Jordan And The Hashemites

The Hashemites are the oldest royal house in the world, outside of Japan. They claim that their founder was a great-grandfather of Muhammad. The Hashemites were rivals of, but also related to, the Umayyads who founded the first major caliphate of Islam that lasted for a long time. The Hashemites were the custodians of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina for about a thousand years, until the area was conquered by the House of Saud and became part of modern Saudi Arabia. The Hashemites, through the government of Jordan, are still the custodians of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Abdullah I was the king of the modern nation of Jordan, and the son of the founder of the modern Hashemite Dynasty, who had been made Emir of Mecca by the Ottomans. The Hashemite Dynasty has ruled Jordan, formerly known as Transjordan because it was across the Jordan River from Palestine. Abdullah I was assassinated while attending a funeral at the Al Aqsa Mosque, in 1951. With him was his grandson, Prince Hussein, who was also shot but was saved when a medal that he was wearing deflected the bullet.

Prince Hussein went on to become the well-known and popular King Hussein, of Jordan, who died in 1999. The Hashemites also ruled Iraq as a royal family, and even briefly ruled Syria.

Has anyone ever heard of someone who has been king of two separate countries, at separate times, without one country ruling the other?

That feat was achieved by Faisal I, the brother of Abdullah I. He was Hashemite king first of Syria, and then of Iraq. His son, Ghazi, and then his grandson Faisal II followed as kings of Iraq. When Egypt and Syria proclaimed their unity, as the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Iraq proclaimed their own union as the Arab Federation, ruled by the Hashemites.

Neither union would last long, but there was rivalry between them while they did. To understand why, we have to go back to the French Revolution, which began the modern political era. Jordan and Iraq, the Arab Federation, were ruled by kings. While Egypt and Syria, the United Arab Republic, were ruled by military officers who had overthrown their kings.

The brief life of the Arab Federation, as well as Royal Hashemite rule in Iraq, came to an end in 1958 when Faisal II was overthrown and executed in a military coup. Again, we see the influence of the French Revolution as the revolution in Iraq happened on July 14, which is Bastille Day. The Iraqi officer who led the coup would ultimately be overthrown himself, by the Iraqi branch of the Baath Party, the best-known member of which turned out to be Saddam Hussein.

Have you ever wondered why Iraq and Syria have to be separate countries, even though there have been those who would like the unite them? We have to go back into history to see the answer. Remember that the Umayyad Caliphate, the first major caliphate of Islam that lasted for a long time, was based in Damascus, in Syria. The Abbasid Caliphate, which overthrew the Umayyads, built an entirely new city as their capital. This city is Baghdad, in Iraq. That history is enough to keep the two modern countries separate.

Back to the most popular of the Hashemites, King Hussein of Jordan, which is still ruled by the Hashemites. King Hussein, the one who survived the bullet on the Temple Mount in 1951 because he was wearing a medal that deflected it, is remembered as a great peacemaker as well as having made the modern country of Jordan.

King Hussein of Jordan was so accomplished at holding a delicate balancing act that, if he had lived in Niagara Falls, would surely have been the greatest of tightrope walkers. He must have been doing something right to hold onto his crown while kings were being overthrown all around him, in Egypt, Libya, Iran and, Iraq. Likewise his son, the present king of Jordan Abdullah II, avoided a fall in the Arab Spring, which brought down many of those leaders in lands where kings had earlier been overthrown.

One facet of King Hussein's successful balancing act was between Israel, to the immediate west, and it's Arab enemies all around. The king managed this with so many Palestinian refugees in his country that they outnumbered the Jordanians themselves. The Palestinians in Jordan had their own agenda, independent of the government, which culminated in what is known as the Dawson Field Hijackings, where four airliners were hijacked and destroyed, on the ground, although the passengers were released first.

Another facet of the delicate balancing act achieved by Jordan's King Hussein is between the west and the Communist bloc during the Cold War. Still another facet is between Islam and the west following Iran's 1979 revolution.

