HUSAIN IBN ALI (c. 1854-1930), Amir of Mecca from 1908 to 1916 and king of Hejaz from 1916 to 1924, was the sec ond son of Muhammad Ibn`Aun of the 'Abadila clan of Ashraf. He was brought up in Bedouin surroundings, but spent a great part of his life at Constantinople. Reputed to harbour Anglophil tendencies, he was deeply versed in the byways of Ottoman poli tics and his best trait was a profound knowledge of the desert, for which he always maintained a genuine affection. At the be ginning of his Amirate he won golden opinions by his sagacity and modesty and set himself vigorously to forward Turkish in terests in Arabia. In 1910 he subdued a rebellion in `Asir and subsequently invaded Qasim without result, but in 1913 he began to show his true colours by opposing the extension of the Hejaz railway to Mecca.
When the World War broke out he entered into negotiations with the British, which culminated in the Arab revolt in June 1916. In October he proclaimed himself "King of the Arab Coun tries" though he was formally recognized only as king of Hejaz. At the Versailles Peace Conference (1919) he was represented by his third son, Faisal, but refused to ratify the treaty as a protest against the mandatory regimes imposed on Syria, Pales tine and `Iraq. Subsequently his domestic policy was marked by ever increasing avarice and reaction, while he sowed the seeds of future trouble by deliberately courting the enmity of Ibn Saud. In March 1924, while on a visit to Transjordan, he proclaimed himself Caliph, but war with Ibn Saud was already imminent, and the Wahhabi attack on Zaif in September found him un prepared. On Oct. 5 he abdicated and proceeded to `Aqaba, whence in July 1925 he was conveyed by a British warship to Cyprus, where he took up his residence.
By his first marriage Husain had three sons: `Ali; 'Abdullah, Amir of Transjordan, and Faisal. The first of these, `Ali Ibn Husain, who was born about 188o, took no conspicuous part in affairs during his father's Amirate. After the World War he be came Amir of Medina and in that capacity did much useful work in connection with the reconstruction of the Hejaz railway. In 1924 he was pressed to accept the Amirate of Transjordan but declined in favour of returning to Medina. He succeeded his father as second king of Hejaz on Oct. 3, 1924, but abdicated on Dec. Io of the following year (see HEJAZ) and returned to Baghdad to live as the guest of his brother Faisal.