Lalla Ruqaya Al Amrani

Lalla Ruqaya Al Amrani (in للا رقية العمراني), who died in 1902, was one of the wives of Sultan Hassan I and the mother of Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz.

Biography
Sharifa Lalla Ruqaya al-Amrani was the favorite wife of Sultan Moulay Hassan I. Lalla Ruqaya is described as a faqīha and a scholar. She is a woman who had acquired very advanced knowledge in Quranic studies.

Coming from an renown Moroccan family, she is the sister of Sharif Moulay Abdelslem Al Amrani who had command of certain military expeditions during the reign of her son Moulay Abdelaziz.

Her son Moulay Abdelaziz was educated in the house of Sidi Mohammed al-Amrani, one of the main sharifs of the Alaouite court. With the latter her son Moulay Abdelaziz had received his education in accordance with the tradition of the dynasty. After the disgrace of his elder brother Sidi Mohammed, Sultan Moulay Hassan I hastened to name him official heir to the crown.

Upon the ascension to the throne of her minor son, she was not granted the position of regent, Alawite traditions exclude women from this position. The regency was attributed to the vizier Ahmed ben Moussa. Her position was limited to remaining one of her son's main advisors, a position she maintained until after he reached 21 years-old, according to contemporary sources. There was real intimacy between mother and son, as they dinned together even as adults. Lalla Ruqaya was a woman with open political ideas for her time, she advised her son to bring the kingdom's mode of governance closer to that of the West.

Ahmed ben Moussa died in 1901, Moulay Abdelaziz was still subject to the influence of his mother for a time; she made him take as grand visir el-hadj el Mokhtar ben Ahmed, first secretary of the deceased grand vizier; he also chose as minister of war a former mokhzani of Si Ahmed, Si Mehdi el Menebih. Thus the policy of the old Makhzen still continued; but the hands which wielded it no longer had the same vigor: the sultan grew and showed himself impatient with any tutelage, threatening to ruin the rotten edifice of the Moroccan government. Soon Moulay Abdelaziz only listened to his impulses; he rejected his mother's advice and in April 1901, tired of the observations of el Hadj el Mokhtar, he dismissed his grand vizier.

Lalla Ruqaya died in 1902.

Descendance
Lalla Ruqaya and Moulay Hassan I's children were:


 * 1) Lalla Oum Kelthoum;
 * 2) Lalla Nezha;
 * 3) Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz (February 24, 1881 – June 10, 1943);
 * 4) Lalla Sharifa;
 * 5) Moulay Abdulkabir, he had a military career in the imperial armed forces in the service of his full-brother.