Sharifates

A sharifate is a political unit ruled by a Sharif, a title traditionally accorded to a noble who claims descent from the Prophet Muhammad through the Hashemite or Quraysh line. In practice, sharifates functioned as hereditary principalities or emirates within the broader Islamic world, with the ruling Sharif serving as both secular authority and religious figurehead. The holder often claimed legitimacy through lineage and the guardianship of important religious sites or duties.

The most prominent example was the Sharifate of Mecca, which governed the city of Mecca and surrounding areas in the Hijaz and held religious authority as the custodian of the Kaaba. Sharifs of Mecca typically held a degree of autonomy under larger imperial suzerainties, notably the Ottoman Empire, while also playing a central political role in regional affairs. In the early 20th century, Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, led the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, reshaping the political landscape of the region after World War I. The Sharifate of Mecca effectively ended in 1925, when the area was incorporated into the emerging Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, a precursor to modern Saudi Arabia; the Hashemite dynasty later established monarchies in Jordan and elsewhere, continuing a tradition of leadership descended from sharifs.

Beyond Mecca, other localities in the Islamic world were governed by sharifs and bore the title, though the Mecca case remains the best documented. As a political form, sharifates declined with the rise of centralized nation-states and modern statehood in the 19th and 20th centuries.