[5] Originally a Zaydi Shi'ite emirate, the Hasanid Sharifs converted to the Shafi'i rite of Sunni Islam in the late Mamluk or early Ottoman period.

The Qarmatians directed tribal raids towards Iraq, Syria and much of Arabia, interrupting the flux of pilgrims to Mecca.

[9] In 930, Qaramita raiders sacked Mecca, and stole the holy Black Stone from the Kaaba, gravely embarrassing the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.

[10] As a result, the holy cities turned towards Egypt, from which they received most of their grain, for support; during the rule of Abu al-Misk Kafur, nominally an Abbasid vassal but de facto independent, even the Abbasid caliphal prerogative of sending a ceremonial crown, the shamsa, to be hanged before the Kaaba, was usurped by the Egyptian ruler.

[9] As Sunni power began to revive after 1058, the Meccan emirs maintained an ambiguous position between the Fatimids and the Seljuks of Isfahan.

[14] Jeddah became a base of the Mamluks for their operations in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, leading it to replace Yanbu as the main maritime trade centre on the Hejaz coast.

Some of the population of these cities consisted of non-Arab Muslims, including Bukharis, Javanese, Indians, Afghans, and Central Asians.

[22] The Emirs were appointed by the Sultan, taking into consideration the choice of the sharifs, as well as the opinions of the Wālis of Egypt, Damascus, and Jeddah (after it was established), as well as that of the qadi of Mecca.

[23] This situation was ended in 1803, when fundamentalist Wahhabis deposed the ruling Emir of Mecca, Ghalib ibn Musa'id.

After his death Ibrahim Pasha, who had accompanied Muhammad Ali's personal visit to the Hejaz in 1814, took over after lagging success with repeated Saudi resistance and managed to push the Wahhabis back into the Nejd by 1818.

[29] The two had an uneasy parallel coexistence: while ruling over the same geography, they divided authority in a complex way, leading to a continuous negotiation, conflict or cooperation between them.

[31] The British also challenged the Sultan's caliphate by claiming that Britain should appoint the Emir, as it ruled over four times as many Muslims as the Ottomans.

At the end of his reign he also briefly laid claim to the office of Sharifian Caliph; he was a 37th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad, as he belongs to the Hashemite family.

A member of the Dhawu Awn clan (Banu Hashim) from the Qatadid emirs of Mecca, he was perceived to have rebellious inclinations and in 1893 was summoned to Istanbul, where he was kept on the Council of State.

In 1908, in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution, he was appointed Emir of Mecca by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II.

In the aftermath of World War I, Hussein refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, in protest at the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of British and French mandates in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine.