View source for Abdelaziz of Morocco

{{Short description|Sultan of Morocco from 1894 to 1908}}
{{Infobox royalty
| type         = monarch
| name         = Abd al-Aziz bin Hassan<br />عبد العزيز بن الحسن
| caption      = 1907 picture of Abdelaziz from an article in [[Le Petit Journal (newspaper)|Le Petit Journal]]
| succession   = [[Sultan of Morocco]]
| moretext     = [[List of rulers of Morocco|(more..)]]
| image        = Sultan Abd el-Aziz Le Petit Journal.jpg
| image_size   = 250
| reign        = 9 June 1894 – 21 August 1908
| predecessor  = [[Hassan I of Morocco|Mawlay Hassan I]]
| regent       = [[Ba Ahmed|Ahmed bin Musa]] <small>(1894–1900)</small>
| successor    = [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Mawlay Abd al-Hafid]]
| house        = [['Alawi dynasty]]
| father       = [[Hassan I of Morocco|Hassan bin Mohammed]]
| mother       = [[Lalla Ruqaya]]
| religion     = [[Maliki]] [[Sunni Islam]]
| birth_date   = 24 February 1878 or 18 February 1881
| birth_place  = [[Marrakesh]], [[Alawi Sultanate|Sultanate of Morocco]]
| death_date   = 10 June 1943 (aged 62)
| death_place  = [[Tangier]], [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco|Spanish Protectorate of Morocco]]
| burial_place = [[Moulay Abdallah Mosque|Mawlay Abdallah Mosque]], [[Fes]], [[Morocco]]
| spouse       = Lalla Khadija bint Omar al-Youssi<br />Lalla Yasmin al-Alaoui
| spouse-type  = Wives
| issue        = Moulay Hassan<br />[[Lalla Fatima Zahra bint Abdelaziz|Lalla Fatima Zahra]]
| full name    = ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥasanī al-ʿAlawī<ref name=":1" />
}}
''Moulay'' '''Abd al-Aziz bin Hassan''' ({{langx|ar|عبد العزيز بن الحسن|ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ḥasan}}; 24 February 1878 – 10 June 1943) was a sultan of Morocco from 9 June 1894 to 21 August 1908, as a ruler of the [['Alawi dynasty]]. He was proclaimed sultan at the age of sixteen after the death of his father [[Hassan I of Morocco|Hassan I]]. Moulay Abdelaziz tried to strengthen the central government by implementing a new tax on agriculture and livestock, a measure which was strongly opposed by sections of the society. This in turn led Abdelaziz to mortgage the customs revenues and to borrow heavily from the French, which was met with widespread revolt and [[Hafidiya|a revolution]] that deposed him in 1908 in favor of his brother [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Abd al-Aziz {{!}} sultan of Morocco {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Aziz-sultan-of-Morocco |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=[[Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sasson |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3yaAJFgBjOcC&q=fille |title=Les couturiers du sultan: itinéraire d'une famille juive marocaine : récit |date=2007 |publisher=Marsam Editions |isbn=978-9954-21-082-6 |pages=62 |language=fr}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Abdelaziz was born on 24 February 1878 or 18 February 1881<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=1|title=ʿAbd al-Azīz b. al-Ḥasan|page(s)=57|first=Roger|last=Le Tourneau|authorlink=|url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EIEO/SIM-0075.xml?rskey=rwujXF|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0075}}</ref> to [[Hassan I of Morocco]] and [[Lalla Ruqaya]] who was a [[Circassians|Circassian]] concubine who became Hassan's favorite wife.<ref name=":4">{{harvnb|Burke III|1976|p=47|pp=}}. "When 'Abd al-'Aziz came into his majority in 1900 upon the death of the regent, he was only nineteen years old and had spent most of his young life within the confines of the royal harem. His mother was Lalla Raqīya, a beautiful and intelligent Circassian slave woman who had been the favorite wife of Mawlay al-Hasan during the last years of his life. She had originally joined forces with Ba Aḥmad to insure the proclamation of her son and continued to have considerable influence over his decisions until her own death in 1902."</ref>

