On 17 August 1953, Kittani and the Glaoui unilaterally declared Ben Arafa to be the country's imām.
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He visited the European capitals often, while his visitors at Marrakech included Winston Churchill, Colette, Maurice Ravel, Charlie Chaplin.
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On 25 August 1953, the French Resident had the Sultan and his family forcibly seized and deported to exile, and Ben Arafa was proclaimed the new sultan.
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From that moment on he conspired with Abd El Hay Kittani and the French to replace Mohammed V with a new sultan, an elderly member of the royal family named Ben Arafa.
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As part of the resistance against the French occupation, a political party, the Istiqlal had started up with a nationalist (i.e. anti-colonialist) policy.