 (see, e.g.,
PD, Register of Shtarot from Fez 1920-22, entry #162, 26 Kislev 5681). By 1934, Ya‘aqov’s name is followed by
the phrase nuḥo eden, meaning “may [his soul] rest in Eden” (see, e.g., PD, Register of Shtarot from Fez 1934, entry
#104, 4 Kislev 5695).
69
On the Qarawīyīn, see A. Péretié, “Les medrasas de Fès,” Archives Marocaines 18 (1912): 346-56; Roger Le
Tourneau, Fès avant le protectorat : étude économique et sociale d’une ville de l’occident musulman (Rabat:
63