The position of the Sherif of Mecca had long been anomalous. The title of “Sherif” implied descent from the prophet Muhammed through his daughter Fatima, and Hassan, her elder son. Authentic Sherifs were inscribed on the family tree—an immense roll preserved at Mecca, in custody of the Emir of Mecca, the elected Sherif of Sherifs, supposed to be the senior and noblest of all. The prophet’s family had held temporal rule in Mecca for the last nine hundred years, and counted some two thousand persons.
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