1894 - 1956
Prime minister of Jordan between 1938 and 1954.
Abu al-Huda formed Jordan's first cabinet of ministers in August 1949; until then, the government was an executive council under the terms of the British Mandate and the Anglo - Jordanian Treaty. He was part of the delegation that negotiated with Britain on amendments that led to new government structures, including a cabinet responsible to the head of state and a legislative council. He was leader of the Executive Council or prime minister twelve times between 1938 and 1954.
Abu al-Huda helped King Abdullah I ibn Hussein steer through the political maze during the Arab - Israel War of 1948 and the union between central Palestine and Transjordan. When King Abdullah was assassinated, Abu al-Huda was chosen by his peers, on 25 July 1951, to form the cabinet that saw Jordan through those troubled times. Paradoxically, he presided over the enactment of the very liberal constitution of 1952 under an impetus from King Talal ibn Abdullah. Yet, during this two-year period, which ended with King Hussein ibn Talal ascending the throne, there was a shift of power from the king to the prime minister. As a consequence, Abu al-Huda exercised more power than any other prime minister in the history of Jordan.
When Fawzi al-Mulqi's cabinet, the first under King Hussein, was shaken by disturbances following border clashes with Israel, the king turned to the veteran Abu al-Huda to form the new cabinet. He convinced the king to dissolve parliament on 22 June 1954 as an assertion of executive dominance over the legislature. He issued the Defense Regulations of 1954, empowering the cabinet to deny licenses to political parties, dissolve existing parties, prohibit public meetings, and censor the press. The opposition charged that the new elections were fixed, and Abu al-Huda's measures encouraged the opposition to seek extraparliamentary forms of dissent. Popular opposition forced his last cabinet to resign.
Bibliography
Satloff, Robert B. From Abdullah to Hussein: Jordan in Transition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
— JENAB TUTUNJI UPDATED BY MICHAEL R. FISCHBACH
