Ochsenwald, William

The Ḥijāz Railway was built starting in 1900 by order of the Ottoman sultan Abdülhamid II (ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd II, r. 1876–1909) with the purpose of encouraging and safeguarding the travel of pilgrims from Damascus southward to Mecca and Medina. The railway would be a practical exampl…

ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn (1879–1935), last of the Hāshimite sharīf s to rule the Muslim holy cities in the Ḥijāz, was the eldest son of al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, amīr of Mecca (r. 1908–16) and king of the Ḥijāz (r. 1916–24). In the revolt against the Ottomans during the First World War, ʿAlī …

The Arab Revolt of 1916 in the Ḥijāz against the Ottoman Empire began as a military campaign and led, ironically, both to the independence of several Arab states and the growth of British influence in the Middle East. Arab nationalism had started during the late nineteenth centu…