Al-khasawneh

Al-Khasawneh or Khasawneh (Arabic: الخصاونه‎‎) (other transliterations include Khassawneh, khassaweneh, Khasawinah, Khassawnih, Khasawnih, Khasawineh, Khassawineh, Khassawneh, Khasawne, Khasawna, and Khasawnah all of which may also be preceded by 'Al' or 'El'), is a prominent Arab Muslim clan descending from the noble family of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and Imam Husayn ibn Ali.

At the time of the Ottoman Empire, Northern Jordan was a sanjak (administrative division) of the town of Ajloun. The Al-Khasawneh appeared in the second part of the 16th century in Ein Al-Sharah in the mountainous part of Ajloun where they were engaged in constant clashes with bedouin tribes and other local forces before becoming a dominant group in the area known as Al-Asar district (nahiyah, Ajloun). An Ottoman document of 1757 records that their sheikh Musa Al-Hamad was the sheikh of the Banu Obaid group and responsible for contributing to the protection of the annual pilgrimage caravan or hajj to Mecca– a highly lucrative and sought after office. Later on, this part of Al-Asar district was renamed the Banu Obaid district in a classic case of a newcomer group giving their own name to a geographic area. It continues to be known by that name and the Al-Khasawneh are the traditional hereditary sheikhs of the district, although the Nuseirat clan have competed with them at times for the sheikhdom of the district.

In the second part of the 18th century, well-known rebel Zahir al-Umar, of Galilee and later Acre extended his rule to the Ajloun area through his son Ahmad al-Zahir. The Ottomans, preoccupied with their war against Russia that ended with the Kunuk Kenarcha treaty of 1775, had no choice but to acquiesce to Zahir's territorial expansion. In conjunction with his bedouin allies, Musa Al-Hamad led a number of battles against Zahir and his son, but was later appointed a member of a consultative group of sheikhs by Ahmad, son of Zahir, who nevertheless remained suspicious of his intentions. When Ahmad was informed in the early 1770s that Musa was trying to raise a revolt against him, he invited Musa to his citadel at Tubna in the Koura district of Ajloun, where he was killed after dinner. After 1775 the Ottomans, now free to tackle Zahir, sent both Hussein Pasha and Ahmad beik, later Pasha, El-Jazzar against Zahir, who was killed, signalling the beginning of a revolt in Ajloun where the Al-Khasawneh and their allies attacked the citadel of Tubna. In the event, Ahmad, son of Zahir, escaped to Palestine and threw himself on the mercy of Ottoman officials who took him to Istanbul.

...
Wikipedia