Abdullah ibn Husein (1882-1951) was an Arab nationalist and political leader who established and became king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Born in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Abdullah ibn Husein was the second son of Husein ibn Ali in the city's leading family, which claimed descent from the prophet Mohammed. In 1891 he moved to Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and was raised and educated in the Ottoman capital. Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the new Ottoman government appointed Husein ibn Ali the sharif of Mecca, the protector of the holy places, which was a position his family had often held. Abdullah represented the Hejaz Province of western Arabia in the reorganized Ottoman parliament and participated in Arab political movements concerned with the question of autonomy or independence for Arab areas of the multinational Ottoman Empire.

Even before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Abdullah had...