Yusuf Yasin

Yusuf Yasin (also known as Yousuf Yassin; 1888 – 19 April 1962) was a 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 1958 when he was dismissed by Crown Prince Faisal.

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

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, an Egyptian immigrant to Syria.[4]

Following religious education in Latakia Yasin graduated from the University of Jerusalem in 1911.[4]

Career

Yasin settled in Saudi Arabia in 1923 or in 1924.[4][5] Shukri Al Quwatli, future president of Syria, was instrumental in Yasin's migration to the country.[6] Yasin intended to work as a teacher for the sons of King Abdulaziz.[5] Soon after his arrival he became the head of the political section of the royal court and private secretary to the King.[7]

In 1925 Yasin contributed to the establishment of a weekly paper in Mecca, Umm Al Qura, of which he became the first editor-in-chief.[4][8] The paper soon functioned as the official gazette of the country.[9] In 1926 he was made political secretary of King Abdulaziz and then, appointed an adviser to him in the 1930s.[4] On 29 December 1930 Yasin became a Saudi citizen.[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.[10] 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.[11] During the same visit Yasin met with Fritz Grobba, Nazi Germany's ambassador to Iraq.[12]

Yasin signed the extradition treaty between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on behalf of the latter that established the Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone in 1942.[7] He accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.[13] Yasin signed a treaty of amity on behalf of Saudi Arabia with the Republic of China on 15 November 1946.[14]

Yasin replaced Fuad Hamza as deputy foreign minister in 1951 when Hamza died.[15] Between 1952 and 1955 Yasin was responsible for Saudi activities in the Buraimi Oasis and was a member of the Buraimi Arbitration Tribunal.[16][17] Following the dead of King Abdulaziz, Yasin served as the state minister and the advisor to King Saud, successor of the king.[18][19] It was Yusuf Yasin who made a speech in the inauguration of the council of ministers by King Saud in the Murabba Palace on 7 March 1954.[19] On 15 May 1958 Yasin was removed from the post by Crown Prince Faisal.[20]

Views

Yasin had a pan-Arab stance,[21] and one of his close companions was Rashid Rida, founder and editor of an influential conservative Egyptian publication, Al Manar.[22] Yasin was a major opponent of the close relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States,[23] 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][24]

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. "Youssef Yassin; Saud bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia; Hafiz Wahba". National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. 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. Joseph A. Kechichian. "The Arab Nationalist Advisor". Sussex. Middle East Studies. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. Joseph A. Kechichian (21 January 2011). "Nationalist adviser". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  5. D. van der Meulen (2018). Wells of Ibn Saud. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-317-84766-3.
  6. 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.
  7. Sayed M. Hosni (October 1966). "The Partition of the Neutral Zone". American Journal of International Law. 60 (4): 735–749. doi:10.2307/2196925.
  8. C. C. Lewis (July 1933). "Ibn Sa'ūd and the Future of Arabia". International Affairs. 12 (4): 523. doi:10.2307/2603605.
  9. "Umm al-Qurá, Number 591, 3 April 1936". World Digital Library. 3 April 1936. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  10. Jerald L. Thompson (December 1981). H. St. John Philby, Ibn Saud and Palestine (MA thesis). DTIC.
  11. Basheer M. Nafi (Spring 1997). "The Arabs and the Axis: 1933–1940". Arab Studies Quarterly. 19 (2): 7. JSTOR 41858205.
  12. R. Melka (October 1969). "Nazi Germany and the Palestine Question". Middle Eastern Studies. 5 (3): 225. JSTOR 4282292.
  13. "Charles Claftin sees History in the making". Acton Beacon. 17 August 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. Roderick Parkes (1966). "Notes on the Main Characters". Bloomsbury Collections. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  17. 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.
  18. Hermann Frederick Eilts (2004). "Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy" (PDF). In L. Carl Brown (ed.). Diplomacy in the Middle East. New York City: I. B. Tauris. p. 227. ISBN 1860648991.
  19. 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.
  20. Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. p. 120. ISBN 9798641924397. ProQuest 303295482.
  21. 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. ISBN 978-0-333-53514-1.
  22. 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. ISBN 9781139047586.
  23. Bruce R. Nardulli (2002). Dance of Swords: U.S. Military Assistance to Saudi Arabia, 1942–1964 (PhD thesis). Ohio State University.
  24. 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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