Yusuf Yasin
Born1888
Latakia, Syria
Died19 April 1962 (aged 73–74)
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
NationalitySaudi Arabian
Alma materUniversity of Jerusalem
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • Royal adviser
Years active1920s–1958
Children8

Yusuf Yasin (also known as Yousuf Yassin; 1888 – 19 April 1962) was a Syrian journalist and politician who served in various capacities during the reign of King Abdulaziz and King Saud.[1] He was among the advisers of King Abdulaziz who were employed to improve the decision-making process of the state.[2] Yasin performed several roles in the Saudi government until his death in 1962.

Early life and education

Yusuf Yasin was born in Latakia, Syria, in 1888.[1][3] His parents were Fatima bint Abdullah Jamal and Shaikh Mohammad Yasin, and his grandfather was Ali Al Masri, probably an Egyptian immigrant to Syria.[4]

Following religious education in Latakia Yasin graduated from the University of Jerusalem in 1911.[4] He was also educated in Cairo where one of his tutors was Rashid Rida.[5]

Career and activities

Yasin worked as a teacher in Jerusalem in the Ottoman period and supported the pan-Arab views during World War I.[6] He served in the court of Amir Faisal, son of Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz between 1917 and 1918.[6] In 1920 Yasin began to work for Hussein bin Ali in Mecca who sent him to his another son Abdullah, Amir of Transjordan.[6] However, he left Abdullah's service just six months after his appointment.[6] Yasin cofounded a weekly nationalist newspaper in Jerusalem in 1921.[7] His business associate was Mohammad Kamil Al Budari, and their paper was entitled Al Sabah.[7]

Yasin left Syria due to the French occupation of the region due to his strong adherence to the independence of Syria and was part of a group called the Istiqlali network which also included another journalist Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli.[5] Yasin began to work for the House of Saud in 1923 or in 1924.[4][8] Shukri Al Quwatli, future president of Syria, was instrumental in Yasin's new career.[9][10] Yasin intended to work as a teacher for the sons of King Abdulaziz.[8] He first became the head of the political section of the royal court and private secretary to the King.[11]

Yasin contributed to the establishment of a weekly paper in Mecca, Umm Al Qura, in 1924 of which he became the first editor-in-chief.[4][5][12] The paper soon functioned as the official gazette of the country.[13] He was made the political secretary of King Abdulaziz in 1926 and then, appointed an adviser to him in the 1930s.[4] He was also head of the press bureau and accompanied the king in his meeting with Amir Faisal, King of Iraq, in February 1930.[14]

Yasin became a Saudi citizen on 29 December 1930.[4] He suggested the addition of the phrase al-Sa’udiyyah to the name of the country, Al-Mamlakah al-'Arabiyyah al-Sa’udiyyah, known as Saudi Arabia, in 1932.[3] In 1937 he was part of the Saudi delegation who visited London to attend the coronation of King George VI.[15] The same year while officially visiting Baghdad, Iraq, upon the request of King Abdulaziz Yasin attempted to contact with a German arms company owned by Otto Wolff to buy rifles.[16] There Yasin also met with Fritz Grobba, Nazi Germany's ambassador to Iraq.[17]

Yasin signed the extradition treaty between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on behalf of the latter that established the Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone in 1942.[11] The same year Yasin was the Saudi Arabian representative at the Arab League meeting in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt.[6] He accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.[18] Yasin signed a treaty of amity on behalf of Saudi Arabia with the Republic of China on 15 November 1946.[19]

Yasin replaced Fuad Hamza as deputy foreign minister in 1951 when Hamza died.[6][20] Between 1952 and 1955 Yasin was responsible for Saudi activities in the Buraimi Oasis and was a member of the Buraimi Arbitration Tribunal.[21][22] Following the death of King Abdulaziz, Yasin served as the state minister and the advisor to King Saud, successor of the king.[23][24] It was Yusuf Yasin who made an inauguration speech at the meeting of the council of ministers in the Murabba Palace on 7 March 1954.[24] On 15 May 1958 Yasin was removed from the post of deputy foreign minister by Crown Prince Faisal.[25] Yasin's role as an aide to King Saud continued until his death in April 1962.[26]

Views

Yasin had a pan-Arab stance,[27] and one of his close companions was Rashid Rida, founder and editor of an influential conservative Egyptian publication, Al Manar.[28] As mentioned above Rida was one of Yasin's teachers.[29] Yasin was a major opponent of the close relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States,[30] and also, had an anti-British approaches.

Personal life and death

Yasin married twice and had eight children, five sons and three daughters.[4] One of his sons, Anas Yasin, was Saudi ambassador to the United Nations, India, and Turkey.[4] His other son, Hassan Yasin, was the advisor to the former Saudi foreign minister Saud bin Faisal Al Saud.[4]

Yusuf Yasin died of cardiac arrest in Dhahran on 19 April 1962.[4][31] However, an Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar reported that Yasin was badly injured in an assassination attempt and died one day after the incident.[26]

