HASHIMITE

also spelled Hashemite, any of the Arab descendants, either direct or collateral, of the prophet Muhammad, from among whom came the family that created the 20th-century Hashimite dynasty. Muhammad himself was a member of the house of Hashim (Hashem), a subdivision of the Quraysh tribe. The most revered line of Hashimites passed through Hasan, son of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah and her husband, 'Ali, the fourth caliph. Hasan was the last of this line to hold disputed claim to the caliphate, but his progeny eventually established themselves as hereditary emirs of Mecca, the role continuing under Ottoman rule. Of such stock were Husayn ibn 'Ali, emir of Mecca and king of Hejaz from 1916 to 1924, and his sons Faysal and 'Abd Allah, who became kings of Iraq and Jordan, respectively, founding the modern Hashimite dynasty.