The Hashemites or the Bani Hashim are the direct descendents of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), through his daughter Fatima and (her husband) his cousin Ali (the fourth, and last, "Rightly-Guided" Caliph of Islam). "Hashim" was the name of the great-grandfather of both the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Caliph Ali. The Hashemite family ruled, in various forms, over the Hejaz (the Western part of Arabia which includes the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina) from the time of the Caliph Ali in the Seventh Century CE until 1925 CE-The Official Site of HRH Prince Hamzah bin al Hussein
The name of this Arab dynasty should not be confused with "Hashem", one of the names for God Hashemite is the Anglicised version of the Arabic: هاشمي (transliteration: Hashemi) and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashem", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe. It also refers to an Arab dynasty whose original strength stemmed from the network of tribal alliances and blood loyalties in the Hejaz region of Arabia, along the Red Sea.
The Hashemites trace their ancestry from Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf (died c.510 CE), the great-grandfather of Muhammad. The early history of the Hashemites saw them in a continuous struggle against the Umayyads for control over who would be the caliph or successor to Muhammad. The Umayyads were of the same tribe as the Hashemites, but a different clan. This rivalry eventually would lead to the split between the Sunni and Shia. After the overthrow of the Umayyads, the Abbasids would present themselves as representatives of the Hashemites, as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. From the 10th century onwards, the Sharif (religious leader) of Mecca and its Emir was by traditional agreement a Hashemite. Before World War I, Hussein bin Ali of the Hashemite Dhawu-'Awn clan ruled the Hejaz on behalf of the Ottoman sultan. For some time it had been the practice of the Sublime Porte to appoint the Emir of Mecca from among a select group of candidates. In 1908, Hussein bin Ali was appointed Emir of Mecca. He found himself increasingly at odds with the Young Turks in control at Istanbul, while he strove to secure his family's position as hereditary Emirs. During and after World War I Between 1917 and 1924, after the collapse of Ottoman power, Hussein bin Ali ruled an independent Hejaz, of which he proclaimed himself king, with the tacit support of the British Foreign Office. His supporters are sometimes referred to as "Sharifians" or the "Sharifian party". His chief rival in the Arabian peninsula was the king of the highlanders on the highland of Najd named Ibn Saud, who annexed the Hejaz in 1925 and set his own son, Faysal bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, as governor. The region was later incorporated into Saudi Arabia. Hussein bin Ali had five sons: Ali, who briefly succeeded to the throne of Hejaz before its loss to the Saud family; Abdullah, who later became the king of Transjordan, and whose descendants have ruled that kingdom, now known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, ever since; Faisal, who became King of Iraq; Prince Zeid, who became a claimant to the throne of Iraq when his brother's grandson was overthrown in a coup in 1958; and Hassan, who died at a young age. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein (Arabic: الشريف علي بن الحسين) was born in 1956, in Baghdad, Iraq is a member of the Hashemite House. He is currently a Pretender to the Iraqi throne and the leader of the Iraqi Constitutional Monarchy political party to restore the monarchy to Iraq and himself a King. The Hashemites have a strong tribal relationship with a tribe from Somalia, called the Isaaq. The Sultans of Sulu also style themselves Hashemite. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashemite The Official Site of HRH Prince Hamzah bin al Hussein
