Hejaz (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz المملكة الحجازية الهاشمية Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Hejaz
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُوْلُ ٱلله (Arabic) ("There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God")
Anthem:  As-Salām al-Malakī al-Hijāzī
Location of Hejaz
Capital		(spiritual) Mecca (temporal) Jeddah
Other cities		Medina
Official languages		Arabic
Ethnic groups		Arabs; Turkish; Circassians
Religion		Islam
Demonym		Hejazi
Government		Unitary state; Constitutional sacerdotal monarchy
-	Caliph	Ra’ad I
-	King	Zeid II
-	Prime Minister	Saleh al-Turki
Legislature		Parliament of Hejaz
Establishment
-	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	June 10, 1916
Population
-	estimate	11,289,500
Currency		Hejazi dinar (HJD)
Time zone		AST (UTC+3)
Internet TLD		.hj
Calling code		+960

Hejaz (Arabic: الحجاز al-Hijāz), formally known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz (Arabic: المملكة الحجازية الهاشمية al-Mamlakah al-Hijāzyah al-Hāšimiyyah), is a country in Western Asia stretched on the west coast of Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan to the north, by Nejd to the east, by Yemen to the south, and by the Red Sea to the west.

Hejaz is the birthplace of Islam and the kingdom is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" (بلاد ٱلحرمين ٱلشريفين Bilād al-Ḥaramayn aš-Šarīfayn) in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. Mecca, the capital of Hejaz, is also the seat for the Hashemite Caliphate, one of supreme religious and political authorities among the Sunni Muslim community worldwide along with the Senussi Caliphate in Libya.

History

Ottoman Arabia (1517–1916)

1695 map of the Sharifate of Mecca

Hejaz came under the Ottoman domination after Selim I defeated the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517. Emir and Sharif of Mecca at the time, Berekat ibn Muhammed Haseni, pledged his allegiance to the Ottoman rulers and, in return, Selim I allowed the Sharif to remain in power in exchange for loyalty to the Ottomans. To strengthen his legitimacy in Hejaz and in the Muslim world, Selim I then adopted the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (خادم ٱلحرمين ٱلشريفين ‎Khādim al-Ḥaramayn aš-Šarīfayn; Hâdimü’l-Haremeyni’ş-Şerifeyn).

The Ottomans administered Hejaz under the Eyalet of Egypt with the Sharifate of Mecca represented imperial authority in the region. Since the 1750s, the Wahhabis, a puritanical sect from Najd backed by the influential Al Saud family, began to pose a threat to the stability of the Hejaz. In 1801, while the Ottoman's attention was diverted to the French invasion of Egypt, the Wahhabis overpowered local Hejazi defense and captured the holy cities. Unable to confront the Wahhabis, the Ottomans delegated the task of defeating them to Egypt. The Wahhabi army was destroyed by 1818 by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha, whose army had successfully retook Medina and Mecca in 1812 and 1813 respectively.

Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi (1854–1931), the Sharif of Mecca (r.1908–24), the King of Hejaz (r.1916–25) and the Hashemite Caliph of Islam (1925–31).

From 1818 to 1845, the region would be administered by Egypt, until Muhammad Ali was forced to restore Hejaz to the Sultan as a result of the Second Turko-Egyptian War. In 1872, the Ottomans reorganized Hejaz as a vilayet. Mecca became the center of the vilayet, with Medina and Jeddah as sanjaks under the Hejaz Vilayet. This led to the creation of two parallel political and administrative bodies: the Emirate and the Vilayet. The reform provided for the loss of the near-autonomy of the Emir, leading to a conflict between Emir and vali that lasted for the rest of the 19th century.

On July 3, 1908, the Young Turk Revolution occurred and and quickly spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. The revolt was nationalist by nature and its instigators wanted to see the Turks as the dominant group within the empire. In the 1908 elections, the revolutionary Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) managed to dominate the imperial parliament. It antagonized Arab leaders and prompted them to think in similarly-nationalistic terms. Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi, the Emir and Sharif of Mecca at the time, was considered a loyal Ottoman official. The revolt nevertheless displeased the Emir and resulted in a rift between him and the rest of Arab leaders with the revolutionaries.

In February 1914, five months before World War I broke out, the British had contacted Hussein's son, Abdullah, who had served in the Ottoman parliament. At the time, the British Empire was, ironically, having the largest Muslim population in the world. With the entry of the Ottomans on Germany's side in World War I on November 11, 1914, the British feared the Muslim subjects of their empire would turned against them. Through Abdullah, the British expressed support to the independence of Sharifate in exchange of for support from the Arabs of Hejaz. Hussein indicated that he could not break with the Ottomans immediately.

