(sold for $122.0)

1920, Saudi Arabia, Hejaz, Hussein bin Ali. Nice Copper ½ Piastre Coin. aXF!

Reference: KM-23.
Mint Place: Mecca
Condition: About XF!
Denomination: ½ Piastre
Mint Year: 1920 (AH 1334 + Regnal Year 5)
Material: Copper
Diameter: 18mm
Weight: 1.88gm

Al-Hejaz, also Hijaz (Arabic: الحجاز‎ al-Ḥiǧāz, literally "the barrier"), is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is bordered on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by Jordan, on the east by Najd, and on the south by Asir. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. As the site of Islam's holy places, the Hejaz has significance in the Arab and Islamic historical and political landscape. Historically, Hejaz has always seen itself as separate from the rest of Saudi Arabia. Hejaz is the most populated region in Saudi Arabia; 35% of all Saudis live in Hejaz. Hejazi Arabic is the most spoken accent in the region. Saudi Hejazis are of ethnically diverse origins. Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula. People of Hejaz have the most strongly articulated identity of any regional grouping in Saudi Arabia. Their place of origin alienates them from the Saudi state, which invokes different narratives of the history of the Arabian Peninsula. Thus, Hejazis experienced tensions with people of Najd.

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Hussein bin Ali, GCB (1854 - 4 June 1931) was the Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 until 1917, when he proclaimed himself and was internationally recognized as King of the Kingdom of Hejaz. He initiated the Arab Revolt in 1916 against the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman Empire during the course of the First World War. In 1924, when the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, he further proclaimed himself Caliph of all Muslims. He ruled Hejaz until 1924, when, defeated by Abdul Aziz al Saud, he abdicated the kingdom and other secular titles to his eldest son Ali.