Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz

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Sherif Hussein
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Hussein bin Ali
ٱلْحُسَيْن بِن عَلِي
Noble Sanctuary, Jerusalem, British Palestine
Spouse
  • Sharifa Abdiyah bint Abdullah
  • Madiha
  • Sharifa Khadija bint Abdullah
  • Adila Khanum
Issue
HouseBanu Qatadah
DynastyHashemite dynasty
FatherAli bin Muhammad
MotherSalah Bani-Shahar
ReligionSunni Islam[1]
Military career
AllegianceKingdom of Hejaz
Service/branchSharifian Army
Battles/wars

Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi (

King of the Hejaz, even if he refused this title,[3] from 1916 to 1924. He proclaimed himself Caliph[4][5][6] after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and stayed in power until 1925 when Hejaz was invaded by the Saudis.[7] He is usually considered as the father of modern pan-Arabism.[8][9]

In 1908, in the aftermath of the

Syria, Iraq, and Palestine. His sons Faisal and Abdullah were made rulers of Iraq and Transjordan
respectively in 1921.

In March 1924, when the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, Hussein proclaimed himself "Caliph of all Muslims". His Caliphate was opposed by the British Empire,[11] the Zionists[12] and the Wahhabis alike.[13] However, he received support from a large part of the Muslim population of that time[14][15][16][17] and from Mehmed VI.[18]

He later refused to sign the Anglo-Hashemite Treaty and thus was left alone, the British decided progressively to stop supporting him and start helping Ibn Saud, who promptly launched an invasion of the Kingdom of Hejaz. In October 1924, facing defeat by Ibn Saud, he abdicated and was succeeded as king by his eldest son

Ali. After Hejaz was subsequently completely invaded by the Ibn Saud-Wahhabi armies of the Ikhwan, on 23 December 1925, King Hussein bin Ali surrendered to the Saudis, bringing the Kingdom of Hejaz, the Sharifate of Mecca and the Sharifian Caliphate to an end.[a][19]

Hussein went into exile to Cyprus, where the British kept him prisoner until his health deteriorated so much that they allowed him to go back to Amman, next to his son Abdullah I of Jordan.[20] He died in Amman in 1931 and was buried as a Caliph in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.[21]

Biography

Ascendance and early life

Ascendance

Hussein bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Mu'in bin Awn was born in Constantinople in 1853 or 1854. He was the eldest son of Sharif Ali bin Muhammad, who is the second son of Muhammad bin Abd al-Mu'in, the former Sharif of Mecca. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, he was a descendant of Muhammad in the 37th generation[22] through his grandson Hasan bin Ali. His mother, Salah Bani-Shahar, the wife of Ali, would have been a Circassian.[23]

He belonged to the Dhawu Awn clan of the Abadilah, a branch of the Banu Qatadah tribe. The Banu Qatadah had ruled the Sharifate of Mecca since the accession of their ancestor Qatadah ibn Idris in 1201 and were the last of the four branches of Hashemite sharifs who, together, had governed Mecca since the 11th century.

Power struggles and birth

In 1827, Muhammad bin Abd al-Mu'in was appointed as the Sharif, becoming the first Sharif of the Dhawu Awn branch and ending the centuries-long dominance of the Dhawu Zayd.[24] He reigned until 1851, when he was replaced by Sharif Abd al-Muttalib ibn Ghalib of the Dhawu Zayd. After being deposed, he sent his family and sons to reside in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.It was there that Hussein was born to Muhammad's son, Ali, in 1853–1854.

Muhammad was reinstated to power in 1856, and Hussein, then two or three years old, accompanied his father and grandfather to Mecca.[23] Muhammad quickly died in 1858 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sharif Abdullah Pasha, Hussein's uncle. He returned to Mecca after his father's death, at a young age, when his uncle Sharif Abdullah called them back, with his mother in 1861-1862.[22]

Youth and education

Hussein was raised at home, unlike other Hashemite youth who were typically sent outside the city to grow up among Bedouin nomads. Apparently a diligent young man, he mastered the principles of the Arabic language and was also educated in Islamic law and doctrine. Among his teachers was Sheikh Muhammad Mahmud at-Turkizi ash-Shinqiti, with whom he studied the seven Mu'allaqat. With Sheikh Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, he studied the Quran, completing its memorization before the age of 20.[23][25][26]

During Abdullah's reign, Hussein became familiar with the politics and intrigue surrounding the Sharifian court. He also participated in numerous expeditions to the Najd and the eastern regions of Hejaz to meet the Arab tribes, over whom the Sharifate of Mecca then exerted a loose form of control. He learned the customs of the Bedouins, including the skills necessary to withstand the harsh desert environment. During his travels, he also gained a thorough knowledge of the desert's flora and fauna and composed poems in humayni verse, a type of vernacular poetry (malhun) of the Bedouins. He also practiced horseback riding and hunting.[23]

