Mecca scholarship governed by the Hashemite Sharifs. In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect led by Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī and centered in eastern Arabia. The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349. In 1517, the Sharif, Barakat bin Muhammed, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph but retained a great degree of local autonomy. In 1803 the city was captured by the First Saudi State, which held Mecca until 1813. This was a massive blow to the prestige of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire, which had exercised sovereignty over the holy city since 1517. The Ottomans
Sharifate of Mecca the 1880s, there was talk of British occupation of the Hejaz with the support of the şerifs. The British also challenged the Sultan's caliphate by claiming that Britain should appoint the Emir, as it ruled over four times as many Muslims as the Ottomans. On 23 December 1925 King Ali surrendered to the Saudis, bringing the Kingdom of Hejaz and the Sharifate to an end. Partial list of Sharif of Mecca: Sharifate of Mecca The Sharifate of Mecca "Sharāfa Makka") or Emirate of Mecca was a state, non-sovereign for much of its existence, ruled by the Sharifs of Mecca. A