King Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein

Who is King Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein?

Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein was born in Mecca, in the Hejaz region of present-day Saudi Arabia, the second son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali. He played an active role in the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule during the First World War, working alongside his father and brothers, as well as British officers including T. E. Lawrence, to help secure Arab independence from Ottoman control. In 1921, under the British Mandate system established after the war, he became Emir of the newly created Emirate of Transjordan. He guided the territory through gradual steps toward self-rule, and when Transjordan achieved full independence in 1946 he became King, later renaming the state the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949 after the West Bank was annexed following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He worked to build the institutions of the young state, including its army, and remained a central figure in regional diplomacy. He was assassinated in July 1951 at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem by a gunman opposed to his political dealings, and he is remembered as the founder of the modern Jordanian state and the Hashemite royal line that continues to rule the country today.

Sources: Mary Christina Wilson, King Abdullah, Britain and the Making of Jordan (Cambridge University Press, 1987) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, entry on Abdullah I · Kamal Salibi, The Modern History of Jordan (I.B. Tauris, 1993)