Exile to Constantinople

In 1875, he married Abdullah's daughter, Abdiyah, his cousin. In 1877, Abdullah died, and Hussein, along with his cousin Ali ibn Abdullah, received the rank of Pasha. After a series of political assassinations among his uncles vying for the position of Sharif, he gained attention for his independence of thought and was sent back to Constantinople by the reigning uncle at that time in 1892-1893.[27] He remained there for 15 years, until 1908, mainly focusing on raising his children, learning the politics of the Sublime Porte—where he aligned with the conservative faction—and hoping to return home.[27]

Mahmal of Hussein bin Ali – 1890s

As Emir

Following the removal of his predecessor in October and the sudden death of his successor shortly thereafter, Hussein was appointed grand sharif by official decree of the sultan Abdul Hamid II in November 1908.[28][29] However, the situation was peculiar for Hussein, who arrived in Mecca in the midst of the Young Turk Revolution, which brought the Young Turks (CUP) to power.[29] Upon his arrival, he met CUP representatives who greeted him as the "Constitutional Sharif," intending to gauge his response to such a designation. He replied: "Verily these are the lands of Allah in which nothing will ever stand except the Shariah of Allah [...] The constitution of the lands of Allah is the Shariah of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet."[29][30]

Religious stances

Hussein bin Ali (date unknown)

His main teacher was Ahmad Zayni Dahlan,with whom he became a hafiz.[31][32] He had a Shafi'i and Hanafi education,[33][34][35] but also allied with the Malikis and opposed the Wahhabis,[13] at a time when adherence to a madhhab was more fluid.[34]

Pan-Arabism and relationship with the Ottomans

The flag of the Arab Revolt was the flag of Hussein bin Ali. The flag consists of three horizontal stripes (black, white, and green) and a red triangle on the hoist side. Each color has a symbolic meaning : black represents the Abbasid dynasty or the Rashidun caliphs, white represents the Umayyad dynasty, and green represents Islam (or possibly, but it's not certain, the Fatimid dynasty). The red triangle represents the Hashemite dynasty, to which Hussein bin Ali belonged. The flag became a symbol of Arab nationalism and unity and is still used today in various forms in the flags of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Palestine, Somaliland, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and Libya.

Although there is no formal evidence suggesting that Hussein bin Ali was inclined towards Arab nationalism before 1916, the rise of Turkish nationalism towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the Young Turks Revolution of 1908, strongly displeased the Hashemites and Bedouins.[36] Additionally, the increasing centralization of the Ottoman Empire, the progressive prohibition of Arabic in teaching, Turkification policies, and the settlement of Turkish colonists in Arab areas worried and frightened Arabs throughout the empire.[37][38]

In 1908, the

Ottoman government began a policy of extermination of the minorities in the Ottoman Empire through various genocides. This frightened the Arabs,[9][41][42][43] who were the largest minority in the Empire, and was openly criticized by Hussein bin Ali.[44][45]

These oppositions with the Turks became so violent that they overshadowed those that existed in Arab society and Bedouin society; and many rival tribes to the Hashemites rallied behind their leadership.[38][46]

An independentist and anti-colonial Arab movement developed, mainly in Ottoman Syria, where Arab intellectuals and newspapers called for the restoration of the caliphate in the hands of a Quraysh, and especially for the acquisition of Arab independence from the Ottoman Empire.[47][48] The relationship between Hussein and the Committee of Union and Progress worsened even more after the discovery and foiling of a plot by Enver Pasha to assassinate Hussein.[49][50]

All of these points led to a violent rupture between Arab elites and the Ottoman political class,[51] and are reflected in Hussein's later proclamation of independence, where he presented his struggle as a religious and anti-colonial one.[37][5][52]

Twenty days after the start of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein bin Ali's son, Faisal, met with the leaders of the revolutionary organization Al-Fatat in Damascus. They assured him of their support in case of revolt and recognized Hussein as the representative of the Arab nation.[5][53][54][55]

When Hussein took up the pan-Arab claims in 1916, after his proclamation of independence, he became the leading figure behind whom the pan-Arabs rallied, and is therefore frequently regarded as the father of pan-Arabism.[8][56][57]

During World War I, Hussein initially remained allied with the Ottomans but began secret negotiations with the British on the advice of his son, Abdullah, who had served in the Ottoman parliament up to 1914 and was convinced that it was necessary to separate from the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman administration.[51]

Relationship with the British

Proclamation of independence of Hussein, 27 June 1916. In it, Hussein only used religious reasons, and not nationalist ones,[58] to explain why he was revolting.[59]

Following deliberations at

British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey
throughout, and Grey was to authorise and be ultimately responsible for the correspondence.

The British

British possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden, and the Syrian coast.[61] However, at that time, the British scarcely thought about the promises made; their primary concern was winning the war and dismantling the Ottoman Empire.[62][63] The fate of the Arab populations and the division of territory were left for a future date.[62]

Hussein with dignitaries

Arab Revolt