Background in
Mecca, 1889 Sultan
Selim I defeated the
Mamluk Sultanate in 1517 and took over Egypt. The Hejaz was at the time, a Mamluk
suzerainty and had relied on Egypt for grain imports, it was also under threat from an aggressive Portuguese navy in the Red Sea. As a result, the emir of Mecca at the time, Berekat ibn Muhammed Haseni, sent his 12-year-old son, Muhammad (future "Ebu-Numey"), to Egypt and pledged their allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan, along with the key to Mecca. The Sultan allowed the emir of Mecca to remain in power in exchange for loyalty to the Sultan. To strengthen the Sultan's legitimacy in Hejaz and in the Muslim world, the Sultan adopted the title
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Initially, the Ottomans administered the Hejaz under the
Eyalet of Egypt. The
Sharif of Mecca represented imperial authority in the region. Administration later fell to the Governors of
Jeddah, and the Eyalet of Jeddah was later transformed into the Hejaz Vilayet, with a governor in
Mecca.
Saudi conquest Since the 1750s,
Wahabi Muslims, a puritanical sect from the
Najd region backed by the influential
Al Saud family, began to pose a threat to the stability of the Hejaz. In 1801, while the Ottoman
Porte's attention was diverted to the
French invasion of Egypt, the Wahhabis overpowered local Hejazi defences and captured the holy cities. Şerif Pasha, the governor of Jeddah, temporarily wrestled Mecca back from the Wahhabis but was finally defeated in 1806. The Wahhabis imposed their strict religious doctrines in the holy cities; the mentioning of the Sultan was forbidden during Friday sermons, officials from the four
madhabs (schools of
Islamic jurisprudence) were dismissed and replaced with Wahabbis. In early 1807, the leader of the Wahhabi army
Ibn Saud ordered the expulsion of all pilgrims and troops loyal to the Emir of Mecca, looting of the city later followed. It was alleged that Ibn Saud banned pilgrim caravans that were accompanied with trumpets and drums, which were contrary to Wahhabi doctrines. The Ottoman government found itself unable to confront the Wahhabis, and gave the task of defeating them to the powerful
Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt in 1809–1810. Osman Pasha was then appointed to the Governorship of the Hejaz. The borders of the province were redefined better, and the
Emirate of Mecca was restored.
Vilayet period In the late 1860s, a commission was sent to the Hejaz to reorganize the province, and the following decades saw the introduction of administrative reforms. Hejaz was reorganized as a
vilayet in 1872 according to the Vilayet Law of 1864. The province was divided into
sanjaks,
kazas and
nahiyes. Mecca became the center of the vilayet, with Medina and Jeddah as sanjaks. The administrative structure of the Hejaz was reformed, but some changes enacted in the rest of the Empire were not implemented here. The towns of Mecca and Medina were exempted from paying taxes and in fact, were given subsidies, called
surre, from the Ottoman treasury that was to be distributed to the poor in Mecca and Medina. The Hejaz region first received
subvention in the reign of the Abbasid caliph
Al-Muqtadir in the tenth century, afterwards it became customary for other caliphs and sultans to send these subsidies. However, aside from residents of Mecca and Medina, the inhabitants of other towns and villages did not benefit as much. Subsidies were also paid to notable nomadic shaikhs, who had the potential to disrupt the passage of pilgrims in the region. The entire province was also exempted from military service; attempts to overturn this exemption were blocked by the
Sharif of Mecca. The Ottomans maintained a garrison force of 7,000 soldiers under the command of officers, in addition to the Sharif's own personal guard of 500. Proper garrisons were stationed at the towns of Mecca and Medina whereas pocket garrisons were kept in Jeddah,
Yanbu and
Ta'if- all of which were alongside the strategic
Hejaz Railway. Besides these settlements, roads and other infrastructure were not under Ottoman control - the roads to Yanbu from Medina required strong escorts and the Mecca-Medina railway route was regularly closed by tribesmen who demanded payment for passage -
highway robbery and murder were common on these roads. The Ottomans completed the
Hejaz Railway, linking Damascus to Medina, in 1908, but the railway was severely damaged during World War I and later abandoned. In 1916, as a result of the
McMahon–Hussein Correspondence,
Sharif Hussein ibn Ali declared himself
King of the Hejaz. ==Demographics==