Abd al-Hafid of Morocco or Moulay Abdelhafid was the Sultan of Morocco from 1908 to 1912 and a member of the Alaouite Dynasty. His younger brother, Abdelaziz of Morocco, preceded him. While Mulai Abdelhafid initially opposed his brother for giving some concessions to foreign powers, he himself became increasingly backed by the French and finally signed the protectorate treaty giving de facto control of the country to France.
Portrait taken by J. Giry and given as a gift to Ridder van Rappard, special envoy of the Netherlands, on 13 February 1913
An illustration of Abd al-Hafid signing his act of abdication, on the front page of Le Petit Journal's weekly Supplément illustré, printed 25 August 1912.
Muhammad al-Muqri, Charles Émile Moinier [fr], Sultan Abd al-Hafid of Morocco, and Si Kaddour Benghabrit, 8 August 1912
Abdelhafid with Abdelqader Ben Ghabrit in Marseille after his abdication 1912
The 'Alawi dynasty – also rendered in English as Alaouite, 'Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning dynasty. They are an Arab sharifian dynasty and claim descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson, Hasan ibn Ali. Their ancestors originally migrated to the Tafilalt region, in present-day Morocco, from Yanbu on the coast of the Hejaz in the 12th or 13th century.
The walls of the Kasbah Cherarda in Fez, a garrison fort built by Mawlay ar-Rashid in order to house some of his guich tribes
Bab Mansour, the monumental entrance to Mawlay Ismail's imperial palaces in Meknes, finished in 1732
The Mausoleum of Mawlay Ismail in Meknes, which contains his tomb and that of his son Ahmad adh-Dhahabi
Gate and fortifications in the port of Essaouira today, founded in 1764 by Sultan Muhammad ibn Abdallah as a port for European merchants