If the student merely passes out unbrilliantly, or even fails to get his diploma, he will probably become a khodja in a Bureau Arabe or in some other French office dealing with Arabs. His duties will be to translate into Arabic all official despatches sent out to the tribes or douars, and likewise to translate into French all incoming Arab documents.
A successful candidate will, however, first of all find himself appointed to the post of adel, a kind of superior clerk in a native lawyer’s office, and from that he can rise to bash adel, or principal clerk. From the bash adels are chosen the kadis. The kadis have many functions, which in England would combine the duties of solicitor, official receiver, registrar, and judge, without the latter’s power of awarding punishment.
All native cases of jurisdiction are first of all brought before the caïds and aghas of the district. If they are crimes or cases with which he can not deal by compromise, he either sends them on to the Bureau Arabe or, if they are not criminal offenses, to the kadi. People who require arbitration can, of course, go direct to the kadi, but the nomad prefers the ruling of his caïd. The most usual cases to come before the kadi are those of inheritance, lawsuits, sales of property, and family quarrels. He also marries and divorces those who wish it.
His decision is final, and even in questions between great chiefs they must either accept the kadi’s ruling or else carry the case before the French tribunals, which is a lengthy and expensive procedure. In fact the kadi is the decisive factor in all native disputes, in all family matters, and in all cases which do not actually incur definite punishment.
The kadis themselves are usually charming people, cultivated, courteous, and full of a quiet sense of humor gathered amidst the comedies and tragedies of daily life which pass before them. Many of them have a great deal of moral influence, and are instrumental in bringing about reconciliations between foolish couples and quarreling families.
There are also learned men, called talebs, in Mohammedan centers. These natives teach the Koran in the schools and counsel others who want advice in legal matters. They have also the important function of writing and translating documents and letters for those illiterate natives who require their services, whether it be in French or in Arabic. On the same plane as the kadi, but without the same official education, are found those of the second category, mentioned above—the religious teachers.
First of all the mufti. The muftis often have had a legal education and are consulted on Mohammedan law before taking cases before the kadi, in the same way as in England one goes to a solicitor, but they are chiefly authorities on religious rites, and they hold official positions at the mosques. Every Friday and on feast days they preach and expound the Koran at the midday and evening prayer. Their power has greatly diminished of late but their knowledge of Mohammedan scripture is profound. In cases where there is no mufti the kadi is regarded as the authority on religious matters.
The priest of the mosque is called the imam. He is in charge of all religious ceremonies, and when the collective prayer is said, the faithful follow him in all the chants and movements. He is sometimes an educated man, but it is not the general rule, and one often finds the imam attending classes held by the taleb to learn how to write and speak literary Arabic. (Literary Arabic in opposition to the bastard tongue spoken in North Africa.)
An Arab Barber