Abdullah I bin Al Hussein bin Ali Al Hashimi

Abdullah I bin Al Hussein bin Ali Al Hashemi (February 2, 1882 – July 20, 1951) was the founder and first king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Known as the “founding king”. Abdullah became Emir of Transjordan (later Jordan) after the Great Arab Revolt led by his father, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, against the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

He was born in 1882 in Mecca, the second son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, who had four sons: (Ali, Abdullah, Faisal and Zaid). Ali succeeded his father as the second king of the Hejaz, but abdicated in the following year, while Faisal became king of Iraq in the name of Faisal I and Abdullah as Emir of Transjordan.

He received his basic education in Mecca and completed it in Istanbul. He had extensive knowledge of Arabic and Turkish literature. He was a poet and writer, and literary councils flourished in his court. He was also known for his strong attachment to the sciences of religion and heritage and his love for horses.

King Abdullah I led the Arab forces during the Great Arab Revolt under the Hashemite banner, inspired by his father’s ideas. With the end of World War I, the Great Arab Revolt liberated Damascus, modern Jordan, and most of the Arabian Peninsula. King Faisal assumed the throne of Syria, but abandoned it after the Battle of Maysalun and took over the throne of Iraq. In July 1920, the French occupied Syria, and distress telegrams came from the Syrians to Sharif Hussein bin Ali, so he dispatched his son, Prince Abdullah, to Maan, coming from the Hijaz, at the head of a military force.

King Abdullah established the Emirate of Transjordan on April 21, 1921 AD and established the first central government system in a mostly tribal and Bedouin society. For the next thirty years, he focused on state building and the institutional setting of modern Jordan. He sought autonomy and independence by establishing democratic legitimacy, which resulted in the drafting of Jordan’s first constitution in 1928 known as the Basic Law, and elections for the first parliament were held in 1929. Also during these three decades, Prince Abdullah concluded a series of treaties between England and the Emirate of Transjordan, the last of which was on March 22, 1946, which was known as the Anglo-East Jordanian Treaty, which ended the British Mandate and achieved full independence for Transjordan, to become the state in the name of “The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” On May 25, 1946 AD.

King Abdullah I married Queen Misbah bint Nasser, and they had King Talal and Princess Haya. He also married Aliya Arkan (Suzdil Khanum), and they had Prince Nayef, Princess Maqbola, and Princess Munira.

King Abdullah was assassinated at the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem while he was on his way to perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The killer shot him at close range as he was hiding behind the main gate of the mosque and was killed instantly by the bullets of the king’s bodyguards. King Abdullah’s body was transferred to Amman and buried in the royal tombs.