Husayni, Amin al-

Husayni, Amin al-

(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-Husayni 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.