IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL

AND MAY GOD’S PRAYERS AND BLESSINGS BE

UPON HIS ARAB, HASHEMITE, FAITHFUL PROPHET,

AND UPON THE PROPHET’S HOUSEHOLD AND DISCIPLES.

Dear brother Jordanians,

May God’s peace and blessings be upon you, and furthermore,

The happiest and most blessed moments are those that unite me with you to convey to you my best greetings, and to greet you as a brother who yearns for his brothers and his clan after his long absence, and after his longing for his country has reached a peak. You are the best of families, and the best of tribes, the noble men and women of our beloved Jordan. You are the best companions on our journey, the honest and faithful men, who are not swayed by events, and whose determination is not diminished by difficulties or challenges. You are the men who have never known any loyalty save to the soil of Jordan, nor any allegiance save to its message and banner. I have known you over the long years, in course of which we have built Jordan together, with our faith, determination, and endeavour. By the grace of God, we have overcome all obstacles, difficulties, and challenges. We have been at the forefront of our nation, defending its causes and its future. For this, we had to endure more than mountains could bear. I attest that you have always been the most faithful to your pledge, the purest in your conscience, the noblest in your intentions, the most constant in your determination, the greatest in your sacrifices, and the most enduring in the face of hardships, perils, and challenges. May God reward you bounteously and grant you faith to consolidate your faith.

And furthermore, my beloved brothers, we thank God as befits His majesty, omnipotence, and boundless mercy. We thank Him in adversity, through our acceptance of His judgement and our faith in his magnanimity, and we thank him in prosperity for having granted me recovery, as well as his countless other blessings.

My brothers, my family, my clan,

I was keen, since I left our homeland to start my treatment, to maintain contact with you, and to inform you in honesty of the most minute details of my health condition, and the progress of the treatment. This has always been my attitude towards you. The pioneer does not lie to his people, nor does he conceal from them that which he believes they need to know; for life and death are in the hand of God, and when the time comes, none shall delay it nor advance it even by an hour. Our prayers, and our hope is to gain the acceptance of the Almighty, and to be among those who meet Him in his Mercy.

In spite of the length of the treatment, and its difficulty, and the effects of this type of treatment, such as physical and emotional pains and exhaustion, I have been careful to maintain two aspects of the sense of duty: The first was the faith in God’s justice with which every Hashemite, descending from the house of the Prophet, and honoured by Islam, faces hardships with courage, endurance, and tranquillity springing from his faith in God’s mercy and acceptance of God’s judgement. I thank the Almighty God for filling my heart with tranquillity and contentment, and for giving me the courage, determination, endurance, and tranquillity. My heart was never faint, my conscience did not know impatience nor solitude, nor did my determination and hope waver. Instead, my spirit was fortified by readings from the Koran, which I did at night and during the day, and which suffused my heart with contentment and lit my conscience with hope.

The second was my concern to keep abreast with your news, and to remain apprised continuously of the affairs of the nation in all their details, through the information provided for me by my dear brother and deputy, His Royal Highness Prince Hassan, who spared no effort, and who gave generously, for which he has our thanks and appreciation, and through my meetings with high officials. This was in fulfilment of my pledge to you since the first moment when God honoured me with the prime responsibility in our beloved Jordan. I committed myself willingly to devote every moment of my life to serving you and to realising the hopes and ambitions for which we have all devoted our lives, to complete the march started by our fathers and grandfathers, when they marched behind Al-Hussein Bin Ali, and took their place under the banner of the (Great Arab) Revolt, and later, when they sought the leadership of the founding grandfather, the martyr Abdullah Ibn Al-Hussein. These are the noble hopes and ambitions for which they have offered legions of martyrs and made great sacrifices.

I recall the 14 / 11 / 1952, when I addressed to you a message from here in London. I said to you: “Trust that I shall always be with you in my spirit and my mind, that my heart yearns to meet with you, that I constantly think of your good, that I am eager to serve you, that I shall strive to achieve your prosperity, and that I pledge to you before God to stay always in touch with you, to listen to your wishes, and to work to realise them as much as I can.” I have fulfilled this pledge. Neither the distance, not the illness have stood between us. You and our beloved Jordan have been in my heart and in my conscience. I feel your pulse and the warmth of your sincere feelings, and I share with you every moment of happiness or anxiety.

Your sincere prayers that sprang from hearts full of faith and love, asking the Almighty God to bless me with recovery and health, and your constant inquiries after my condition, your eagerness for my return to you, and all the noble and pure sentiments that you expressed, in all spontaneity, truth, and faithfulness, have reached me. They encouraged me and they gave me strength, determination, hope, assurance, peace, and confidence regarding the future. Your noble and loyal sentiments will fill me with appreciation, thankfulness, and pride for as long as I live.

Now that I have recovered fully, by the grace of God, it will be merely the batting of an eyelid before I am again in your midst, so that we can resume the work to build our nation, with the initiative, resolve determination, and strength that you have always known in you brother AL-Hussein. Thank God, my determination is the same, the resolve that has never wavered is still as you have always known it. We should, soon, make a comprehensive review of our nation’s progress and address all issues and challenges that occupy our minds or handicap our blessed progress.

I have learnt, brothers, that you are preparing to celebrate my return to the homeland, and that you will come out to welcome me, as you did years ago when I returned from my first trip for treatment, to embody the strongest, deepest and noblest bond between a leader and his people, as you flock from all the towns and villages of Jordan, from its countryside and desert, to Amman, our proud capital city that is Arab in its face, voice, and conscience, as it receives your brother Al-Hussein, and as its mountains, and hills echo your cheers, songs, and noble nationalist chants.

I wish to request of you, my dear brothers and family, that we should avoid firing gunshots as an expression of our happiness, so as to avoid robbing anyone among us, or any Jordanian family of his or their pleasure with a stray bullet that may hit someone. I know that you miss me, and that you have waited a long time for this reunion. God knows how much I miss you, and how happy I am to be with you again. But let us express our joy in a civilised way free from any action that may cause even the slightest harm, or mar the happiness of any member of our great Jordanian family. That would be unacceptable, and incompatible with our values and breeding. I am full of hope that this request will meet your acceptance and approval.

Furthermore, dear brothers,

I would like to address my thanks and appreciation to each and every one among you, the sons of the great and united family of Al-Hussein, of all backgrounds and origins, in your cities, countryside, and desert, for your feelings of love and loyalty that are without equal in the world. I salute you and I shake your hand one by one, the soldier at his outpost, the worker in his factory, the farmer in his field, the civil servant in his department, the student in his school or university, and the elderly, the mothers, and children in their homes. I say to all of you, may God reward you bounteously for me and for the nation.

As for the brothers and friends, the leaders, presidents, and princes of friendly and brotherly countries, and the officials and citizens from all parts of the world who have hurried to comfort themselves regarding my condition, and to inquire after my health, or who expressed wishes and prayers for my recovery, I give them all my thanks and appreciation, and I ask God to reward them for me.

My dear brothers,

I salute you, and I thank you once again, and I congratulate you on the arrival of Eid Al-Fitr, may God make it one of prosperity for us all, and for all the Arab and Islamic nations. I ask the Almighty God to bless and keep you, and to guide our footsteps to the path of righteousness. Our tryst is tomorrow, and tomorrow is close to those that await it. Many happy returns of the Eid to you all and to Jordan.

May God’s peace and blessings be with you.