World War I (1916–1918)

Flag of the Arab Revolt and of Hejaz (1917–20)

The decline of Ottoman Empire paved a way for the Arab nationalist movement to arise. However, the idea of Arab nationalism had virtually no impact on the majority of Arabs as they considered themselves loyal subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Following deliberations at Ta'if between Hussein and his sons in June 1915, Faisal counselled caution, Ali argued against rebellion and Abdullah advocated action against the Ottomans; Abdullah's opinion prevailed.

Hussein was convinced that it was necessary to separate from the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman administration. Over the period July 14, 1915 to March 10, 1916, Hussein entered into correspondence with Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner to Egypt. Hussein was now convinced that his assistance to the Entente would be rewarded by the British an Arab caliphate encompassing the entire span between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of British possessions and interests. In June 1916, Hussein entered into alliance with the United Kingdom and France. The Arab Revolt against the Ottomans was launched on June 10, 1916.

Soldiers of the Sharifian Army in northern Yanbu carrying the Flag of the Arab Revolt, 1916.

On October 16, 1916, the British government in Egypt then sent a young officer, Captain T. E. Lawrence (later famously known as "Lawrence of Arabia"), to work with the Hashemite forces. Lawrence coordinated the Sharifian Army in support of British strategy under the command of Faisal. The Sharifian soldiers wore British-style uniforms with the keffiyahs and fought full-time and in conventional battles. On October 30, 1916, Hussein declared himself King of Hejaz as his Sharifian Army participated with the British in expelling the Turks from the peninsula.

On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mudros ended the hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies. It was followed by the occupation of Constantinople and the subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the armistice, Fahreddin Pasha, the Ottoman commander in Medina, refused to surrender. Only after a 30-month-long siege, the Sharifian Army entered Madina on January 10, 1919. With the defeat of the Ottomans, the British came up with the "Sharifian Solution". Proposed by Lawrence in 1918, the British planned to install Hussein's sons as rulers across the Middle East. Abdullah would ruling Baghdad and Lower Mesopotamia, Faisal in Syria, and Zeid in Upper Mesopotamia.

Kingdom of Hejaz (1918–present)

Post-war disputes (1918–1924)

Emir Faisal's delegation at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

In 1919, Faisal led the Arab delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and, with the support of the knowledgeable and influential Gertrude Bell, argued for the establishment of independent Arab emirates for the predominantly Arab areas previously held by the Ottoman Empire. The status of the Arab lands in the Middle East, however, was the subject of intense negotiations between the French and British. Despite earlier promises, the British and the French divided each others' spheres of influences at the Middle East under the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the region was divided into several League of Nations mandates, in ways that the Arabs felt were unfavorable to them. The agreement gave Britain control over Southern Syria and Mesopotamia and the French over northern Syria. Hejaz did gaining its independence, but Hussein felt the British did not honor their commitments as the eventual Sharifian Solution was somewhat different. In June 1920, the Mesopotamians revolted against the British and the plan to install a Hashemite proxy ruler was scrapped. On July 25, 1920, Faisal's government in Damascus was defeated by the French after heated disagreement between two sides.

Chaim Weizmann, the leader of British Zionists, and Faisal al-Hashimi in 1918 in Transjordan

Faisal and his supporters returned to Mecca to help his father Hussein and brother Ali governing Hejaz. Abdullah, on other hand, entered Transjordan instead and established an emirate under British protection. Further confusing the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised support for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Due to these conditions, Hussein refused to ratify the Treaty. The relationship between the Hashemites and the British deteriorated at this point and the latter had contemplated to turn their support to the Saudis.

When the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished on March 3, 1924, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi from Cyrenaica was chosen by Abdulmecid II as his successor. Hussein rejected Ahmed's caliphacy and declared himself as the Caliph on March 5, 1924. He initially failed to receive wide recognition either by the Arabs or the British. However, when Ahmed used his role as caliph in calling for Muslim supports to resist the Italians in Libya, which answered with widespread solidarity demonstrations in North Africa and India, the British and the French worried that their Muslim subjects would revolt. It forced the British to reconsider their ties with the Hashemites and recognize Hussein's claim to the caliphal office on June 12, 1924.

