He began his career as a government clerk, but was soon promoted to the prestigious position of inspector-general at the Ministry of Awqaf.

In 1913, al-Azm and other figures in the party were sentenced to death in absentia and they lived as exiles in Cairo.

[3] He was also president of the Cairo bureau of the Central Syrian Committee, a French-backed organization which promoted the cession of Syria from the Ottoman Empire since 1908.

In 1921 he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while on visit to Quneitra with the French High Commissioner Henri Gouraud.

[4] In 1932, following the election of Muhammad Ali al-Abid, he was invited to form a cabinet, but the nationalist leaders boycotted the parliament.