He was proclaimed sultan at the age of sixteen after the death of his father 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 a revolution that deposed him in 1908 in favor of his brother Abd al-Hafid.

[3][4] Shortly before his death in 1894[5] Hassan I designed Mawlay Adb al-Aziz his heir, despite his young age, because his mother, Lalla Ruqaya Al Amrani[6][7] was his favorite wife.

"[19] According to Abdallah Laroui, these restrictions limited the volume and variety of Moroccan publications at the turn of the century, and institutions such as al-Qarawiyyin University and Sufi zawiyas became dependent on imported texts from Egypt.

[11] 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.

[21] Jilali bin Idris al-Yusufi al-Zarhuni (Bu Hmara) appeared in north-east Morocco in 1902 claiming to be Abd al-Aziz's older brother and the rightful heir to the throne.

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.

[24][25] In July 1907, tensions rose even higher, when eight Europeans were murdered by tribesmen of the 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.

[32] He had two known children: 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 neither of the Spanish nor of the French protectorates.

[36] 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[37]: 315  and the Zaharat El-Jebel Palace.

[39] 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.