Al-Fayez was born in 1945 in Manja, Jordan. He is descended from a Bedouin tribe in Jordan called Bani Sakhr. In 1969 he received a bachelor's degree in Economics from Beirut Arab University (BAU). From then until 1983 he worked in the private sector in America. In 1983 he started working in the public sector and has held various government positions such as Minister of Labour, Minister of State, Minister of Youth and Sports, and Minister of Interior which he held for several years after the 2005 Amman bombings. He is a widower and has three children.