Shortly before his death in 1894<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |date=January 2, 1903 |title=Fight Expected At Fez |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/01/02/101963574.pdf |journal=The New York Times |pages=1}}</ref> Hassan I designated Moulay Abdelaziz his heir, despite his young age. Previously, Hassan's other son Moulay Mahammad was the accepted successor of Hassan. However, he was dismissed because he was allegedly a poor commander and half-hearted Muslim. Abdelaziz was chosen over his brothers because he was Hassan's favourite son.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pennell |first=C. R. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Morocco/Mhy9DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Morocco: From Empire to Independence |date=2013-10-01 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-78074-455-1 |pages=127 |language=en}}</ref>

Abdelaziz's education was mostly focused on religious subjects rather than the practice of government affairs. His teachers included a pro-reform scholar from [[Marrakesh]], al-Faqih al-Faqih Mufaddal al-Susi, who would later provide fatwas on the legality of Abdelaziz's proposed reforms. The aspect of his education that had the biggest effect on his rule was his isolation from the people preventing him from understanding what behaviours were appropriate for a sultan to display publicly.<ref>{{harvnb|Burke III|1976|p=|pp=47–48}}</ref>

==Reign==
In academic literature, Abdelaziz's reign is often referred to as the "prelude to Protectorate". Historians both before and after colonialism often write about this period as if the fall of the [[makhzen]] was inevitable due to the accumulation of forces preventing reform.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=57|pp=}}</ref> 

=== Early reign ===
Abdelaziz's accession to the [[sultanate]] was ensured with little fighting because of his mother, Lalla Ruqaya, and [[Ba Ahmed]], the chamberlain and [[grand vizier]] of Hassan I.<ref name=":4" /> Ba Ahmed became [[regent]] and for six years showed himself a capable ruler.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Abd-el-Aziz IV|volume=1|page=32}}</ref>

In 1895, tribes of southern Morocco rose up in rebellion. At the head of a mahalla with support from the large Mtougga tribe, Abdelaziz marched south and defeated the southern rebels, triumphantly entering [[Marrakesh]] in March 1896 with his regent Ahmed, capturing a large booty of horses and camels.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=56|pp=}}</ref>
[[File:General Sir Harry Aubrey de Maclean.jpg|thumb|[[Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean]] and {{Ill|Mehdi al-Menebhi|ar|المهدي المنبهي|de|El Menebhi}} in the centre]]
On his death in 1900 the regency ended, and Abdelaziz took the reins of government into his own hands.<ref name="EB" /> The new [[Pre-colonial Makhzen|makhzen]] appointed by Abdelaziz favoured reform as the best way of preserving Moroccan independence. Originally, a cousin of Ba Ahmed became grand vizier but was replaced by an elderly Andalusian official Muhammad al-Mufaddal ibn Muhammad Gharnit. The [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates|minister of foreign affairs]], {{Ill|Abd al-Karim ibn Sulayman|ar|عبد الكريم بن سليمان||}}, who supported refoms, and [[Ministry of Economy and Finance (Morocco)|minister of finance]], Abd al-Salam al-Tazi, remained in their positions.<ref name=":16">{{harvnb|Burke III|1976|p=48|pp=}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Pennell|2000|p=122|pp=}}</ref> The most important figure in government was the royal favourite {{Ill|Mehdi al-Menebhi|ar|المهدي المنبهي|de|El Menebhi}},<ref name=":16" /> an [[Arabs|Arab]] from the south,<ref name="EB" /> and young ''mukhzani'' of rural origin who became his [[aide-de-camp]]<ref name=":6">{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=59|pp=}}</ref> and chief adviser.<ref name="EB">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Abd al-Aziz |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |location=Chicago, IL |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/14 |edition=15th |volume=I: A-Ak - Bayes |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/14 14] |isbn=978-1-59339-837-8 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Menebhi like Abdelaziz supported reform<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":5" /> and he was given the position of minister of war.<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":6" /> Another important figure in this time was the Scottish drill sergeant "[[Qaid]]" [[Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean]] who became part of Abdelaziz's inner circle providing him with entertainment and whatever he desired abroad. French diplomat {{Ill|Eugène Aubin|fr|Eugène Aubin}} described the makhzen as weak and one of "professional politicians, intriguing against one another, adopting different attitudes, and playing on the inexperience of the sovereign".<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=60|pp=}}</ref>

