Muhammad IV of Morocco
| Muhammad IV of Morocco | |
|---|---|
| Sultan of Morocco | |
| Reign | 1859–1873 |
| Predecessor | Abd al-Rahman |
| Successor | Hassan I |
| Born | 1830 Fez, Morocco, Morocco |
| Died | September 16, 1873 (42-43) Marrakesh, Morocco |
| Burial | Moulay 'Ali as-Sharif Mausoleum |
| Dynasty | Alaouite |
| Father | Abd al-Rahman of Morocco |
| Mother | Lalla Halima bint Sulaiman |
| Religion | Islam |
Moulay Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman, also known as Muhammad IV (1830 in Fez – 16 September 1873 in Fez) (Arabic: محمد الرابع) was the Sultan of Morocco from 1859 to 1873. He was a member of the Alaouite dynasty.
Born in Fez, Moulay Muhammad was a son of the Alawite sultan Abd al-Rahman of Morocco. During his father's reign, Muhammad commanded the Moroccan army which was defeated by the French at the Battle of Isly in August 1844.
After the defeat, with his father's permission, Moulay Muhammad used his capacity as army chief to launch on a series of significant military reforms in 1845. He invited a group of Tunisian officers who had served in the Ottoman army to raise and train the first European-style regiment, the askari, as a supplement to the usual palace guards (abid) and tribal troops (ghish and nu'aib). Muhammad IV set up the madrasa al-Muhandisin, a military engineering school in Fez, supervised by the renegade French Count Joseph de Saulty (an artillery officer from Algiers, de Saulty defected after an amorous entanglement, and converted, taking up the name Abd al-Rahman al-Ali). Muhammad IV hired writers to translate various European textbooks on engineering and science. He was personally involved in the translation of the works of scientists such as Legendre, Newton and Lalande. He also struck deals with British Gibraltar and Egypt to receive regular contingents of Moroccan soldiers for artillery training.
Immediately upon ascension to throne in August 1859, Muhammad IV was faced with his first test, the Spanish-Moroccan War (1859) governed by Isabella II of Spain. Raids by irregular tribesmen on the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Mellila in northwest Morocco prompted Spain to demand an expansion of the borders of its enclave around Ceuta. When this was refused by Muhammad IV, Spain declared war. The Spanish navy bombarded Tangier, Asilah and Tetouan. A large Spanish expeditionary force landed in Ceuta, which subsequently went on to defeat the Moroccan army at the Battle of Tétouan in February 1860. The humiliating Treaty of Wad Ras signed in April 1860 expanded the enclaves, but more worrisomely imposed a large indemnity payment on Morocco of 100 million francs, twenty times the government's budget. Provisions allowed the Spanish to hold Tetouan until it was paid. The treaty also ceded the enclave of Sidi Ifni, in southwestern Morocco, to Spain.
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