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The Mufti of Jerusalem (1921-1937) Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist, prominent Muslim religious leader, and wartime propagandist ...

Hajj Amin al-Husayni: The Mufti of Jerusalem

Muhammad Amin al-Husayni (189?-1974) was the Mufti (chief Muslim Islamic legal religious authority) of Jerusalem under the political authority of the British Mandate in Palestine from 1921 to 1937. His primary political causes were:

  1. establishment of a pan-Arab federation or state
  2. opposition to further immigration of Jews to Palestine and Jewish national aspirations in Palestine
  3. promotion of himself as a pan-Arab and Muslim religious leader

In exile between 1937 and 1945, al-Husayni, claiming to speak for the Arab nation and the Muslim world, sought an alliance with the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) based on their publicly recognizing

  1. the independence of the Arab states
  2. the right of those states to form a union reflecting a dominant Muslim and specifically Arab culture
  3. the right of those states to reverse steps taken towards the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine
  4. al-Husayni himself as the spiritual and political representative of this pan-Arab, Muslim entity
Hajj Amin al-Husayni
  • Hajj Amin al-Husayni

    During World War II, the Nazi regime financed and facilitated anti-British and antisemitic broadcasts by the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, to mobilize support for Germany and the Axis among Muslims in the Balkans and the Middle East. At the close of the war, al-Husayni was arrested in the French occupation zone of Germany. After authorities moved him to France, al-Husayni fled to Egypt, where he continued to produce and disseminate inflammatory anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel propaganda. He died in 1974. (Source record ID: E39 Nr.1033/17)

  • Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler

    In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement--or a secret but formal treaty--in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”

  • Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler for the first time

    The former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, meets Hitler for the first time. Berlin, Germany, November 28, 1941.

  • Hajj Amin al-Husayni with German SS and Bosnian members of the Waffen-SS

    Hajj Amin al-Husayni in the company of German SS and Bosnian members of the Waffen-SS during an official visit to Bosnia, ca. 1943.

In exchange, al-Husayni collaborated with the German and Italian governments by broadcasting pro-Axis, anti-British, and anti-Jewish propaganda via radio to the Arab world; inciting violence against Jews and the British authorities in the Middle East; and recruiting young men of Islamic faith for service in German military, Waffen-SS , and auxiliary units. In turn, the Germans and the Italians used al-Husayni as a tool to inspire support and collaboration among Muslim residents of regions under Axis control and to incite anti-Allied violence and rebellion among Muslims residing beyond the reach of German arms.

Despite his collaboration, the Axis powers were unwilling to promote al-Husayni's political ambitions as he wished. As the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945, French authorities took al-Husayni into custody. He escaped to Egypt in 1946. Al-Husayni devoted the remainder of his life to supporting Palestinian nationalism and to agitating against the State of Israel. He continued to produce and disseminate anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel propaganda. He died in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 4, 1974.

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