Hashemite-Saudi War (1924–1925)

Ali ibn Hussein al-Hashimi (1879–1935), the Prime Minister (1916–25) and King of Hejaz (r.1925–31) and Hashemite Caliph of Islam (r.1931–35).

The Hashemites and the Saudis from Nejd were engaged in a historic conflict since 1919. After the border conflict in 1919, the hostilities renewed when the pilgrims from Nejd were denied access to the holy places in Hejaz. On August 29, 1924, Ibn Saud began his military campaign against Hejaz by advancing towards Taif, which surrendered without a major struggle. As the Saudi forces advanced toward Mecca, the Hejazi Arab Army (جيش العربي الحجازي Jaysh al-Arabi al-Hijāzi) fought with the British aids to defend the holy city. Under the command of Jafar al-Askari, the army fortified against the Saudi attacks on Mecca and Medina as the king and his family were evacuated to Jeddah.

On October 12, 1924, military reinforcement that sent by Emir Abdullah from Transjordan arrived at Mecca, forcing the Saudis to stop the siege. Taif was retaken by the Hejazi Army on December 1, 1924. As the Saudis retreated, the Hejazi Army pursued them beyond the borders. On January 25, 1925, the Hejazi Army arrived at Riyadh and besieged the city for two weeks. The hostilities ceased only after the British in the Arab Office in Cairo demanded for ceasefire between two sides. On February 11, 1925, the Hejazi Army stopped the siege on Riyadh and retreated back to Hejaz.

To affirm his jurisdiction over two holy cities, Hussein convened the Mecca Conference on March 29, 1925. Despite non-attendances of Nejd and the Gulf states, delegates from Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia recognized Hussein's claim to the caliphal office and the custodianship of three holy mosques in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Under British pressure, Hussein abdicated all of his secular titles to his first son Ali, who became the King of Hejaz on June 12, 1925. Hussein's third son Faisal, however, played more greater role than his brother in shaping the kingdom's foreign and domestic policies.

Interwar period (1925–1939)

Faisal ibn Hussein al-Hashimi (1885–1933), the Prime Minister (1925–31) and King of Hejaz (r.1931–33).

Faisal replaced Ali as the Prime Minister of Hejaz (رئيس الوزراء raʾīs al-wuzarāʾ) on September 2, 1925. The 1925 Constitution of Hejaz adopted parliamentary representative system and established unicameral Parliament of Hejaz (مجلس الأمة Majlis al-ʾUmma). All candidates in the parliamentary elections, however, were chosen by the king as the party system was not developed yet. Faisal's loyalists, mostly military men, were increasingly powerful within the government and parliament, overshadowing the civilian elements from influential Hejazi tribes.

Faisal made great effort to build the Hejazi Arab Army into a powerful force and imposed universal military service in order to achieve this. In 1927, Faisal recruited T.E. Lawrence again to develop the Hejaz Air Force (HAF). By 1935, the Arab Army grew in numbers from consisting of 500 men in 1924 to become a strong 5,000-man force with modern weapons, tanks and aircraft. With the growth of Arab Army, military men soon became political elites of their own. Many veterans of Arab Revolt were appointed to Faisal's government, including his brother Zeid, Jafar al-Askari, Nuri as-Said, Jamil al-Midfai and Mahmud Salman.

Frequent raids were committed by the Wahhabi Ikhwan from Nejd between 1925 and 1927. In 1927, the Ikhwan of the Mutayr and Ajman tribes rebelled against Ibn Saud and engaged in cross-border raids into parts of Hejaz, Transjordan and Mesopotamia. The strength of modernized Arab Army was put into test for the first time during these attacks. Hejaz and Nejd put aside their differences and cooperated to suppress the Ikhwan from 1927 to 1930. After the Ikhwan was defeated in 1930, Faisal formally resolved the disputes with Nejd by inviting King Ibn Saud to Mecca. The Mecca Treaty between Faisal and Ibn Saud concluded the border conflicts between two countries since 1916.

Zeid ibn Hussein al-Hashimi (1898–1970), the King of Hejaz (r.1933–47) and the Hashemite Caliph of Islam (r.1935–70).

On June 4, 1931, Caliph Hussein died after a series of strokes. Ali ascended to the caliphacy, while Faisal succeeded him as king. Border conflicts between Hejaz and Yemen were resolved with the signing of Taif Treaty between Prime Minister al-Askari and Imam Yahya of Mutawakkalite Yemen in 1932. In July 1933, shortly before his death, Faisal went to London where he asked the British to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine after the increase of Arab-Jewish conflicts. Faisal's reign was cut short with his sudden death on September 8, 1933.

