Mohammed Tahir Mustafa Tahir al-Husayni (alternatively transliterated al-Husseini) ( ar, محمد طاهر مصطفى طاهر الحسيني, 1842–1908) was the ''

Qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

'' (Chief Justice) of the Sharia courts of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and was the father of Kamil al-Husayni and

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...

, both of whom held the equivalent position in the British mandated period of

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The position was created by the British military government led by Ronald Storrs in 1918.See Islamic Leadershi ...

. Born in Jerusalem to the

al-Husayni Husayni ( ar, الحسيني also spelled Husseini) is the name of a prominent Palestinian Arab clan formerly based in Jerusalem, which claims descent from Husayn ibn Ali (the son of Ali). The Husaynis follow the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam ...

family, Tahir was appointed the Qadi of Jerusalem in the 1860s by officials in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. From 1865 until his death, he held the post of Mufti of Jerusalem. Tahir sat on the committee of ''A'ayan'' scrutinising land sales to foreigners in the Jerusalem area, this in effect stopped land sales to

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s for a few years, beginning in 1897. When he died, his son Kamil became the Mufti of Jerusalem and later (1918) the Grand Mufti. Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni was one of the earliest critics of Zionism, in the 1880s and 1890s, and he tried several times to prevent Jewish immigrants from purchasing lands in the Mutasarrifiyya of Jerusalem.Beška, Emanuel: Responses of Prominent Arabs Towards Zionist Aspirations and Colonization Prior to 1908. In Asian and African Studies, 16, 1, 2007

/ref> In 1897, a commission headed by the Mufti managed to halt Jewish immigration for the next few years. When the Administrative Council received a report about Jewish immigration in September 1899, Mufti Husayni "proposed that the new arrivals be terrorised prior to the expulsion of all foreign Jews established in Palestine since 1891." But his extreme proposal was turned down by the Mutasarrif in favor of a policy which allowed Jewish immigration as long as the immigrants assimilated as Ottoman citizens.

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Palestinian Personalities: Al-Hussaini, Mohammed Tahir

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