The Hashemite Project for the Caliphate in the First Quarter of the 20th Century
Faisal Alrefai / Researcher, Irbid, Jordan
Abstract
The Hashemites, descendants of the Prophet of Islam, have assumed from medieval to contemporary period the governorship of the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. Their alliance with Great Britain and France during the 1st World War led to the creation of the two Hashemite kingdoms of Transjordan and Iraq. This research proposes to analyze the religious role of the Hashemite family in studying the Hashemite project of trying to assume the caliphate. The period studied was particularly rich in events, notably in 1925 with the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate by the Turks.
The researcher adopted a historical methodology through this research. This study relied specifically on French and English diplomatic documents available in the national archives of these two countries. Moreover, this study shows how one of the most illustrious families of Islam used its religious influence in the service of both its dynastic projects and the unity of the Arab world. In this field, an in-depth study was carried out on the strategies adopted by the Hashemites to achieve their objectives. As the Hashemite project has never been realized due to local and international obstacles, this research discusses the reasons of the failure of this project.
Keywords: The Hashemites, Caliphate, Britain, France, Ottoman empire, Arab world.