Hussein's youngest son, Zeid, ascended to the throne in 1933. An army officer himself, Zeid appointed Nuri al-Said as prime minister and gave many governmental posts to active or retired military officers. On February 13, 1935, Caliph Ali died; within the span of mere four years, three Hashemite rulers had passed away. Abdullah contemplated to claim caliphacy as 37-year-old Zeid was seen to be inexperienced. Zeid, however, claimed the caliphal title as he did not want Hejaz to be treated as a "junior kingdom" by Transjordan, which angered Abdullah. Relationship between two brothers and their respective kingdoms turned sour from this point.

Major source of income for Hejaz was the revenues from the pilgrimage to the holy cities. After the depression hit in 1932, the number of pilgrimages per year fell from 100,000 to below 40,000. This hurt Hejazi economy greatly and it needed to find alternate sources of income. The news of oil discovery in Bahrain brought fresh impetus to the search for oil on the Arabian peninsula. In 1933, the Anglo-Egyptian Oilfields Ltd (AEO) was granted the oil concession in the Farasan Islands. In 1934, the AEO was successfully granted another concession in Jizan. Soon, the geologists arrived in Jizan and the search for oil was underway. After one year of unsuccessful drills, the drillers finally struck oil on February 14, 1935.

World War II (1939–1945)

Abd al-Ilah ibn Ali al-Hashimi (1913–68), the King of Hejaz (r.1949–68).

In his capacity as caliph, Zeid pursued a policy of neutrality at the start of World War II as what had done by his Senussi counterpart, Idris, and by other Middle Eastern states such as Nejd and Turkey. Zeid's position was motivated by the reality in the Arab world where there was no unanimity among the Arabs to their position regarding the combatants in the war. Some fought with the Allies and provided necessary resources to the Allied war efforts, but others saw an Axis victory as the best hope for Arabs to gain control of their own region.

Under British pressure, Hejaz severed diplomatic contacts with Germany on September 5, 1939. In 1941, the Arab nationalists in Mesopotamia, led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, revolted and declared the foundation of "United Arab State" (الدولة العربية المتحدة ad-Dawlat al-‘Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah). Pro-Axis and pro-Gaylani Grand Mufti Amin al-Husayni of Jerusalem, who had fled to Nejd after the 1936 Palestine uprising, offered Prince Ghazi, Faisal I's son, to be the ruler of the said-state.

Prince Ghazi ibn Faisal (1912–1947).

This offer resulted to a power struggle between Ghazi and his nephew, Abd al-Ilah, Ali I's son who supported the Allies; Abd al-Ilah wanted to distance the royal family from the Axis Powers. He quickly outmaneuvered Ghazi and had the latter got exiled to Egypt, to Cyprus, and finally to Turkey where he would died in 1947 at the age of 35 under mysterious circumstances. Following his victory over Ghazi, Prince Abd al-Ilah bin Ali was appointed crown prince as the king sought to limit his own responsibility on the foreign affairs conduct.

Together with Prime Minister al-Askari, the 29-year-old crown prince now acted on the behalf of the king to direct Hejaz openly toward the Allies. On January 2, 1942, Hejaz was one of the signatories of Declaration by United Nations, formally joining the Allies. During the war course, the Arab Army took part in the Allied war effort against pro-Axis forces in the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre. In June 1945, Abd al-Ilah visited the United States and was awarded a Legion of Merit military decoration by President Thomas E. Dewey. On June 26, 1945, Hejaz signed the Charter of United Nations and became a founding member of United Nations.

Post-war development (1945–1952)

MPC natural gas well in the Midyan Peninsula, ca. 1989

By 1946, Hejazi oil outputs, however, were left far behind than its Nejdi or Iraqi counterparts. After the war, the Mesopotamia Petroleum Company (MPC) was granted concession in the Midyan peninsula. Rather than oil, the geologists instead found a giant natural gas reserve. Natural gas production was started after pipeline connecting the gas fields to the processing plant in Jeddah was completed in 1949. The government used oil and gas royalties to transform its relatively under-developed economy into that of a modern industrial state while maintaining the kingdom's traditional Islamic values and customs.

Hejaz was one of the Arab states that participated in the 1948 Palestine War against Israel. Hejaz's Arab Army had a strength of 25,000 men as well as several hundreds of volunteers from the Hejazi tribes during the war. The Arab Army was considered the most effective Arab force at the time, along with Transjordan's Arab Legion, with several dozens of artilleries, 50 armored cars and 100 airplanes. Combined Hashemite forces, however, fought mainly in the area that they wanted to secure: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Before the war, Hejaz had proposed to place Jerusalem under the temporal administration of the Hashemite Caliphate, but was rejected by the United Nations in favour of an international commission.

