The King of Hedjaz and Arab Independence

by Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi and Frederick Stanley Maude

THE
KING OF HEDJAZ
AND
ARAB INDEPENDENCE

 

WITH A FACSIMILE OF THE
PROCLAMATION OF JUNE 27, 1916.

Together with the Proclamation issued at
Baghdad by Lieut.-General Sir Stanley
Maude, after the occupation of that city by
the British Forces

 

 

LONDON:
HAYMAN, CHRISTY & LILLY, LTD.
1917

Hussain the First, King of Hedjaz, and Hereditary Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. Formerly known as the Grand Sherif of Mecca.

THE
KING OF HEDJAZ
AND
ARAB INDEPENDENCE

 

WITH A FACSIMILE OF THE
PROCLAMATION OF JUNE 27, 1916.

Together with the Proclamation issued at
Baghdad by Lieut.-General Sir Stanley
Maude, after the occupation of that city by
the British Forces

 

 

LONDON:
HAYMAN, CHRISTY & LILLY, LTD.
1917

THE

KING OF HEDJAZ AND ARAB
INDEPENDENCE.

 

---

 

In their reply to President Wilson's Note of 20th December, 1916, the Allied Powers stated the general nature of their war-aims, and included among them "the setting free of the populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turk." And Mr. Balfour, in his despatch of 16th January, 1917, in which he explained these aims from the point of view of Great Britain, observed that "the interests of peace and the claims of nationality alike require that Turkish rule over alien races should, if possible, be brought to an end." It was in the same spirit that President Wilson himself, in his speech to the United States Senate on 23rd January, 1917, said: "I am proposing, as it were, that the nation should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world; that no nation should seek to extend its polity over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful."

Thus the effort of the Arabs of Hedjaz to free themselves from the oppressive rule of the Turks has received the sanction of all the Powers which, in the great world-struggle that is now proceeding, have stood forth as the champions of national and individual liberty.

The province of Western Arabia to which the name of Hedjaz has been given extends along the Red Sea Coast from the Gulf of Akaba to the south of Taif. It is bounded on the north by Syria, on the east by the Nafud Desert, and by Nejd, and on the south by Asir. In length it is about 750 miles, and its greatest breadth from the Harra, east of Khaibar, to the coast is 200 miles. Barren and uninviting mostly in its northern part, yet with many very fertile and well-cultivated portions in the southern portion, sustaining a brave, hardy, and fearless population, the chief claim of Hedjaz to fame is that it contains the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, to which Moslem pilgrims come yearly from all parts of the world.

Alhough it was once nominally under Turkish rule, the real power in Hedjaz was always vested in the Amir (or, as he is better known to us, the Grand Sherif) of Mecca, who is an Arab of the true race, descended from a princely family, which is held in high veneration by the Arabs, owing to its descent in the line of Hasan, son of the fourth Caliph, Ali, and who, also, is Hereditary Custodian of the Holv Cities of Mecca and Medina. After the construction of the Hedjaz railway, however, Turkish influence in Hedjaz increased to the extent that the Turks were able to inflict many hardships on the Arab population, and from the time of the outbreak of the present war there had been a great deal of very arbitrary interference on their part in affairs purely Arabian, combined with acts of actual oppression and cruelty. This foreign and unlawful invasion of their rights and privileges, the impiety of the Young Turks, and their inhuman treatment of the Arabs of Syria and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, decided the Grand Sherif, after many indignant protests, to reassert the independence of the Arabs of Hedjaz, and with such success, that after a substantial victory had been gained by his troops in action with the Turkish forces, some few months back, he issued a proclamation to the world asserting the independence of Hedjaz and its inhabitants—their freedom from Turkish invasion and foreign control of any kind—and announcing that the assembled notables, princes, and representatives of the people had unanimously acclaimed him King of Hedjaz.

Herewith a translation is given of the actual proclamation, in order that, from the pen of the King of Hedjaz himself, the condition of affairs in Hedjaz under Turkish rule may be realised, and the causes understood which obliged the Arabian peoples to reassert their ancient and inviolable religious, territorial, and national rights against impious foreign aggression.

Chapters (not listed in original)

• Proclamation of the Sherif of Mecca
• The Proclamation of Baghdad