[2] Invested as Bey al-Mahalla (Heir Apparent) on 10 June 1855, he succeeded his brother Muhammad II ibn al-Husayn on 23 September 1859.

This created a new legal environment which encouraged Europeans to set up businesses in Tunisia; thus new French traders appeared, along with non-Muslim religious schools.

The Bey commissioned the Marseille engineer Colin to repair the Zaghouan aqueduct providing a fresh water supply to the capital.

Europeans began to settle near the former Bab el Bhar, in streets close to the old walls and along the Avenue de la Marine, now planted with fig trees.

However, intrigues among his ministers, notably Mustapha Khaznadar and Mustapha Ben Ismaïl, constant pressure from European consuls and the looming bankruptcy of the state, provoked the Mejba Revolt of 1864,[12] compelled him to secure debts which he could not repay, and opened the door to foreign occupation despite the efforts of his Grand Vizier Kheireddine Pacha.

France gained an important foothold in Tunisia in 1869 by means of a tripartite Debt Commission, constituted with the United Kingdom and Italy to manage the country's financial commitments to its creditors.

His second wife was Henani, daughter of Ali Laroussi, a rich merchant dealing in traditional Tunisian Chechia headgear.