Haditha Al-Khraisha

Haditha Ali Abdullah Al-Khraisha was a Bedouin tribal sheikh in Jordan in the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. Haditha was one of the two paramount sheikhs of the Bani Sakhr Tribe, arguably the most powerful tribe in Jordan. Haditha headed the northern clans of the Bani Sakher (al-Ka'abnah), while Mithgal Al-Fayez headed the other half, (al-Twaga). In the early twentieth century, Haditha and the Bani Sakhr, in addition to other Trans-Jordanian tribes such as the Huweitat and the Belqawiah, fought the Wahhabi Ikhwan, a religious militia who helped establish Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud as the first King of Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabi Ikhwan were Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud's tool for territorial expansion and lent religious legitimacy to Ibn Saud's territorial and political ambitions. According to King Faisal Al Saud the armed resistance that Bani Sakhr put up against Ibn Saud and the Wahhabi Ikhwan was "the reason that Saudi Arabia's borders do not extend all the way to Palestine and why the Al Sauds never became the rulers of the Levant". Haditha was known throughout Arabia for his wisdom and chivalry, He played a significant role in building the nascent Jordanian state and shaping its development. An ally and supporter of King Abdullah I, Haditha served several terms as Senator and Parliamentarian, including the first Jordanian Senate in 1947 which consisted of only ten members. Haditha was also elected to the second Legislative Council in June 1931, and the Fourth Legislative Council in 1937 while Jordan was still an Emirate. Haditha was also one of the founding members of the Jordanian Solidarity Party in March 1933. Sheikh Haditha also cultivated the oasis of Azraq, Jordan.