Modern Islamic History

Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (born c. 1895-97, died 1974) was appointed grand mufti of Jerusalem and president of the Supreme Muslim Council in 1921. This article treats his institutional career, in particular the council's restoration of the Dome of the Rock.

Islamic history from 1800 to the present: the weakening of the Ottoman and other Muslim empires, the period of European colonial rule, the independence movements that followed, the founding of the modern Muslim states, and the changes since.

Omar al-Mukhtar (1858-1931) was a Libyan resistance leader who fought Italian colonization for over twenty years. Known as the 'Lion of the Desert,' he became a symbol of anti-colonial resistance and Islamic steadfastness, leading guerrilla warfare until his capture and execution at age 73.

Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) co-founded Fatah in the late 1950s, chaired the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 until his death, and was president of the Palestinian Authority from 1996. He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for the 1993 agreement with Israel.