On the same year, the French administration of Algeria called for the annexation of the [[Tuat]] region, which was part of Morocco back then,<ref>Frank E. Trout, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/216479 ''Morocco's Boundary in the Guir-Zousfana River Basin''], in: African Historical Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1970), pp. 37–56, Publ. Boston University African Studies Center: « The Algerian-Moroccan conflict can be said to have begun in 1890s when the administration and military in Algeria called for annexation of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt, a sizable expanse of Saharan oases that was nominally a part of the Moroccan Empire (...) The Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt oases had been an appendage of the Moroccan Empire, jutting southeast for about 750 kilometers into the Saharan desert »</ref> and owned religious and tributary allegiance to the sultans of Morocco.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Windrow |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Da6HCwAAQBAJ&q=touat+morocco+tribe&pg=PT55 |title=French Foreign Legion 1872–1914 |date=2011-12-20 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78096-237-5 |language=en}}</ref> The territory was annexed by France in 1901.<ref>Claude Lefébure, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/remmm_0035-1474_1986_num_41_1_2114 ''Ayt Khebbach, impasse sud-est. L'involution d'une tribu marocaine exclue du Sahara''], in: Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, N°41–42, 1986. Désert et montagne au Maghreb. pp. 136–157: « les Divisions d'Oran et d'Alger du 19e Corps d'armée n'ont pu conquérir le Touat et le Gourara qu'au prix de durs combats menés contre les semi-nomades d'obédience marocaine qui, depuis plus d'un siècle, imposaient leur protection aux oasiens »</ref> Subsequently, in 1903, France began to expand westwards towards [[Béchar|Bechar]] and [[Tindouf]], defeating the Moroccan forces in the [[Battle of Taghit]] and [[Battle of El-Moungar]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahuault |first=Jean-Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mByTCHD8mkC&q=L'%C3%A9pop%C3%A9e+marocaine+de+la+L%C3%A9gion+%C3%A9trang%C3%A8re,+1903-1934,+ou,+Trente+ann%C3%A9es+au+Maroc |title=L'épopée marocaine de la Légion étrangère, 1903-1934, ou, Trente années au Maroc |date=2005 |publisher=L'Harmattan |isbn=978-2-7475-8057-1 |language=fr}}</ref>

As urged by his mother,<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/01/02/101963574.pdf FIGHT EXPECTED AT FEZ.; Rebels Only Four Hours from Capital at Last Report. LONDON TIMES -- NEW YORK TIMES Special Cablegram. January 2, 1903]</ref><ref>American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events, Volume 19; Volume 34, D. Appleton, 1895, p.501</ref> the sultan sought advice and counsel from [[Europe]] and endeavored to act on it, but advice not motivated by a conflict of interest was difficult to obtain, and in spite of the unquestionable desire of the young ruler to do what was best for the country, wild extravagance both in action and expenditure resulted, leaving the sultan with a depleted exchequer and the confidence of his people impaired. His intimacy with foreigners and his imitation of their ways were sufficient to rouse strong popular opposition.<ref name="EB1911" />

While privately owned printing presses had been allowed since 1872, Abdelaziz passed a [[Moroccan Dahir|''dhahīr'']] in 1897 that regulated what could be printed, allowing the ''[[qadi]]'' of Fes to establish a board to censor publications, and requiring that the judges be notified of any publication, so as to "avoid printing something that is not permitted."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2014-05-04|title=يومية "المساء" تروي قصة دخول المطبعة إلى المغرب|url=http://howiyapress.com/3604-2/|access-date=2020-06-09|website=هوية بريس|language=ar}}</ref> According to Moroccan historian [[Abdallah Laroui]], these restrictions limited the volume and variety of Moroccan publications at the turn of the century, and institutions such as [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|al-Qarawiyyin University]] and Sufi [[Zawiya (institution)|zawiyas]] became dependent on imported texts from Egypt.<ref name=":2" />[[File:La Vie illustrée- Abd-el-Aziz, Sultan du Maroc, et sa bicyclette.jpg|thumb|Abdelaziz with his bicycle, published in {{ill|La Vie illustrée|fr|italic=y}} 1901. There have been [[Tall tale|tall tales]] of the young sultan having "sold Morocco for a bicycle" that have circulated in popular culture and on social media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Les fabuleux pouvoirs du vélo du sultan Moulay Abdelaziz |url=https://fr.le360.ma/politique/les-fabuleux-pouvoirs-du-velo-du-sultan-moulay-abdelaziz_6G47U54OQJGNRBDYUA3HXNZGRM/ |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=Le 360 Français |language=fr}}</ref>]]

