The atmosphere of Arabia between the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the kingdoms and states within the Arabian Peninsula was chaotic. The region was wrought with conflict amongst rival groups that were attempting to consolidate power. This is especially true within in the region currently known as Saudi Arabia whereby Shareef Hussein’s Hashemites and ‘Abd al-‘Az?z ibn Sa’ud’s Wahhabi fought for dominance. The military element of the conflict was over by the end of 1925. ‘Abd al-‘Az?z was in physical control of the entirety of the Hedjaz region including the Holy City of Mecca. However, the real war between ‘Abd al-‘Az?z and the Hashemite family for control of the region was only in its infancy. For all apparent reasons, legitimate control of Mecca was more complicated than soldiers in the streets. It was a conflict of competing interpretations of legitimacy. As such, my research endeavored to answer the following question: how did ‘Abd al-‘Az?z ibn Sa’ud establish legitimacy to rule Mecca and the Hedjaz? I argue that ‘Abd al-‘Az?z claimed his legitimacy through the Hajj. More specifically, ‘Abd al-‘Az?z focused on the institution of the Hajj and its attendance as a means to first destabilize the Hashemite government and then later to establish his own dominance in the region. In brief, my inquiry is focused on conflicted notions of Middle Eastern legitimacy and their relationship to state formation and development. My research relied on a detailed set of U.S. diplomatic documents from American consulates and embassies in Mecca, Aden, Beirut, Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Cairo that have not been used in any significant manner to this point. In addition, I also used the journals of several British diplomats including H.S.B. Philby and Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton who were in the region at the time. The intent of this research is to bring to light an era of Arabian history and pieces of twentieth century Islamic political thought that have long been overlooked.