Hussein bin Ali Hashami

Hussein bin Ali was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and a member of the Banu Hashim clan. He became the Sharif and Emir of Mecca in 1908, after the Young Turk Revolution that restored the constitutional monarchy in the Ottoman Empire. He was loyal to the Ottoman sultan-caliph, but he also had ambitions to revive the glory of the Arab nation and to protect the holy sites of Islam from foreign interference. He maintained a cordial relationship with the British, who had interests in the region and supported his rule. During World War I, he was approached by the British to launch a revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the Central Powers. He agreed to do so, after receiving assurances from the British that they would recognize the independence and unity of the Arab lands after the war. He proclaimed the Arab Revolt in 1916, and declared himself King of the Arabs and Sharifian Caliph. He led his forces, along with his sons and the British officer T.E. Lawrence, in a guerrilla warfare against the Ottoman army. He captured several cities, including Aqaba, Medina, Damascus, and Aleppo, and established the Kingdom of Hejaz, with Mecca as its capital. He also sought recognition from other Muslim countries and tried to assert his authority as the Caliph of all Muslims. However, his claims were disputed by many, especially by the Ottoman sultan and the newly founded Republic of Turkey. After the war, he faced many challenges to his rule. He refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which divided the Arab lands into British and French mandates. He also opposed the Balfour Declaration, which promised a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. He tried to negotiate with the British and the French, but he was not satisfied with the outcomes. He also faced a rising threat from the Saudi ruler Ibn Saud, who had conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula with the support of the Wahhabi movement. Ibn Saud challenged Hussein's legitimacy as the King of Hejaz and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. He launched several attacks on Hejaz, and eventually captured Mecca and Medina in 1924 and 1925, respectively. Hussein abdicated in favor of his son Ali, who continued to resist the Saudi invasion, but was eventually forced to surrender in 1925. Hussein went into exile in Cyprus, and later in Transjordan, where his son Abdullah was the emir. He died in Amman in 1931, and was buried in Jerusalem. He is regarded as the father of modern pan-Arabism and a hero of the Arab independence movement. He is also the founder of the Hashemite dynasty, which still rules Jordan and formerly ruled Iraq and Syria.