His attempt to reorganize the country's finances by the systematic levy of taxes was hailed with delight, but the government was not strong enough to carry the measures through, and the money which should have been used to pay the taxes was employed to purchase firearms instead. And so the benign intentions of Moulay Abdelaziz were interpreted as weakness, and Europeans were accused of having spoiled the sultan and of being desirous of spoiling the country.<ref name="EB1911" />

When [[United Kingdom|British]] engineers were employed to survey the route for a railway between [[Meknes]] and [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]], this was reported as indicating the sale of the country outright. The strong opposition of the people was aroused, and a revolt broke out near the [[Algeria]]n frontier. Such was the state of things when the news of the [[Entente Cordiale|Anglo-French Agreement of 1904]] came as a blow to Abdelaziz, who had relied on England for support and protection against the inroads of [[France]].<ref name="EB1911" />

===Algeciras Conference===
{{Main|Algeciras Conference}}

On the advice of [[Germany]], Abdelaziz proposed an international conference at [[Algeciras]] in 1906 as a result of the [[First Moroccan Crisis]] in 1905, to consult upon methods of reform, the sultan's desire being to ensure a state of affairs which would leave foreigners with no excuse to interfere in the control of the country and thereby promote its welfare, which he had earnestly desired from his accession to power. This was not, however, the result achieved, and while on June 18 the sultan nonetheless ratified the resulting Act of the conference, which the country's delegates had found themselves unable to sign, the anarchic state into which [[Morocco]] fell during the latter half of 1906 and the beginning of 1907 revealed the young ruler as lacking sufficient strength to command the respect of his turbulent subjects.<ref name="EB1911" />

The final Act of the Conference, signed on 7 April 1906, covered the organisation of Moroccan police and customs, regulations concerning the repression of the smuggling of armaments and concessions to the European bankers from a new [[State Bank of Morocco]], issuing banknotes backed by [[gold]], with a 40-year term. The new state bank was to act as Morocco's Central Bank, with a strict cap on the spending of the [[Morocco|Sherifian Empire]], and administrators appointed by the national banks, which guaranteed the loans: the [[German Empire]], [[United Kingdom]], [[France]] and [[Spain]]. Spanish coinage continued to circulate.<ref>{{Cite web |title="شروط الخزيرات" .. حقيقة أشهر مؤتمر قرر في مصير المغرب |url=https://www.hespress.com/histoire/83610.html |access-date=2020-05-21 |website=Hespress |language=ar}}</ref> The right of Europeans to own land was established, whilst taxes were to be levied towards public works.<ref>{{cite web |title=Algeciras Conference |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/14979/Algeciras-Conference |access-date=7 March 2014 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>
=== Opposition ===

==== Rebellion of Bu Hmara ====
{{Main|Bou Hmara}}

[[Bou Hmara|Jilali bin Idris al-Yusufi al-Zarhuni]] also known Bu Hmara appeared in north-east Morocco in 1902 claiming to be Abdelaziz's older brother and the rightful heir to the throne. He had spent time in Fes and learned the politics of the [[Makhzen]]. The pretender to the throne established a rival makhzen in a remote region between [[Melilla]] and [[Oujda]], traded with Europe and collected customs duties, imported arms, granted Europeans mining rights to iron and lead in the [[Rif]], and claimed to be the ''[[mahdi]]''. He easily defeated poorly-organised armies sent by Abdelaziz to defeat him, and even threatened the capital, Fes, which proved the Minister of War al-Manabhi an incompetent general. The rebellion lasted until Abdelaziz's successor [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]] defeated and executed Bu Hmara in 1909.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=65|pp=}}</ref>

==== Rebellion of Ahmed al-Raysuni ====
{{Main|Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni}}

[[File:MulaiAbdulAziz1904 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Sultan Abdelaziz in 1904.]]
[[Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni|Ahmed al-Raysuni]], a warlord and leader of the [[Jebala people|Jibala tribal confederacy]], started a rebellion against the sultan of Morocco, which gave other rebels the signal to defy the Makhzen. al-Raysuni built an independent power-center and invaded [[Tangier]] in 1903. Raysuni would kidnap Christians, including Greek American [[Perdicaris affair|Ion Perdicaris]], British journalist [[Walter Burton Harris]], and Scottish military instructor [[Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean|Harry Maclean]], and ransom them—in open defiance of the Makhzen of Abdelaziz. The [[Perdicaris affair|Perdicaris Incident]] in 1904 was one of the most important of these incidents, leading to the involvement of the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], [[French Third Republic|France]], and [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]]. Raysuni demanded a ransom of $70,000 and six districts from the sultan, in which the sultan eventually complied with. Raysuni supported [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]] in taking over the Moroccan throne in the [[Hafidiya|Hafidiya coup]] in 1908, and continued the rebellion against the later Spanish colonisers, until he was captured and imprisoned in [[Tamassint]] by [[Abd el-Krim|Abd al-Karim]] in 1925, where died a few months later on the same year.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=|pp=66–67}}</ref>

