Lalla Zoulikha

Lalla Zoulikha Hatchouel (Arabic: للا سليخة حتشميل‎‎) was a famous Moroccan Jewish girl from the city of Tangier (her parents were from Fez) who lived during the reign of Sultan Moulay Abderrahmane. The story, which is well known amongst Moroccan Jews and Muslims alike, is that in the year 1823, Lalla Zoulikha went to visit her parents in the Mellah of Fez, the son of the Sultan whose name was Tahar saw her and fell in love with her instantly. He was reported to have said that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Immediately, he told the palace officials that he wanted to marry her, and they visited Zoulikha's family, as per Moroccan custom, to ask for her hand in marriage to their son Tahra. However, Zoulikha's family told the palace officials that they were Jewish, and they could not give their daughter to a Muslim; this was accepted, and within two years, the Sultan made a law that all the Jews of Fez and Meknes have to convert to Islam, or face death by beheading. Some Jews did convert, and some very well-known families in Morocco are descended from them, Zoulikha refused to convert, and she was therefore beheaded by the Sultan, who then put her head on top of the highest point on the wall of the Mellah as an example to all Jews who refused to convert. A prominent family of French Jewish origin called "Tzarfati" bought Zoulikha's head, and buried it in the Mellah cemetery; her tomb is now the largest in the cemetery, and is visited regularly by all local Moroccans, Jewish and Muslim alike, and she is revered as a Tsadika by Moroccan Jews, as her tomb is said to bestow blessings (baraka) on all who visit it.