Born in the city of Meknes to Sultan Hassan I and a Circasian mother, he inherited the throne from his brother, Sultan Abdelhafid, who abdicated after the Treaty of Fez (1912), which made Morocco a French protectorate.
Born in the city of Meknes to Sultan Hassan I and his fifth wife "Ruqiya", a Turkish lady from Istanbul and was the youngest of King Hassan I children. He inherited the throne from his brother, Sultan Abdelhafid, who abdicated after the Treaty of Fez (1912), which made Morocco a French protectorate.