Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Born in Jerusalem in 1895; studied Islamic Law at Al-Azhar University in Cairo; also studied at the School of Administration in Istanbul prior to WWI; went to Mecca on a pilgrimage in 1913, gaining the title of haj; joined the Ottoman Turkish army in WWI and returned to Jerusalem in 1916; participated in the 1916 Arab Revolt; was employed as a clerk in the Public Safety Dept. of the British military administration; attended the Pan-Syrian Congress in Damascus in 1919 and supported Prince Faisal for King of Syria; later the year became a member and Pres. of nationalist Nadi Al-Arabi The Arab Club) in Jerusalem; also wrote for Suriyya Al-Janubiyya (Southern Syria), which was published in Jerusalem from Sept. 1919 by Mohammed Hassan Al-Budeiri and edited by ‘Aref Al-’Aref; was among the organizers of the 1920 anti-Jewish riots in Palestine, in which five Jews were killed, and was sentenced in absentia to ten years imprisonment by a British military court for his role and for inciting the masses; fled to Syria to escape the sentence but was soon after pardoned by High Commissioner Herbert Samuel and returned to Jerusalem, calling for the incorporation of Palestine into Syria; was appointed by High Commissioner Samuel as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on 8 May 1921 until the 1950s; was head of the first Palestinian delegation to London in 1921; also appointed by High Commissioner Samuel as Pres. of the first (newly established) Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) in Jerusalem in March 1922 (until 1937); led a campaign during 1928-29 rousing the Arabs of Palestine to stand against the threat to the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem; was head of the Palestinian delegation to London in 1930; founded the World Islamic Congress in 1931 and served as its Pres.; became elected Pres. of the Arab Higher Committee on 25 April 1936; as such, was the chief organizer of the 1936 general strike (calling for the nonpayment of taxes, shutting down of municipal councils, an end to Jewish immigration, a ban on land sales to Jews, and national independence which resulted Great Revolt against British authority that lasted from 1936-39; was consequently removed by the British from the post of SMC Pres.; escaped a British attempt to arrest him in July 1937, taking refuge at the Haram Ash-Sharif until mid-Oct., then he – disguised as a woman – escaped to Lebanon; reconstituted the Arab Higher Committee (which the British had declared illegal) and ran the national leadership from exile; also raised funds to improve and restore the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem; established contacts with the Nazis in Germany, where he was welcomed as a leader of anti-British nationalism and met Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1941; was named a local leader of the Muslim Brotherhood after its establishment in Jerusalem in the mid-1940s by followers of Hassan Al-Banna, who founded the Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928; after the war tried to regain control of Palestine from his Egyptian exile from March 1946 and fought against the 1947 Partition Plan; was elected Pres. in absentia of the Arab Higher Executive (Fourth Higher Committee of the Arab League); was declared Pres. of the All-Palestine Government, which was set up by the first Palestinian National Council on 1 Oct. 1948 in Gaza and which declared an independent Palestinian state in all of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital (the government was annulled by Egypt in 1959); headed the World Islamic Congress in Karachi in Feb. 1951; participated in the NAM conference in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955; retired from public life after serving as Pres. of the 1962 World Islamic Congress and relocated to Lebanon; attempted a reconciliation with the PLO in the aftermath of the 1973 October War (Yom Kippur War); died in Beirut on 5 July 1974; had wished to be buried in Jerusalem, but the request was refused by the Israeli government.
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To