The Emirs of Mecca and the Ottoman government of Hijaz, 1840-1908

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the Emirs of Mecca as local notables of a distinguished lineage that differentiated them from notables elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It concentrates on the relations of power the Emaret of Mecca had with the Ottoman government and on the rule of the Hijaz, and especially their relations with the Vilayet with which the Emirs had to share local power. The thesis, taking Ottoman archival sources as its principle source, questions the nature of the relationship between the two institutions, looking into the aspects of conflict and cooperation between them as foci of local power. The thesis also underlines the importance the Hijaz held for the Ottoman Empire in this era of heightened awareness over Islamic sources of legitimacy and in the face of foreign challenge to this legitimacy and its rule in the Hijaz. The study engages in a discussion of how the Emirate was incorporated into the Ottoman system of rule, and the policies and attitudes of the imperial center towards the Emirate, showing reverence and making use of its local power and influence, but at the same time trying to keep local power under check. The thesis, overall, argues that the relation between the Emirate and the Ottoman state was not a simple conflict between a local centrifugal force and a centralizing imperial state, but one that included integration and the negotiation of power in a relationship with more than just one dimension.