The Hashemites or the Bani Hashim are the direct descendents of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), through his daughter Fatima and (her husband) his cousin Ali (the fourth, and last, "Rightly-Guided" Caliph of Islam). "Hashim" was the name of the great-grandfather of both the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Caliph Ali. The Hashemite family ruled, in various forms, over the Hejaz (the Western part of Arabia which includes the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina) from the time of the Caliph Ali in the Seventh Century CE until 1925 CE.
