Abdullah II of Jordan
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Abdullah II (Abdullah bin Hussein; born 30 January 1962) is the King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of the Hashemites, who have been the reigning royal family of Jordan since 1921, and is traditionally regarded a 41st-generation direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad. Abdullah was born in Amman, as the first child of King Hussein and his wife, Princess Muna. As the king's eldest son, Abdullah was heir apparent until Hussein transferred the title to Abdullah's uncle Prince Hassan in 1965. Abdullah began his schooling in Amman, continuing his education abroad. He began his military career in 1980 as a training officer in the Jordanian Armed Forces, later assuming command of the country's Special Forces in 1994, eventually becoming a major general in 1998. In 1993, Abdullah married Rania Al-Yassin, with whom he has four children: Crown Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem. A few weeks before his death in 1999, King Hussein named Abdullah his heir, and Abdullah succeeded his father. Abdullah, a constitutional monarch with wide executive and legislative powers, liberalized the economy when he assumed the throne. His reforms led to an economic boom which continued until 2008. During the following years, Jordan's economy experienced hardship as it dealt with the effects of the Great Recession and spillover from the Arab Spring. In 2011, large-scale protests demanding reform erupted in the Arab world, which led to civil wars in some countries. Abdullah responded quickly to domestic unrest by replacing the government and introducing reforms. Proportional representation was reintroduced to the Jordanian parliament for the 2016 election, a move which he said would eventually lead to establishing a parliamentary government, but government critics remained skeptical, viewing the reforms as cosmetic changes. The reforms took place amid unprecedented challenges stemming from regional instability, including an influx of 1.4 million Syrian refugees. Abdullah is known for promoting interfaith dialogue and a moderate understanding of Islam. The longest-serving current Arab leader, he is custodian of the Muslim and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem, a position held by his dynasty since 1924. The 2021 Pandora Papers revealed Abdullah's hidden wealth through offshore entities, countered by the Royal Court citing privacy and security reasons, attributing the funds to inherited wealth.