124 r Juliette Hassine
our culture. The Malikite teachings produced a number of great sages in Andalusia and
the Maghreb, and we rely on them in the application of our legal principles. It is an open
culture which borrows from other legal schools, aiding us to solve the problems that we
encounter.” See Hassan II and Eric Laurent, Le génie de la modération (Paris: Plon, 2000),
110–11.
- See Mohammed Kenbib’s monumental Juifs et Musulmans au Maroc, 1859–1948
(Rabat: Université Mohammed V, Faculté des sciences humaines, 1994), 51, 61, 711. - We should emphasize that Sultan Abd al-Rahman was characterized by his loyalty
to the religious institutions as set out in the Malikite laws, defined by both Moroccan his-
torians and Sultan Hassan II as an open and tolerant body of law. Because his religiosity
was influenced by Wahhabism, the combination is likely to create considerable tension
and, as in Sol’s case, perhaps even lead to the death penalty. This tendency was reinforced
by the ̔ulamā’ from the Bildiyyin group. - In his chronicle, Ibn Khālid al-Nasiri al-Salawi relates how Abd al-Rahman re-
considered his decision to behead two thousand members of the Sherrarda tribe who
were accused of treason. Prior to acting on his decision, he consulted the ̔ulamā’, whose
members advised him not to spill so much blood. The sultan accepted their advice and
canceled the mass execution. See Archives marocaines, 10:127. In Sol’s case, apparently, a
legal decision came down which called for the death sentence with a recommendation
to carry out the execution as soon as possible. The British consul Drummond Hay wrote
a letter to the Foreign Office in England from Tangier on June 9, 1834, a few days after
Sol was executed in Fez. In the letter he cited the ̔ulamā’’s influence as one of the major
causes for the implementation of her sentence. See the British Foreign Office Archive,
Diary of the British Consulate, Tangier FO 174/218, vol. 8, 1834–1836. This letter was first
published by Ph. Abensur in the periodical Etzi 3, no. 11 (December 2000): 1, 6. - Rey, Souvenirs, 152.
- The pejorative epithets used against Sol’s judges are found in a piyyut by Hayyim
Haliwah, which starts with the sentence “ ̔Am asher nivharu/le-shem ule-tehila” (A peo-
ple chosen for fame and praise). The piyyut was included in Rabbi Ya ̔aqov Bendugo, Qol
Ya ̔aqov (London, 1844), 129–31. - Shimkha yah qiddesha is found in a manuscript at Bar-Ilan University (no. 566).
A scholarly edition of the piyyut was published in Yehuda Razhabi, Mi-Ginzat Shirat Qe-
dem (Texts and Studies in Oriental Liturgical Poetry) (Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalaim,
1991), 87–93. Rabbi Shmuel Elbaz was a member of a family of religious judges and
scholars from Sefrou, although he lived in Fez and was almost certainly present in the
city when Sol Hachuel was executed. - The q#sā found in the manuscript at Bar-Ilan University (no. 142) opens with
the sentence “shimu ya nash ma zra/fimdinat Fes lkahra” (Hear, gentlemen, what hap-
pened in the despicable city, Fez). In line 16, we read “get up, illegitimate witnesses, and
testify.” The poet is referring to Muslims, whom the Jews saw as illegitimate. In general,
the Jews of Morocco of every generation used this term (in Hebrew, pasul) to refer to
Muslims. This phenomenon is anchored in Moroccan Jewish tradition and is derived
from Maimonides’ Igeret Teman (Epistle to Yemen), in which he preferred the epithet
ha-Pasul instead of referring to Muhammad by his name. See Igeret Teman, Halkin ed.,