Legacy

Joseph A. Kechichian wrote a book about Yusuf Yasin: The Arab Nationalist Advisor. Shaykh Yusuf Yassin of Sa’udi Arabia, which was released in December 2021.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Youssef Yassin; Saud bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia; Hafiz Wahba". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Joseph Kostiner (July 1985). "On Instruments and Their Designers: The Ikhwan of Najd and the Emergence of the Saudi State". Middle Eastern Studies. 21 (3): 315. doi:10.1080/00263208508700631.
  3. 1 2 3 Joseph A. Kechichian. "The Arab Nationalist Advisor". Sussex. Middle East Studies. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Joseph A. Kechichian (21 January 2011). "Nationalist adviser". Gulf News. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Adam Mestyan (2023). Modern Arab Kingship: Remaking the Ottoman Political Order in the Interwar Middle East. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 176, 190. doi:10.1353/book.113384. ISBN 9780691249353. S2CID 260307818.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Shaikh Yusuf Yasin". The Times. No. 55374. 25 April 1962. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  7. 1 2 Aida Ali Najjar (1975). The Arabic Press and Nationalism in Palestine, 1920-1948 (PhD thesis). Syracuse University. p. 65. ISBN 9781083851468. ProQuest 288060869.
  8. 1 2 D. van der Meulen (2018). Wells of Ibn Saud. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-317-84766-3.
  9. ↑ Yossi Olmert (1996). "A false Dilemma? Syria and Lebanon's independence during the mandatory period". Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (3): 43. doi:10.1080/00263209608701118.
  10. ↑ Sonoko Sunayama (2004). Syria and Saudi Arabia, 1978–1990; A Study of the Role of Shared Identities in Alliance-Making (PhD thesis). University of London. p. 29.
  11. 1 2 Sayed M. Hosni (October 1966). "The Partition of the Neutral Zone". American Journal of International Law. 60 (4): 735–749. doi:10.2307/2196925. JSTOR 2196925. S2CID 147323918.
  12. ↑ C. C. Lewis (July 1933). "Ibn Sa'ūd and the Future of Arabia". International Affairs. 12 (4): 523. doi:10.2307/2603605. JSTOR 2603605.
  13. ↑ "Umm al-Qurá, Number 591, 3 April 1936". World Digital Library. 3 April 1936. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Meeting of Arab Kings". The Times. No. 45415. Baghdad. 20 January 1930. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Jerald L. Thompson (December 1981). H. St. John Philby, Ibn Saud and Palestine (MA thesis). DTIC.
  16. ↑ Basheer M. Nafi (Spring 1997). "The Arabs and the Axis: 1933–1940". Arab Studies Quarterly. 19 (2): 7. JSTOR 41858205.
  17. ↑ R. Melka (October 1969). "Nazi Germany and the Palestine Question". Middle Eastern Studies. 5 (3): 225. doi:10.1080/00263206908700130. JSTOR 4282292.
  18. ↑ "Charles Claftin sees History in the making". Acton Beacon. 17 August 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  19. ↑ Norafidah Binti Ismail (August 2011). The Political and Economic Relations of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), 1949-2010 (PhD thesis). University of Exeter. p. 67. hdl:10036/3504.
  20. ↑ Michael Quentin Morton (2015). "The Buraimi affair: oil prospecting and drawing the frontiers of Saudi Arabia". Asian Affairs. 46 (1): 9. doi:10.1080/03068374.2014.994960. S2CID 159991702.
  21. ↑ Roderick Parkes (1966). "Notes on the Main Characters". Bloomsbury Collections. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  22. ↑ J. B. Kelly (Summer 1992). "Arabian Frontiers and Anglo-American Relations". Government and Opposition. 27 (3): 368–384. doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.1992.tb00417.x. S2CID 142203406.
  23. ↑ Hermann Eilts (2004). "Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy" (PDF). In L. Carl Brown (ed.). Diplomacy in the Middle East: The International Relations of Regional and Outside Powers. New York City: I.B. Tauris. p. 227. ISBN 1860648991.
  24. 1 2 Summer Scott Huyette (1984). Political Adaptation in Saudi Arabia: A Study of the Council of Ministers (PhD thesis). Columbia University. p. 135. ISBN 979-8-205-88566-9. ProQuest 303285259.
  25. ↑ Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. p. 120. ISBN 9798641924397. ProQuest 303295482.
  26. 1 2 "Death of Adviser to King Saud". The Times. No. 55373. Cairo. 24 April 1962. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  27. ↑ Joseph Kostiner (1992). "Britain and the Challenge of the Axis Powers in Arabia: The Decline of British-Saudi Cooperation in the 1930s". In Michael J. Cohen; Martin Kolinsky (eds.). Britain and the Middle East in the 1930s. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 137–138. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-11880-9_8. ISBN 978-0-333-53514-1.
  28. ↑ David Commins (2015). "From Wahhabi to Salafi". In Bernard Haykel; Thomas Hegghammer; Stéphane Lacroix (eds.). Saudi Arabia in Transition: Insights on Social, Political, Economic and Religious Change. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 159. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139047586. ISBN 9781139047586. S2CID 126609426.
  29. ↑ U. Ryad (2006). "From an officer in the Ottoman army to a Muslim publicist and armament agent in Berlin: Zekî Hishmat Kirâm (1886–1946)". Bibliotheca Orientalis. 63 (3–4): 251. doi:10.2143/BIOR.63.3.2017973. hdl:1874/292753.
  30. ↑ Bruce R. Nardulli (2002). Dance of Swords: U.S. Military Assistance to Saudi Arabia, 1942–1964 (PhD thesis). Ohio State University.
  31. ↑ Robert Vitalis (2007). America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8047-5446-0.
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