ABSTRACT
The relations between Sharif Husayn Ibn 'Ali, the amir of Mecca, and 'Abd al-'Aziz Al Sa'ud (Ibn Sa'ud) of Najd have received wide treatment by scholars of the history of the Arabian Peninsula. These studies have concentrated on the Hijaz-Najd war; the personal and religious enmity between the two leaders; the role of the British; and the competition in the British bureaucracy between the India Office, which supported Ibn Sa'ud, and the Foreign Office which, along with the Cairo-based Arab Bureau, supported Husayn.1 These factors were, of course, crucially significant, and indeed accounted for much of the rivalry between the two leaders, eventually leading to the capture of the Hijaz by Ibn Sa'ud. But the political use of the hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage) and its role in Ibn Sa'ud's advance on the Hijaz has received scant attention in the literature. An examination of the pilgrimage during the period 1916 to 1925 will therefore not only broaden understanding of the Saudi-Hashemite rivalry, but also provide greater insight into the interplay between pilgrimage and politics.