==== Occupation of Oujda ====
{{Main|Émile Mauchamp}}
On 19 March 1907, [[Émile Mauchamp]], a French doctor, was assassinated by a mob in [[Marrakesh]] who stabbed him. The French press represented the murder as an "unprovoked and random act of barbarous cruelty. Shortly after Mauchamp's death, France took his death as a pretext to occupy [[Oujda]] from [[French Algeria]], a Moroccan city on the border with French Algeria, on March 29 supposedly in retribution for the murder.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yabiladi.com/articles/details/52351/mars-1907-quand-france-occupait.html|title=29 mars 1907 : Quand la France occupait Oujda en réponse à l'assassinat d'Émile Mauchamp|last=Yabiladi.com|website=www.yabiladi.com|language=fr|access-date=2020-04-14}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=|pp=75–76}}</ref>
==== Bombardment of Casablanca ====
{{Main|Bombardment of Casablanca (1907)}}
In July 1907, tensions rose even higher, when eight Europeans were murdered by tribesmen of the [[Chaouia (Morocco)|Chaouia]]—demanding removal of the French officers from the customs house, an immediate halt on the construction of the port, and the destruction of the railroad crossing over the Sidi Belyout cemetery—and incited a riot in Casablanca, calling for [[jihad]]. European railroad workers were killed, leading to Casablanca's [[Bombardment of Casablanca (1907)|bombardment]] by France, in which parts of the city were destroyed, and 1,500 to 7,000 civilians were killed.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Adam |first=André |title=Histoire de Casablanca: des origines à 1914 |publisher=Annales de la Faculté des Lettres Aix En Provence, Editions Ophrys |year=1963 |location=Aix En Provence |pages=62}}</ref> The French then sent an expeditionary force of 2,000 soldiers to the city, occupying it, and then moved into the plains surrounding the city while fighting the Chaouia in a pacification campaign.<ref name=":7" />

=== Hafidiya ===
{{Main|Hafidiya}}
[[File:عبد العزيز هاربا من مراكش.jpg|thumb|Abdelaziz fleeing [[Marrakesh]] after the [[Battle of Marrakesh]] of the [[Hafidiya]] in 1908 as illustrated in [[Le Petit Journal (newspaper)|''Le Petit Journal'']].]]A few months earlier in May 1907, the southern aristocrats, led by the head of the Glawa tribe Si al-Madani al-Glawi, invited [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]], an elder brother of Abdelaziz, and viceroy of [[Marrakesh]], to become sultan, and the following August Abd al-Hafid was proclaimed sovereign there with all the usual formalities.<ref name="EB1911" /> In September 1907, Abd al-Hafid gained the [[Bay'ah]] from Marrakesh, and in January 1908, the [[Ulama]] of Fes issued a [[Conditioned Bay'ah|"conditional" Bay'ah]] in support of Abd al-Hafid. The Bay'ah demanded that Abd al-Hafid abolishes gate taxes, liberates the French-occupied cities of [[Oujda]] and [[Casablanca]], and confines Europeans to port cities.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=77|pp=}}</ref> Soon after, Abdelaziz arrived at [[Rabat]] from Fes and endeavored to secure the support of the European powers against his brother.<ref name="EB1911" /> After months of inactivity Abdelaziz made an effort to restore his authority, and quitting Rabat in July he marched on Marrakesh. His force, largely owing to treachery, was completely overthrown on August 19 when nearing that city, and was defeated in the [[Battle of Marrakesh]].<ref name="EB" /> Abdelaziz fled to [[Settat]], within the [[France|French]] lines around Casablanca, where he announced his abdication two days later.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=78|pp=}}</ref>

