Hashemite

The Hashemite dynasty is an Arab dynasty whose original strength stemmed from the network of tribal alliances and blood loyalties in the Hejaz region of Arabia, along the Red Sea.

The Hashemites trace their ancestry from Hashim (died about 500), the great-grandfather of the prophet Muhammad. From the 10th century onwards, the Sharif (religious leader) of Mecca and its Emir was by traditional agreement a Hashemite. Before World War I Husain ibn Ali of the Hashemite Dhawu-'Awn clan ruled the Hejaz on behalf of the Ottoman sultan. For some time it had been the practice of the Sublime Porte to appoint the Emir of Mecca from among a select group of candidates. In 1908, Husain ibn Ali was appointed Emir of Mecca. He found himself increasingly at odds with the Young Turks in control at Constantinople, while he strove to secure his family's position as hereditary Emirs. Between 1917 and 25, after the collapse of Ottoman power, he ruled an independent Hejaz, of which he proclaimed himself king, with the tacit support of the British Foreign Office. His chief rival in the Arabian peninsula was a tribal warlord named Ibn Saud, who annexed the Hejaz and set his own son Faisal as governor.

His two politically active sons were Abdullah ibn Hussain and Faisal, later to become the kings, respectively, of Transjordan and Iraq. The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq lasted from 1921 to 1958, and a line of Hashemite kings have been ruling Transjordan, now Jordan, since 1921.