Old News is a new initiative by Amwaj.media to connect the past to the present. Through “reporting” on pivotal moments in history, we aim to provide a richer backdrop for current dynamics in the region.
The story: Wahhabi fighters loyal to the Sultan of Najd have entered Mecca following the withdrawal of Hashemite forces. This marks a major turning point in Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud’s campaign to capture the Hejaz. The takeover of Islam’s holiest site is a major victory for the leader of the House of Saud as he seeks to extend control over the Arabian Peninsula. The arrival of Wahhabi puritans has, however, raised concerns over the future of historic sites revered by Muslims.
The coverage: Wahhabi-aligned forces gathered along the Ottoman-built Ajyad Fortress before advancing into Mecca with little resistance on Oct. 13, 1924.
- Hashemite King Ali bin Hussein and the Hejazi army left the city just before the incursion to prevent bloodshed. The monarch and his followers left for Bahra on the road to Jeddah following threats that vital water supplies to the holy city would be cut.
- Ibn Saud’s forces have now halted traffic to Jeddah amid reports of food shortages and soaring prices in Mecca.
It is difficult to ascertain conditions as telecommunications in Mecca have been cut. However, there are reports that the intruders are plundering the King’s palace and residences of wealthy merchants.
- Seminary students and pilgrims from British India, British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies who have fled to Jeddah say there were no massacres or large-scale destruction at the hands of the Wahhabi Ikhwan. However, tombs of Islamic figures venerated by pilgrims have reportedly been demolished.
- Jeddah is struggling to cope with the large influx of refugees from Mecca, who fled fearing the violence that Ibn Saud’s capture of Taif last month brought.
Former King Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi, who had ruled the Hejaz since 1908, left Mecca earlier in October and abdicated in favor of his son. King Ali bin Hussein now leads the Hashemite resistance from Jeddah.
- In the days prior to the capture of Mecca, King Ali sent various delegations to Ibn Saud in an attempt to negotiate a peace deal but the outreach was promptly rejected.
- In the weeks before his abdication, Britain turned down the former Hashemite ruler’s request for the loan of warplanes, saying that it does not want to be implicated in a religious war. London insists that its League of Nations mandates only bind it to the rulers of Iraq and Trans-Jordan.
Most western press has focused on the military dimension of Mecca’s occupation, no doubt fearing similar scenes to what happened in Taif. Reports are sometimes contrary to one another as communication lines have been disrupted.
- Time Magazine has focused largely on the religious aspects of the conflict. The outlet charges that Ibn Saud, the “beturbaned giant with the coal-black beard,” would “depose Islam of Moslem impurities”—citing his anger at the “irreligion of the Shiite and Sunni Moslems.”
- The Urdu-language press is largely apprehensive of Mecca under its new guardians. There are fears that devotional practices popular among South Asian pilgrims, such as visits to gravesites and celebrations of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, will be outlawed under the Wahhabi orthodoxy.
- The Jaffa-based newspaper Filastin has echoed widespread sentiments that London should provide support to the Hashemite dynasty to save the Hejaz from Ibn Saud’s forces, as Britain is in part responsible for putting former King Hussein on the throne.
The context/analysis: King Hussein became Sharif of Mecca under Ottoman rule in 1908. However, with British backing, eight years later he led a revolt and took the throne as King of the Hejaz.
- The former monarch’s sons, Faisal bin Hussein and Abdullah bin Hussein, rule the other Hashemite states—Iraq and Trans-Jordan, both of which are under British mandate.
- King Hussein’s relationship with Britain has frayed over his refusal to sign an Anglo-Hejazi Treaty that London has pressed on him since 1921. In return for British subsidies and protection, the treaty would have required him to recognize the British mandates over Iraq, Palestine and Trans-Jordan, and with them the Balfour Declaration’s promise of a Jewish national home in Palestine, which he has rejected as a betrayal of the Arabs.
- Britain stopped paying subsidies to both the House of Saud and the Hashemites earlier in 1924. The move left Ibn Saud with less qualms about occupying the Hejaz and King Hussein with less means to defend his territory from Wahhabi forces. The British assistance had allowed the Hashemites to weather attacks back in 1918.
The relationship between the House of Saud and the Wahhabi movement goes back to 1744. Muhammad ibn Saud allied with religious reformer Mohammed ibn Abd Al-Wahhab when the latter arrived in Diriyah, home of the Saud monarchy, after being expelled from Huraymila.
- The Wahhabi doctrine bans the veneration of shrines and tombs as well as any other practice it associates with idol worship and polytheism.
- An estimated 12,000 Wahhabi raiders from Najd sacked Ottoman-controlled Karbala in 1802, which is home to major pilgrimage sites for Shiite Muslims. The invaders plundered the tomb of Hussein ibn Ali, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad and the third Imam in Shiite Islam, killing thousands in the process.
The current turmoil on the Arabian Peninsula follows the recent dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
- In March 1924, King Hussein proclaimed himself Caliph of Mecca. This took place merely days after the formal abolishment of the Ottoman Caliphate—a purely religious position separated from the Empire when the last Ottoman Sultan fled Istanbul in 1922.
- Hussein’s declaration immediately sparked overwhelming opposition across the Muslim world. At a congregation of Najdi political and religious leaders in Riyadh in June 1924, Ibn Saud declared the announcement as sacrilegious and received support for a campaign against the Hejaz.
- In late August 1924, Ibn Saud’s forces breached the city of Taif, massacring hundreds of residents and destroying various historical shrines and tombs. This prompted Hashemite authorities to appeal to the League of Nations to hold the Wahhabi fighters accountable.
The future: Control over Mecca, and therefore the annual Haj pilgrimage, is likely to strengthen the House of Saud’s territorial ambitions and religious standing.
- Though he maintains that he is a protector of Islam’s holy sites, many Muslims are concerned that Ibn Saud’s puritan allies may suppress established traditions and target important shrines.
- With Mecca and Taif under Ibn Saud’s control, his forces are on a seeming trajectory to become the dominant military and political power in the Hejaz.
King Ali is being forced to retreat to an increasingly small territory. It is unclear if the Hejazi army can weather attacks on its remaining strongholds in the cities of Jeddah, Medina and Yanbu.
- If Hashemite authority collapses, the House of Saud will likely preside over a large territory on the Arabian Peninsula. Experts are unsure under what administrative system the various territories will be governed.
The capture of Mecca ends more than 700 years of rule over the city by King Hussein’s family, a heavy blow to Hashemite prestige. Although his sons hold thrones in Iraq and Trans-Jordan, they are also under pressure within the respective British mandates.
- One key question is whether King Ali will accept British interference in exchange for financial and military support, which the fall of Mecca has indicated that he requires.
- Former King Hussein bin Ali is in Jeddah and reportedly planning to head to Aqaba, in hopes of rallying support from British and Hashemites. However, he will likely hit a wall as London has made clear that it does not want to be implicated in a religious war.
source https://amwaj.media/en/article/old-news-mecca-falls-to-forces-loyal-to-ibn-saud
Categories: Arab World, History, Islamic history, Saudi Arabia