born 1897, Jerusalem, Palestine, Ottoman Empire died July 4, 1974, Beirut, Leb. Palestinian nationalist leader and grand mufti of Jerusalem (1921-37). In 1921 the British appointed him mufti and named him president of the newly created Supreme Muslim Council. In 1936 Arab groups formed the Arab High Committee, with al-usayn as chairman, demanding an end to Jewish immigration to Palestine. The British forced him out in 1937, and he went to Lebanon; he spent World War II (1939-45) in Germany and fled to Egypt afterward