Husayni was a graduate from the Istanbul School of Administration and held many administrative positions (among others district Governor of Yemen, 1908) in the Ottoman Empire from which he retired on the eve of World War I. He was elected president of the Arab Executive Committee at the 3rd Congress in Haifa, 14 December, 1920 and held this position until 1928. He was dismissed from the office of mayor of Jerusalem after his involvement in the 1920 Palestine riots.