What If Amin al-Husseini wasn't appointed as Grand Mufti in 1921?

[IchBinDieKaiser]

In 1921 the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Kamil al-Husseini, died. As Grand Mufti (originally just "Mufti" before the British occupation) he had control over the religious sites of Jerusalem, and could appoint the Imams for the Mosques of the city. Upon his death, the appointment of a new Grand Mufti was left up to Britain's High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel. In our timeline, Samuel appointed Kamil's younger half-brother, Amin al-Husseini, who would go on to actively radicalize the Arab population of Palestine, and promote the then embryonic Palestinian Nationalism.

The process for selecting the Grand Mufti consisted of the more powerful Arab clans of Jerusalem (usually referred to as the "notables") nominating their own candidates for the office, followed by an electoral college of religious scholars, Imams, and local councils narrowing the nominees down to 3, which the sovereign authority (formally the Ottoman Sultan, but now the High Commissioner) would have to choose. The Mufti would then serve a life term unless they either resigned, or were removed from office by the Sovereign.

IOTL the British ended up supporting the candidacy of Amin al-Husseini for a few reasons. Firstly, the Husseini family had controlled the office for most of the past two centuries, and the British policy regarding the governance of non-Christians was to maintain the Ottoman era status quo, so giving the office to a relative of Kamil sufficed this requirement. Second, Amin al-Husseini was very popular with the Arabs of Palestine, due to him inciting the Nebi-Musa riots a year prior, which had killed 5 Jews. Thirdly, the Husseini family was the most powerful Arab clan in Palestine, and if the British needed their cooperation so as to avoid a revolt like the French had to deal with in Syria.

However, Amin al-Husseini was not popular with the other prominent Arab families. He had very little religious education, and was very young, being at most 26 years old (there's uncertainty if he was born in either 1895 or 1897). The other Notable's candidates were more qualified on grounds of experience, education, and age. Additionally, Amin had originally been sentenced to death for the Nebi-Musa riots, only escaping capture by fleeing to Syria. On top of that, Amin was a virulent anti-Semite, which went against the Zionist proclivities of the British government at the time, and was very off-putting to the High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, who was the first Jew to ever hold a cabinet position in the British government.

So there were plenty of reasons for the British to select another candidate for the Grand Muftiship, but erred on the side of caution in order to avoid putting down a revolt. But here lies the question; What if they decided to pick a different candidate?

Do you think the Husseini family would really try to foment a revolt, or simply go along to get along. If a revolt did happen, would this reignite the pro-Faisal revolt in Syria, or perhaps spread into Transjordan and Iraq? And presuming the British could put down this revolt, how might this impact the conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine? Would the other Mufti candidates have pursued the same radicalization policies that Amin did?

 

[ArtosStark]

Additionally, Amin had originally been sentenced to death for the Nebi-Musa riots, only escaping capture by fleeing to Syria

I thought he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment?

He had very little religious education

He did have two years in a Cairo seminary under the Salafist Muhammad Rashid Rida.

What if they decided to pick a different candidate?

As I understand it all three of the other candidates received more votes but all three were from the Nashashibi clan. Since the British had already replaced Musa al-Husayni with Ragib Nashishibi in 1920 for his (Musa’s) role in the Nabi Musa riots, they picked Amin al-Husayni for Mufti to balance support for both clans. In hindsight, though Musa al-Husayni was defiantly an opponent of British policy (Jewish/Zionist policy in particular), it might have been less trouble for the British to retain him as mayor and put a Nashishibi in as Mufti. On the other hand, the result might have been much the same.

The Nashishibis were not on board with British policies regarding Jews by any stretch but they tended to favour political rather than violent opposition. Putting them in positions of power would probably benefit the British. However, it is not like the al-Husayni’s would disappear. And if the Nashishibi’s look to be too much like they are British stooges the al-Husayni’s could possibly use that against them. So there is that to consider.

As a compromise, perhaps a member of the Khalidi family could have been chosen for either position? Hussein al-Khalidi was about the same age as Amin al-Husayni. And though he would also likely be an opponent of British policy and Zionism (he was IOTL) the Khalidi’s opposition to nationalism would somewhat limit their popular influence. And they would form a bit of a compromise faction. Mustafa al-Khalidi, a later mayor of Jerusalem (the last Arab to hold that post) and a member of the family was pretty moderate on the issue, though still obviously opposing mass Jewish migration.