Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz

Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi (Arabic: ٱلْحُسَيْن بِن عَلِي ٱلْهَاشِمِي, romanized: al-Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī; 1 May 1854 – 4 June 1931) was an Arab leader from the Banu Qatadah branch of the Banu Hashim clan who was the Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 and, after proclaiming the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, King of the Hejaz, even if he refused this title, from 1916 to 1924. He proclaimed himself Caliph after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and stayed in power until 1925 when Hejaz was invaded by the Saudis. He is usually considered as the father of modern pan-Arabism.

In 1908, in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution, Hussein was appointed Sharif of Mecca by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. In 1916, with the promise of British support for Arab independence, he proclaimed the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, accusing the Committee of Union and Progress of violating tenets of Islam and limiting the power of the sultan-caliph. While his armies, led by his sons, were engaged in fighting the Ottoman and German troops in the Middle East, Hussein supported the Armenians during the Armenian genocide and saved up to 4,000 of them. In the aftermath of World War I, Hussein refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, in protest of the Balfour Declaration, a document supporting the Jewish settlers in Palestine, and the establishment of British and French mandates in 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, the Zionists and the Wahhabis alike. However, he received support from a large part of the Muslim population of that time and from Mehmed VI.

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.

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. He died in Amman in 1931 and was buried as a Caliph in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.