Geopolitics Quarterly

Geopolitics Quarterly

Responses to the Announcement of King Hussein of the Hejaz for the Caliphate in British and French Mandated Territories, 1924

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Rabiatul Adawiyah Abdullah
Abu Hanifah Haris
Zulkanain Abdul Rahman
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
10.22034/igq.2024.466183.1916
Abstract
This article discusses the responses to the announcement of King Hussein of the Hejaz for the caliphate in the French and British-mandated territories, which include Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in 1924. This study uses a qualitative research method by analyzing the primary and secondary sources. This article finds that the announcement of King Hussein’s caliphate in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine has provoked various reactions with strong support among the Arab populations in these regions. The findings also show that this support to restore the caliphate for the Arabs and the Quraysh was raised for proclaiming King Hussein as caliph. The most significant reaction of all, however, was in the French-mandated territories of Syria and Lebanon. This matter has caused an uneasy reaction from the French colonial to undermine support for King Hussein. His reign was short-lived. He lost his Hashemite kingdom and the caliphate in the same year, when the Saudi ruler, Ibn Saud immediately attacked his declaration as illegitimate and launched a military campaign in Hejaz. King Hussein went into exile to Cyprus, where he lived until he died in 1931.
Keywords
Arab Caliphate
Syria
Lebanon
Palestine
Western Colonials

Subjects

  1. Antonius, George (1934). Syria and the French Mandate. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931-1939, 13(4), 523-539.
  2. Ayyad, Abdelaziz (1999). Arab nationalism and the Palestinians, 1850-1939. Jerusalem: Passia Publication.
  3. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, March 7). Telegram from W. Smart to The Chief British Representative, Amman, Consul General, Beirut, and Acting Consul, Aleppo (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  4. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, March 10). Telegram No. 44 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with two enclosures:
  5. Translation of an extract from Alif Bāʼ 1063, 8 March 1924, ‘The Arab Caliph’, and:
  6. Translation of an extract from al-Mufeed, No. 42, 8 March 1924 [File series FO 684/2/File 111]. London: The National Archives.
  7. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, March 15). Telegram No. 51 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with three enclosures:
  8. Translation of communication by Mufti of Damascus to preachers in the town, 13 March 1924,
  9. Translation from Fatā al-ʾArab, No. 691, with the text of the declaration in favour of King Hussein as Caliph, 14 March 1924, and:
  10. Translation from Alif Bāʼ, No. 1069, 15 March 1924 (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  11. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, March 22). Telegram No. 59 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with enclosure: translation of an extract from al-Umran No. 963, 22 March 1924, ‘The Silent Protest’ (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  12. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, April 22). Telegram No. 70 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  13. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, April 28). Telegram No. 77 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  14. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, May 17). Telegram No. 87 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with enclosure: translation of an extract from al-Muqattam, No. 10697, 10 May 1924, ‘France and Abdul Mejid’ (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  15. British Consulate in Damascus (1924, May 23). Telegram No. 90 from W. Smart to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with enclosure: translation of an extract from al-Muqtabas, No. 3979, 22 May 1924, ‘Emir Selim and the Caliphate’ (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  16. Childs, W. (1924, March 12). A Confidential Memorandum of Foreign Office on British commitments to King Hussein (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  17. Cox, Stephen Thomas (2003). The idea of an Arab Caliphate in British Middle Eastern policy in the era of the Great War. Doctoral Thesis. Durham University.
  18. Fromkin, David (2001). A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman and the Creation of the Modern Middle East. New York: An Owl Book Henry Holt & Company.
  19. Governorate, Jerusalem-Jaffa (1924, March 14). Letter from R. Storrs, the Governorate, Jerusalem-Jaffa, to Chief Secretary, on a meeting of Muslim notables to discuss the Caliphate (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  20. Governorate, Jerusalem-Jaffa (1924, March 15). Letter from R. Storrs, the Governorate, Jerusalem-Jaffa to Chief Secretary (File series FO 684/2/File 111). London: The National Archives.
  21. Hassan, Mona (2016). Longing for the Lost Caliphate: A Transregional History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
  22. Jafari Valdani, Asghar; Jafari, Hormoz (2016). The Foundations of the Maintaining of Political Stability in Saudi Arabia (2011-2015). Geopolitics Quarterly, 12(41), 189-216. [In Persian]
  23. Johny, Stanly (2018). The ISIS Caliphate: From Syria to the Doorsteps of India. India: Bloomsbury Publishing.
  24. Kramer, Martin (1986). Islam Assembled The Advent of the Muslim Congresses. New York: Columbia University Press.
  25. Laurence, Jonathan (2021). Coping With Defeat: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, and the Modern State. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  26. March, Andrew F. (2019). The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press, Harvard University Press.
  27. Naseri, Saeed; Arab, Alireza; Naseri, Mehdi (2023). The Impact of the Modern State on the Invention of Turkish National Identity. Geopolitics Quarterly, 19(71), 330-357. [In Persian]
  28. Omar Khan, Saad (2007). The Caliphate Question: British Views and Policy towards Pan-Islamic Politics and the End of the Ottoman Empire. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 24(4), 1-25.
  29. Paris, Timothy J. (2004). Britain, the Hashemites and Arab Rule, 1920-1925: The Sherifian Solution. London: Frank Cass.
  30. Rahbar, Abbas Ali; Sadeghian, Hasan; Kavakebian, Mostafa (2023). The Role of the Opposition Bloc in the Democratization Process of the Last two Decades in Turkeys. Geopolitics Quarterly, 19(70), 316-344. [In Persian]
  31. Safavi, Seyed Hamzeh (2023). The Architecture of Peace in the Middle East. Geopolitics Quarterly, 18(4), 250-267.
  32. Shamai, Ali; Movahed, Ali; Mohammadian, Hossein (2015). Globalization and Islamic Cities of the Middle East. Geopolitics Quarterly, 9(32), 107-124.
  33. Strohmeier, M. (2019). The exile of Husayn b. Ali, ex-sharif of Mecca and ex-king of the Hijaz, in Cyprus (1925-1930). Middle Eastern Studies, 55(5), 733-755.
  34. Teitelbaum, Joshua (2000). ‘Taking back’ the Caliphate: Sharīf Ḥusayn Ibn ʿAlī, Mustafa Kemal and the Ottoman Caliphate. Die Welt des Islams, New Series, 40(3), 412-424.
  35. Teitelbaum, Joshua (2001). The Rise and fall of the Hashimite Kingdom of Arabia. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.
  36. Teitelbaum, Joshua (2016). “The Man Who Would Be Caliph Sharīfian Propaganda in World War”, Erik-Jan Zürcher. Jihad and Islam in World War I: Studies on the Ottoman Jihad on the Centenary of Snouck Hurgronje’s “Holy War Made in Germany”, Leiden: Leiden University Press.
  37. Tezcan, Selim (2020). Responses to the abolitions of the Ottoman Sultanate and Caliphate in the Arabic and Hebrew Press of Palestine, 1922-1924. Middle Eastern Studies, 56(6), 795-810.
  38. Wilson, Mary C. (1987). King Abdullah, Britain, and the Making of Jordan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Geopolitics Quarterly
Volume 21, Issue 2
Summer 2025
Pages 148-170

  • Receive Date 13 July 2024
  • Revise Date 24 October 2024
  • Accept Date 13 November 2024