===End of rule===
[[File:Abdulaziz - Sultan of Morocco.jpg|thumb|Abd al-Aziz in 1910]]In November he came to terms with his brother, and thereafter took up his residence in [[Tangier]] as a pensioner of the new sultan. However the exercise of Moroccan law and order continued to deteriorate under [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]], leading to the [[Treaty of Fes]] in 1912, in which European nations assumed many responsibilities for the sultanate, which was divided into three zones of influence, under the [[French protectorate in Morocco|French protectorate]] and the [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco|Spanish protectorate]], while Abd al-Hafid was succeeded by his brother [[Yusef of Morocco|Yusef]].<ref name="EB1911" />

== Mariages and children ==
Moulay Abdelaziz married two women.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-08-29 |title=Morocco (Alaoui Dynasty) |url=http://www.usa-morocco.org/alaoui.htm |access-date=2022-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829200733/http://www.usa-morocco.org/alaoui.htm |archive-date=2005-08-29 }}</ref> The first was Khaduj who was the daughter of Caid Omar al-Youssi, the [[Qaid|caid]] of the Ait Youssi tribe and [[pasha]] of [[Sefrou]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Rosen |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Rosen (anthropologist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOApCwAAQBAJ&q=daughter&pg=PA347 |title=Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew: Entangled Lives in Morocco |date=2016 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-31748-9 |pages=23, 29 |language=en}}</ref> His second wife was his cousin, Lalla Yasmin al-Alaoui.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=Yasmin Alawi |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Yasmin-Alawi/4633378482520063354 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US}}</ref> He had two known children:

* Moulay Hassan (b. July 1899 - d. 1919) was born in [[Marrakesh]] and died in [[Tangier]] aged 19 or 20 years old. His mother was Lalla Khadija. He was half-brother of Lalla Fatima Zahra.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Hassan Al Hassan |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Hassan-Al-Hassan/4633384005150041852 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Lalla Fatima Zahra bint Abdelaziz|Lalla Fatima Zahra]] (b. 13 June 1927<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=Fatima Zohra Al Hassan |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Fatima-Al-Hassan/4633400930530041864 |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US}}</ref> - d. 15 September 2003)<ref>{{Cite web |last=MATIN |first=LE |title=En présence de S.M. le Roi Mohammed VI : Obsèques de S.A. la Princesse Lalla Fatima Zohra |url=https://lematin.ma/journal/2003/En-presence-de-S-M--le-Roi-Mohammed-VI--Obseques-de-S-A--la-Princesse-Lalla-Fatima-Zohra/33003.html |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=Le Matin |language=fr}}</ref> was born in Tangier and died in Rabat aged 76 years old.<ref name=":32" /> Her mother was Lalla Yasmin.<ref name=":22" />

== Later life and death ==
[[File:Monte Carlo - l'ancien sultan Abdul Haziz sur son Yacht - btv1b9025476x.jpg|thumb|Abdelaziz on his yacht in 1926]]
In the course of 1919, [[Hubert Lyautey]] came to the conclusion that the return of Abdelaziz from his exile in France to Morocco would be desirable as it would remove his appeal as a potential rallying point for rebellion, and subsequently let him come to live in [[Tangier]], by then a city under unsettled status that was part of neither the Spanish or French protectorates.<ref>{{citation |author=José Antonio González Alcantud |title=Segmentariedad política y sultanato. Los sultanes marroquíes Abdelaziz, Hafid y Yussef (1894-1927) y la política colonial francesa |journal=Estudios de Asia y África |volume=54:2 |date=2019 |url=https://www.redalyc.org/journal/586/58660239003/html/ }}</ref> Abdelaziz led an active social but mostly nonpolitical life in the city, from 1925 the [[Tangier International Zone]], where he spent much of his time playing golf and lived in various residences including the Villa Al Amana<ref name=Malaga>{{citation |title=Aproximación a los edificios históricos y patrimoniales de Málaga, Tetuán, Nador, Tánger y Alhucemas / Un Rapprochement entre les édifices historiques et patrimoniaux de Malaga, Tétouan, Nador, Tanger et Al Hoceima |publisher=Servicio de Programas del Ayuntamiento de Málaga |editor=Silvia Nélida Bossio |url=http://malagamarruecos.com/upload/permanent/a365b7/Especerias-Catalogo-Edificios-Historicos.pdf |date=2011}}</ref>{{rp|315}} and the Zaharat El-Jebel Palace.<ref>{{cite web |website=Le Monde |title=Le sultan Ben Arafa s'est retiré à Tanger après avoir chargé l'un de ses cousins de s'occuper des affaires du trône |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1955/10/03/le-sultan-ben-arafa-s-est-retire-a-tanger-apres-avoir-charge-l-un-de-ses-cousins-de-s-occuper-des-affaires-du-trone_1938382_1819218.html |date={{date|1955/10/03}} }}</ref> During the Spanish annexation of Tangier in 1940, he acquiesced insofar as the Moroccan palace authorities called the "makhzen" played a significant role therein.{{clarify|date=January 2023}} 

