Taj al-Din al-Hasani

President Taj al-Din al-Hasani تاج الدين الحسني
Head of State of Syria
In office 15 February 1928 – 19 November 1931
Preceded by	Damad-i Shariyari Ahmad Nami Bay
Succeeded by	Muhammad 'Ali Bay al-'Abid
In office 16 September 1941 – 17 January 1943
Preceded by	Khalid al-Azm (acting)
Succeeded by	Jamil al-Ulshi (Acting)
Prime Minister of Syria
In office 16 March 1934 – 22 February 1936
Preceded by	Haqqi Bey al-Azm
Succeeded by	Ata al-Ayyubi
Personal details
Born	1885 Damascus, Ottoman Syria
Died	17 January 1943 (aged 58) Damascus, Syria
Spouse(s)	Mousirra Midani
Children	Dia al-Din · Shams al-Din Inam (spouse: Munir al-Ajlani) Isaaf · Saad al-Din · Amira Diab
Religion	Sunni Islam

Taj al-Din al-Hasani (Arabic: تاج الدين الحسني‎‎ ; 1885 – 17 January 1943) was a French-appointed Syrian leader and politician. He was born and raised into a family of Muslim scholars in Damascus. His father was Bader al-Din al-Hasani, one of the most respected Islamic scholars in the late nineteenth century.

The young Hasani studied Islamic theology with his father, and in 1905 became his personal assistant. He trained young students of his generation in conduct and thought. In 1912, he became a member in the committee for school reform, which was established by the Municipality of Damascus. In 1916, he became editor-in-chief of al-Sharq (The East), a daily newspaper published by Jamal Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Syria. He held this position throughout World War I. When the war ended in 1918, his father delegated him to meet with King Faisal I, the first post-Ottoman ruler of Syria, and explain the conditions and needs of Muslim establishments in Syria. Faisal was impressed by Hasani’s eloquence and, in March 1920, appointed him Director of the Royal Palace. He retained this post until the French occupied Syria in July 1920 and dethroned Faysal, setting up their mandate in Syria. Hasani went to Paris and established secret channels with the French, promising them absolute support if they agreed to support his political ambitions. The French government accepted and began grooming him for future leadership in Syria.

In 1925, the French High Commissioner Maurice Sarrail asked Hasani to form a government during the climax of a national uprising in the Arab Mountain. Hasani failed to create a suitable composition. He was given a second opportunity and succeeded, creating a government of prominent figures on 15 February 1928. With no presidential office in Syria, Hasani was vested with supreme presidential powers, but had to submit all of his actions and decrees to the French High Commissioner in Beirut. His cabinet included the historian and scholar Muhammad Kurd Ali as Minister of Education, the attorney Said Mahasin as Minister of Justice, and Jamil al-Ulshi, an Ottoman-trained officer and ex-prime minister, as Minister of Finance. The opponents to his regime were mainly hard-line nationalists who criticized the French connections of Ulshi, Mahasin, and Hasani, claiming that they had not contributed to the nationalist movement since the French Mandate was imposed in 1920. In April 1928, Hasani held office for three months on the Constituent Assembly that drafted the first republican constitution for Syria. Hasani ruled Syria with three different cabinets from February 1928 until November 1931. The opposition, headed by the National Bloc, accused him of tampering with the ballots to secure his election through Interior Minister Sa’id Mahasin. In 1932, Hasani nominated himself for presidential office. The French, who were under mounting nationalist pressure to reform the political system in Syria, distanced themselves from the elections. With no proper French backing, he was defeated at the polls.

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