Encyclopedia of Islam

al-Hasan al-Basri

---

Rulers and custodians of the Hijaz and its 

holy 

cities

 from 1201 until 1925, the Hashimites’ 

power base shifted to the newly formed nation of 

Jordan once they were driven from Arabia by the 

Saudi confederation. Through a combination of 

their wealth, location, symbolic importance, and 

political authority, the Hashimites have exercised 

considerable influence in modern Middle Eastern 

history.

The Hashimites of Jordan trace their lineage to 

Muhammad through his daughter F

atima

 and her 

husband  a

li

 (d. 661), the fourth Islamic 

caliph

. 

Rulers of Mecca from 1201 until the Ottoman 

conquest of 1517, the Hashimites nonetheless 

maintained their custodianship of the holy city 

until 1924. Their status as sharifs, or descendants 

of the Prophet, and their long guardianship over 

the holy cities gave the Hashimites a certain 

authority among Muslims.

In 1916, h

Usayn

 

ibn

 a

li

 (d. 1931), then sharif 

of Mecca, organized an army that successfully 

pushed the Ottomans out of their remaining Arab 

territories. Led by his son Faysal and assisted by 

the legendary British adventurer T. E. Lawrence 

(d. 1935), otherwise known as Lawrence of Ara-

bia, the troops operated under the assumption 

that a British promise made to Husayn would 

be fulfilled: that, at the end of World War I, a 

united, independent Arab state would be created. 

However, the British did not honor this promise. 

Instead, they encouraged the League of Nations to 

create several new mandate territories out of the 

former Ottoman lands that they and the French 

could incorporate into their empires.

The Hashimites, soon to be displaced from 

their traditional leadership in Arabia, were given 

command of some of these new mandate proto-

nations. After a brief stint ruling s

yria

, Faysal 

was driven out of d

amascUs

 by the French and 

declared by the British to be king of the new 

nation of i

raq

 in 1921, while his brother Abdul-

lah was given control of the newly formed nation 

of Transjordan. Hashimite rule in Iraq ended vio-

lently in 1958, but by 1946, Transjordan received 

its independence and became the Hashimite King-

dom of Jordan.

Since establishing themselves in Jordan, the 

Hashimites have worked to create a legitimate 

and unified state in a region with severe tensions. 

The Arab-Israeli conflict has brought hundreds of 

thousands of Palestinian refugees to Jordan, and 

the Israeli victory in the war of 1967 deprived the 

Hashimites of their custodianship of the holy city 

of Jerusalem. Cast out of their traditional leader-

ship of the holy cities of the Hijaz for nearly a 

century and unable to rule over the holy sites of 

Jerusalem since 1967, the Hashimites neverthe-

less entered the 21st century as important politi-

cal players in the Middle East, controversial yet 

often-consulted rulers of a small nation wedged 

between contentious neighbors.

See also 

colonialism

; o

ttoman

 

dynasty

.

Nancy L. Stockdale