Hashemite artillery shelling Jerusalem in 1948.

Abdullah's assassination in 1948 ended dual command in the Hashemite forces. In January 1949, Zeid called for armistice between the Arab forces and Israel after the Arab military position became deteriorating. It was obeyed immediately—albeit reluctantly—by all Arab combatants, with exception of Egypt and Syria (which had their own territorial ambitions in Palestine). At Zeid's initiative, the Bethlehem Conference was held on February 12-15, 1949, which agreeing to form a provisional Palestinian government in control of Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In 1949, Zeid abdicated as king, although maintained the title of Caliph and of Sharif of Mecca. Abd al-Ilah formally ascended to throne on June 12, 1949. As king, Abd al-Ilah was played a vital part in liberalizing Hejazi society by giving women the right to vote in 1950 and establishing social security system in Hejaz in 1951. Despite negative backlashes from conservative Muslims worldwide, Abd al-Ilah's domestic policies were critical in shaping modern Islamic society since Hejaz was considered the model for global Muslim community. Caliph Zeid had to issue proclamations in 1951 affirmed Abd al-Ilah's liberal policies which accused as "un-Islamic" by several conservative clergies.

Faisal ibn Ghazi, the King of Syria (1935–2005, r. 1950–1958).

To gain regional hegemony, pro-Hashemite lobbies worked hard to install their royals to the thrones in newly-independent Arab states to counter Pan-Syrian vision of Syrian Social Nationalist Party, led by Antoun Saadeh, which has just gained power in Lebanon in 1949. Abd al-Ilah and his cousin, Talal of Jordan, who replaced recently-assassinated Abdullah in 1948, installed Talal's younger brother, Nayef ibn Abdullah, as the king of Palestine in 1950. Abd al-Ilah also plotted with several Syrian notables to overthrow Adib Shishakli's pro-SSNP regime that ruled the country for three months after a coup in 1949. Faisal ibn Ghazi, Abd al-Ilah's 14-year-old nephew, was installed by pro-Hashemite Syrian parliament as the monarch in 1950.

First phase of Arab Cold War (1952–1959)

Abd al-Ilah with Abdullah I of Jordan, Farouk I of Egypt and then-crown prince Saud of Nejd, pictured in 1946.

Aside of Lebanon's Pan-Syrianism, another threat, however, came from Egypt. In 1952, a group of Egyptian military officers called the Free Officers Movement toppled King Farouk and turned Egypt into a republic. Led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, republican Egypt adopted strong Arab nationalist rhetoric and quickly emerged as the leader of anti-imperalist cause among the Arabs. Abd al-Ilah covertly supported and provided the Muslim Brotherhood financially in opposition against Nasser. Failed assassination attempt to him by a Brotherhood member in 1954 led Nasser to suspect Abd al-Ilah was behind the plot. Nasser quickly suppressed Islamist opposition and denounced Hejaz as "reactionary."

To counter the spread of communism in the Middle East and the growth of Egyptian-led republicanism, Hejaz, Jordan, Syria and Palestine signed a mutual security pact in 1955, commonly referred as the "Jeddah Pact" or pejoratively "Hashemite Pact" by its opponents. Assyria, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan soon joined it afterward. That Hashemite alliance was also joined by other conservative traditionalist Arab monarchies, such as Nejd, Yemen, and Iraq, which did not integrated into the pact but were cooperated at certain degree with the military axis to contain the revolutionary events which had been began at Lebanon and Egypt.

Israeli offensive at the Sinai Peninsula during the Suez Crisis of 1956.

Hejaz's pro-Western attitude was at odds with the political development among the Arab nations in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The capture of Galilee by Lebanon and nationalization of Suez canal by Egypt in 1956 increased the prestige of both Saadeh and Nasser. After the Suez Crisis, there was a growing sympathy for Nasser among the younger Hejazi officers. On February 22, 1957, republican elements of the Syrian Army and the Ba'ath Party supporters launched a coup to oust the 22-year-old Faisal, which alerted the Hejazi leaders of a possible similar revolt. By December 1957, a network of Nasserist officers, led by Col. Abdur Rashid al-Ayyubi, was uncovered by the Hejazi government, leading to a purge of the army.

Further readings