1877 - ?
Interim puppet ruler of Morocco, 1953 - 1955.
A relatively unknown member of the Alawi dynasty, Muhammad ibn Arfa was selected by Tuhami al-Glawi and other supporters of French colonialism in Morocco to replace Sultan Muhammad V, who was forced to abdicate in 1953. Following several attempts on his life and amid the mounting pressures of Moroccan nationalism, ibn Arfa was removed in October 1955, to be replaced by the restored Muhammad V, who ruled as king until his death in 1961, when his son Hassan II assumed the throne.
Bibliography
Abun-Nasr, Jamil. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Hahn, Lorna. North Africa: Nationalism to Nationhood. Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1960.
— MATTHEW S. GORDON
