[2][better source needed] With the position vacant, in 1833 he adopted the title of leader of Algeria, and dey in exile, although this was not recognized by any other country.

[4] When he was barely eighteen years old, the bey Abd Allah gave him the title of caïd of the El Aouassi (chief of Harakta tribes).

Following the earthquake in the Blida region the dey controlled, he appointed him to Hunah el Kadous near Algiers, and gave him the enjoyment of haouch Ouled Baba.

He was an avid reformer and wanted to see a modernized and prestigious Algeria loyal to the Ottoman Empire, although autonomous, much like Muhammad Ali's Egypt.

In 1842, he rallied the tribe of Ouled Nasser, hoping to provide support with the Kabyles, and approached the camp of Ain Roumel.

On 25 August 1842, French general Jean-René Sillègue entered the land of the Amouchas, namely a village north of Sétif, and met a gathering of two to three thousand Kabyles who failed to stop him.

On September 10, the general defeated the cavalry of Hadj Ahmed Bey at the foot of Djbel Bou Taleb, and managed to destroy his influence on the tribes of the Tell.