Sol Hachuel

Sol Hachuel (סוליקא חגואל; زليخة حتشويل; 1817 – June 5, 1834) was a Moroccan Jewish woman who was publicly beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam at the behest of the erstwhile Moroccan sultan Abd al-Rahman. She was executed in 1834, at the age of 17, after being charged with apostasy from Islam — apparently without ever having converted. According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, Hachuel "was a martyr to her faith, preferring death to become the bride of the sultan"; She is considered a tzadeket (saint) by some Jews and is also revered by some Muslims. Jews call her (lit. 'Sol the Righteous'), while Arabs call her  (lit. 'Lady Zuleikha').

Hachuel's self-sacrifice served as an inspiration to many painters and writers. One of the most detailed accounts, based on interviews with eyewitnesses, is from Spanish writer Eugenio Maria Romero. His book El Martirio de la Jóven Hachuel, ó, La Heroina Hebrea (lit. 'The Martyrdom of the Young Hachuel, or, The Hebrew Heroine') was first published in 1837 and republished in 1838. Hachuel's story was also the subject of a song by French musician Françoise Atlan on the record Romances Séfardies (lit. 'Sephardic Romances').

In the 1860s, French artist Alfred Dehodencq painted multiple versions of a work depicting the execution of a Jewish woman in Morocco; one of these paintings was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1861 under the title Exécution d’une juive, au Maroc. Some scholars say that Dejodencq was inspired by the story of Sol Hachuel; however, his friend and biographer, the French philosopher Gabriel Séailles, states explicitly in more than one book that Dehodencq was an eye-witness to the execution he depicted.

Life
Hachuel was born in 1817 in Morocco, to Chaim and Simcha Hachuel, and had one older brother. Her father was a merchant and Talmudist. He conducted a study group in his home, which helped Sol form and maintain her own belief in Judaism. Sol's mother was a housewife.

Allegations of conversion to Islam
According to the account of Israel Joseph Benjamin, a Romanian Jewish explorer who visited Morocco in the middle of the 19th century, "never had the sun of Africa shone on more perfect beauty [than Hachuel]". Benjamin wrote that her Arab neighbours said that "It is a sin that such a pearl should be in the possession of the Jews, and it would be a crime to leave them such a jewel."

According to Eugenio Maria Romero's account, Tahra de Mesmudi, a devout Muslim girl and Hachuel's friend and neighbor, falsely claimed she converted Hachuel to Islam; obtaining a convert is considered a particularly pious deed.

Arrest and execution
Based on an unverified claim of her conversion to Islam, Hachuel was brought to court and told to kneel before the governor. If she promised to convert, she was promised protection from her parents, silk and gold, and marriage to a handsome young man. If she did not convert, the pasha threatened her as follows: "I will load you with chains... I will have you torn (apart) piece-meal by wild beasts, you shall not see the light of day, you shall perish of hunger, and experience the rigor of my vengeance and indignation, in having provoked the anger of the Prophet." The girl responded:

"I will patiently bear the weight of your chains; I will give my limbs to be torn [apart] piece-meal by wild beasts; I will renounce forever the light of day: I will perish of hunger: and when all the evils of life are accumulated on me by your orders, I will smile at your indignation and the anger of your Prophet: since neither he nor you have been able to overcome a weak female! It is clear that Heaven is not auspicious to making proselytes to your faith."

The pasha imprisoned Sol in a windowless and lightless cell with chains around her neck, hands, and feet. Her parents appealed to the Spanish vice-consul, Don José Rico, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

The pasha sent Hachuel to Fez, where the sultan would decide her fate. The fee for her transfer (and eventual execution) was to be paid by her father, who was threatened with 500 blows of the bastinado if he did not comply. Eventually, Don José Rico paid the required sum because Sol's father could not afford it.

In Fez, the Sultan appointed the qadi to decide Sol's punishment. The Qadi summoned the Jewish sages of Fez and told them that unless Sol converted, she would be beheaded and the community punished. Although the hakhamim urged her to convert to save herself and their community, she refused. She was convicted and sentenced to death, and the qadi ruled that her father would bear the cost of her burial. The sultan's son also tried to convince her to convert to Islam for her beauty, but she refused.

Sol was beheaded in a public square in Fez. Romero described the emotions of the citizens of Fez on the day of the execution:

"The Moors, whose religious fanaticism is indescribable, prepared, with their accustomed joy, to witness the horrid scene. The Jews of the city... were moved with the deepest sorrow, but they could do nothing to avert it[.]"

Apparently, the sultan instructed the executioner to wound Sol first, hoping that the sight of her own blood would frighten her into accepting conversion.

The Jewish community paid for the retrieval of her corpse, her head and the bloodstained earth for a Jewish burial at the Jewish cemetery. She was declared a martyr.

The Jews called Hachuel "Sol ha-Tzaddikah" (lit. 'the righteous Sol'), and the Arabs called her Lalla Suleika (lit. 'the holy lady Suleika'). Her grave became a place of pilgrimage for both Jews and Muslims alike. Léon Godard explains the custom in his Description et histoire du Maroc:

"Despite their intolerance, Moroccans, however contradictory this may appear, do in some cases honour the holy people of other religions, or beg the aid of their prayers from those whom they call infidels. In Fez, they render a kind of worship to the memory of the young Sol Hachuel, a Jew of Tangier, who died in our time of terrible torture rather than renounce the Law of Moses, or alternatively renew an abjuration previously made, by yielding to the seductions of love."

Her headstone has inscriptions in both Hebrew and French. The French text reads, "Here rests Mademoiselle Solica Hachuel born in Tangier in 1817 refusing to enter into [or 're-enter'; the French text reads rentrer] the Islamic religion. The Arabs murdered her in 1834 in Fez, while she was torn away from her family. The entire world mourns this saintly child."