Mohammed V of Morocco

At the time of Muhammad's enthronement, the French colonial authorities were "pushing for a more assertive 'native policy.'"[2] On 16 May 1930, Sultan Muhammad V signed the Berber Dahir, which changed the legal system in parts of Morocco where Amazigh languages were primarily spoken (Bled es-Siba), while maintaining the legal system in the rest of the country (Bled el-Makhzen) remained the way it had been before the French invasion.[2][3] Although the sultan was under no duress, he was only 20 years old.[2] This dhahir "electrified the nation"; it was sharply criticized by Moroccan nationalists and catalyzed the Moroccan Nationalist Movement.[2]

Sultan Muhammad V participated in the Anfa Conference hosted in Casablanca during World War II.[2] On 22 January 1943, he met privately with the US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. and the Prime Minister of the UK Winston Churchill.[2] At this dinner, Roosevelt assured the sultan that "the post-war scene and the pre-war scene would ... sharply differ, especially as they related to the colonial question."[2] The sultan's 14-year-old son and future king of Morocco, Hassan II, also attended and later stated that Roosevelt said, "Ten years from now your country will be independent."[2]

"There are competing accounts of exactly what Mohammed V did or did not do for the Moroccan Jewish community" during the Holocaust.[4] However, "though a subject of debate, most scholars stress the benevolence of Mohammed V toward the Jews" during the Vichy era.[5] Mohammed blocked efforts by Vichy officials to impose anti-Jewish legislation upon Morocco and deport the country's 250,000 Jews to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps in Europe.[6] The sultan's stand was "based as much on the insult the Vichy diktats posed to his claim of sovereignty over all his subjects, including the Jews, as on his humanitarian instincts."[6] Partial Nazi race measures were enacted in Morocco over Mohammed's objection,[6] and Mohammed did sign, under the instructions of Vichy officials, two dahirs (decrees) that barred Jews from certain schools and positions.[7]

Nevertheless, Mohammed is highly esteemed by Moroccan Jews who credit him for protecting their community from the Nazi and Vichy French government,[4] and Mohammed V has been honored by Jewish organizations for his role in protecting his Jewish subjects during the Holocaust.[8] Some historians maintain that Mohammed's anti-Nazi role has been exaggerated; historian Michel Abitol writes that while Mohammed V was compelled by Vichy officials to sign the anti-Jewish dahirs, "he was more passive than Moncef Bay (ruler of Tunisia during the Second World War) in that he did not take any side and did not engage in any public act that could be interpreted as a rejection of Vichy's policy."[7]

Sultan Muhammad V was a central figure in the independence movement in Morocco, or as it is also called: the Revolution of the King and the People (ثورة الملك والشعب). This Moroccan Nationalist Movement grew from protests regarding the Berber Dahir of 16 May 1930. His central position in the Proclamation of Independence of Morocco further boosted his image as a national symbol. On 10 April 1947, he delivered a momentous speech in Tangier, appealing for the independence of Morocco, without calling out specific colonial powers.[9]

Mohammed V with his family in Madagascar, 1954.

On 20 August 1953 (the eve of Eid al-Adha), the French colonial authorities forced Mohammed V, an important national symbol in the growing Moroccan independence movement, into exile in Corsica along with his family. His first cousin once removed, Mohammed Ben Aarafa, called the "French sultan," was made a puppet monarch and placed on the throne.[10] In response, Muhammad Zarqtuni bombed Casablanca's Central Market on Christmas Eve of that year.[10]

Mohammed V and his family were then transferred to Madagascar in January 1954. Mohammed V returned from exile on 16 November 1955, and was again recognized as Sultan after active opposition to the French protectorate. In February 1956 he successfully negotiated with France and Spain for the independence of Morocco, and in 1957 took the title of King.

He died at 51 years old 26 February 1961 following complications of a minor operation he had undergone.[11]