Sharif of Mecca opens talks with the British

On 14 July 1915, the 2nd day of the month of Ramadan in the year 1333 of the Hijra, a letter to the British authorities in Cairo was prepared in Mecca. In the name of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca, and of “the whole Arab nation”, it demanded that Great Britain recognise the independence of the Arab lands within wide borders and conclude an alliance with the Arabs. It was the first of ten letters exchanged by March 1916 between the Sharif and the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon. This exchange later became known as the Hussein–McMahon correspondence.

From Damascus to Taif

Since Kitchener’s letter of autumn 1914 the Sharif had remained cautious. He did not support the jihad proclaimed by the Sultan, but nor did he break with Constantinople. In 1915 his relations with the Ottoman authorities deteriorated further, as Hussein suspected that the government wanted to remove him. His son Faisal, on his way to Constantinople and back, stopped in Damascus and talked with the leaders of the secret Arab societies al-Fatat and al-Ahd. According to historians’ findings, on 23 May 1915 they handed him a document later called the Damascus Protocol. In it the conspirators declared that they would support a revolt led by the Sharif if Great Britain recognised Arab independence within specified borders.

In June Hussein took counsel with his sons in Taif. According to accounts based on the recollections of those present, Faisal urged caution, the eldest, Ali, was opposed to a revolt, and Abdullah pressed for action. The Sharif decided to open negotiations with the British.

What the letter contained

In the collection of the correspondence that the British government published in 1939, the document appears as a letter from Hussein to McMahon. A footnote explains, however, that it was undated and unsigned, and that it had been enclosed with a private letter from Mecca of 14 July addressed to Ronald Storrs, the Oriental Secretary at the British Residency in Cairo, with whom the Sharif’s family had already held talks before the war. The British historian Elie Kedourie points out that the letter to Storrs was written by Abdullah, not by Hussein himself.

The first point was the most important. Great Britain was to recognise the independence of the Arab countries bounded on the north by a line from Mersin and Adana along the 37th parallel through Birecik, Urfa, Mardin, Midyat, Jazirat ibn Umar and Amadiya up to the Persian border; on the east by the border of Persia down to the Persian Gulf; on the south by the Indian Ocean, with the exception of Aden, which was to remain British; and on the west by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. These borders repeated the demands of the Damascus Protocol. They took in the whole Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. The British were also to accept the proclamation of an Arab caliphate. In return the Sharif promised Great Britain preference in economic enterprises in the Arab lands and proposed a defensive alliance for fifteen years. He also demanded the abolition of the privileges of foreigners, the so-called capitulations.

The letter ended with an ultimatum: the British were to answer “yes” or “no” within thirty days of receiving it. Otherwise the Sharif’s family would consider itself free of its earlier declarations.

The first reply

The letter took a long time to reach Cairo, and according to Kedourie arrived there only on 18 August. McMahon, after consulting the Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey, replied on 30 August. He confirmed Kitchener’s promises and goodwill towards an Arab caliphate, but considered discussion of borders premature while the Turks still ruled those lands and many Arabs were fighting on their side. The Sharif wrote back in evident disappointment. The exchange of letters nevertheless continued, and its vague wording, especially regarding Syria and Palestine, became after the war the subject of disputes that continue to this day. In June 1916 Hussein launched the Arab Revolt.