Another popular figure from Jordan is the widow of King Hussein, Queen Noor. She was born in the U.S., of Syrian immigrant parents, and continues to do a lot to make the world a better place. The present king of Jordan, Abdullah II, is the son not of Queen Noor but of an earlier wife, Princess Muna who was a native of England.

The capital city of Jordan today is Amman. Readers of the Bible will be familiar with an old rival of the Israelites to the east, known as the Ammonites. The capital of the Ammonites was the city of Rabbah, today it is known as Amman, named clearly for the Ammonites. After the Ammonites, in Hellenistic times, it became known as Philadelphia, so that the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania is actually named for Amman.

Amman, which did not regain importance until modern times, had been through all of the usual parade of empires and conquerors in the region, Alexander, the Romans, the Umayyad and then Abbasid Caliphates, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and then the modern nation of Jordan that has been governed by the Hashemites.

Like Aleppo and Cairo, Amman was built around a citadel. The following scenes begin in the Citadel of Amman.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9554802,35.9341456,3a,75y,15.12h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMbaX8v4Y_6dzPEaVvCpJTf8WpT40-lFAtZpNrn!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMbaX8v4Y_6dzPEaVvCpJTf8WpT40-lFAtZpNrn%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya12.909076-ro-0-fo100!7i2508!8i1254

Here is some more of Amman, in the area of the Jordan Museum.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.945464,35.9268985,2a,75y,165.72h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sCWPr-6nFwEkl1WtxnsFkJA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DCWPr-6nFwEkl1WtxnsFkJA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D167.81184%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This area of Amman is west of the Citadel.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9540547,35.9107935,3a,75y,169h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPEQcatBYqk7x7kDYBw57CwGznso7967rRXNTa8!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPEQcatBYqk7x7kDYBw57CwGznso7967rRXNTa8%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya17.19701-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

These scenes begin in the Galleria Mall, in Amman.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9592398,35.8621725,3a,75y,124.14h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO_4tOOSySTdRm5Pm2oM4B5v2OrsffOEOzbKrLQ!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO_4tOOSySTdRm5Pm2oM4B5v2OrsffOEOzbKrLQ%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya128.6323-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830

This is the modern part of the city, to the west.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9641983,35.9013081,3a,75y,181h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPRrec_tIls0zoTnVhGBqGDT4JYW27x3Y9Y3-EN!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPRrec_tIls0zoTnVhGBqGDT4JYW27x3Y9Y3-EN%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya180.49998-ro0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

Here is a residential and shopping area in the far west of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9734763,35.8442319,3a,75y,271h,76t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNK-XsScHa_faA4CRxjPv6fgF-rpwHk5GY3FHfv!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNK-XsScHa_faA4CRxjPv6fgF-rpwHk5GY3FHfv%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-14.999992-ya114.49999-ro-0-fo100!7i8192!8i4096

This is a residential area in the northern part of Amman.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0021984,35.956731,3a,75y,172.71h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sHiS0E4WlA8cdWIgtgdvvtQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DHiS0E4WlA8cdWIgtgdvvtQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D172.71109%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is what the northeastern part of the city looks like.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0014504,35.9420792,3a,75y,169h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPa_h7-QFmYuLsBQ2D9BNLpXd7NQmQ4BNndVACK!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPa_h7-QFmYuLsBQ2D9BNLpXd7NQmQ4BNndVACK%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-3.516522-ya169.52475-ro0.40126684-fo100!7i7776!8i3888

Finally, this is what Jordan is really known for. The ancient city of Petra has buildings carved right into the rock. The name "Petra" actually means "rock". Petra is believed to have been built before the time of Jesus.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3287101,35.4425432,2a,75y,309.26h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swPUsfvt5QC8_TkuT4XB05A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwPUsfvt5QC8_TkuT4XB05A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D313.43784%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656