Abdelaziz died in [[Tangier]] in 1943 and his body was transported to [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]], where he was buried in the royal necropolis of the [[Moulay Abdallah Mosque]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bressolette|first=Henri|title=A la découverte de Fès|publisher=L'Harmattan|year=2016|isbn=978-2343090221}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Historian Douglas Porch characterized Abdelaziz as curious and kind in his personal relations, but a spoiled and "weak man" who failed to successfully manage foreign influences at the court. During his reign he enabled reformers who sought to modernize the kingdom, and personally displayed a high interest in European inventions, but also failed to perform the traditional religious and ceremonial functions as expected of a ruler and thus lost the faith of his own people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Porch |first1=Douglas |title=The Conquest of Morocco: A History |date=June 22, 2005 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=0374128804 |edition=2nd |pages=55-63}}</ref>

He was portrayed by [[Marc Zuber]] in the film ''[[The Wind and the Lion]]'' (1975), a fictional version of the [[Perdicaris affair]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}
==Honours==
*{{flag|United Kingdom}}: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Bath]] (civil division), ''2 July 1901''<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27329 |date=2 July 1901 |page=4399}}</ref>
*{{flag|Kingdom of Prussia}}: Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Red Eagle]], ''22 January 1902''<ref>{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (supp.)|volume=1|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015025921423&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015025921423&view=1up&seq=615&skin=2021 7]|lang=German|location=Berlin|publisher=Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei|year=1895|chapter=Rother Adler-orden|via=hathitrust.org}}</ref>

==See also==
*[['Alawi dynasty]]
*[[List of rulers of Morocco|List of sultans of Morocco]]
*[[History of Morocco]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Susan Gilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=peGyku_eREkC&q=a+history+of+modern+morocco |title=A History of Modern Morocco |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=9780521810708 |location=}}
*{{Cite book |last=Burke III |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund Burke III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJIM45sajbYC |title=Prelude to Protectorate in Morocco: Pre-Colonial Protest and Resistance, 1860-1912 |date=1976 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-08084-0 |pages= |language=en}}
*{{Cite book |last=Pennell |first=C. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9Mu0faODjsC |title=Morocco Since 1830: A History |date=2000 |publisher=[[Hurst Publishers|Hurst]] |isbn=978-1-85065-273-1 |language=en}}

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite book |last=Tharaud |first=Jerome et Jean |title=Marrakech ou les Seigneurs de l'Atlas}}
* {{Cite book |last=Benumaya |first=Gil |title=El Jalifa en Tanger |location=Madrid}}
* {{Cite book |last=Katz |first=Jonathan G. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Murder_in_Marrakesh/ZPy-I7q3tmYC?hl=en |title=Murder in Marrakesh: Émile Mauchamp and the French Colonial Adventure |date=2006-11-16 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-11233-0 |language=en}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050829200733/http://www.usa-morocco.org/alaoui.htm Morocco Alaoui dynasty]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070329073127/http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/history/history.html History of Morocco]
*[http://www.lahistoriatrascendida.es/personajes-historicos/ El Protectorado español en Marruecos: la historia trascendida]

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Sultan of Morocco]]
| before = [[Hassan I of Morocco|Hassan I]]
| after = [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]]
| years = 1894–1908
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Rulers of Morocco}}{{Subject bar|commons=y|n=|n-search=|d=y|q=|s=|s-search=}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdelaziz Of Morocco}}
[[Category:Alawi dynasty]]
[[Category:Sultans of Morocco]]
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Marrakesh]]
[[Category:Royalty from Fez, Morocco]]
[[Category:19th-century Moroccan people]]
[[Category:20th-century Moroccan people]]
[[Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa]]
[[Category:20th-century monarchs in Africa]]
[[Category:Sons of sultans]]