Sol Hachuel (; ; 1817 – 5 June 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 becoming the bride of the sultan"; she is considered a tzadeket (saint) by some Jews and is also revered by some Arabs. Jews call her () while Arabs call her ().
Hachuel's self-sacrifice served as 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 () 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 ().
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 . 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 a single and probably false claim of her conversion to Islam, Hachuel was brought to the 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:
The girl responded:
True to his promise, 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, for help. He did what he could to free the girl, 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, astonished by Sol's beauty, also tried to convince her to convert to Islam. 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. But Sol remained steadfast.
The Jewish community of Fez was awestruck by Hachuel's heroism. They had to pay 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.