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King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud
The founder of Saudi Arabia, King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman Al Sa‘ud, changed the history of the Arabian Peninsula with a unifying religious faith, deft, inclusive politics, and a courageous and inspiring personality. Reestablishing his family's rule, he laid the cornerstone of a modern nation. 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd al-Rahman Al Sa'ud was in the sixth generation in direct descent from Sa'ud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin, who died in 1725 and from whom the Al Sa'ud and Saudi Arabia take their names.
The founder of the modern state of Saudi Arabia not only recovered the territory of the first Al Saud empire, but made a state out of it. Abd al Aziz did this by maneuvering among a number of forces. The first was the religious fervor that Wahhabi Islam continued to inspire. His Wahhabi army, the Ikhwan, for instance, represented a powerful tool, but one that proved so difficult to control that the ruler ultimately had to destroy it. At the same time, Abd al Aziz had to anticipate the manner in which events in Arabia would be viewed abroad and allow foreign powers, particularly the British, to have their way.
Abd al Aziz restored the family from virtual political extinction by reintroducing the crusading zeal of Wahhabi Islam. Abd al Aziz established the Saudi state in three stages, namely, by retaking Najd in 1905, defeating the Shammar clan at Hail in 1921, and conquering the Hijaz in 1924.
At the time of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz's birth in 1880 or thereabouts, central Arabia had fallen into political fragmentation, and the Al Sa‘ud in Riyadh were engaged in a power struggle with the rulers of the city of Hayil, the al-Rashids. This conflict led ‘Abd al-‘ Aziz's father, ‘Abd al-Rahman, to evacuate his family from Riyadh in 1891.
Among Abdulrahman’s followers into exile was his teenage son named Abdulaziz, a tall young man who was already distinguishing himself as a fierce warrior for Islam and a natural leader of men. Unable to contain his boundless energy in the confines of Kuwait City, he sought permission from his father to embark on what seemed like a suicidal mission: to head out leading a small force of men in an attempt to retake Riyadh.
In 1893, the Al Sa‘ud were invited to Kuwait by its ruler, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Sabah. By now ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was a young man, conspicuously tall and strong, and he soon became great friends with Shaykh Muhammad's half-brother, Mubarak. After Mubarak seized power from his brother, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was invited to attend the daily majlis, or royal audience, at which petitions were presented and grievances heard.
The seizure of Najd by the al-Rashids was a perpetual source of pain to him and his father, to whom he was very close. Najd had been central to the first and second Saudi states, and its loss engendered a deep sense of resolve in ‘Abd al-‘Aziz to act to recover his patrimony, to restore the Al Sa‘ud to the leadership of central Arabia.
In the first phase, Abd al Aziz acted as tribal leaders had acted for centuries. Twenty-one-year-old Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud left Kuwait in 1901, determined to recapture all of the territory once held by his forefathers and to extend his protection over the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. In early 1901, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz joined a raid led by Shaykh Mubarak from Kuwait into the Rashids' territory and took advantage of it to attempt to seize Riyadh. He besieged its fortress and held the city for three months before withdrawing. After that, he immediately began planning for a new offensive.
Taking advantage of the fact that most of the Rashid forces were deployed in a counterattack against Kuwait, he undertook the daring raid in early 1902. In the beginning he was accompanied by 40 men, including members of his family. At the eve of the 5th of Shawwal the number of men accompanying King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz had increased to 63. Traveling at night and away from the main caravan routes to avoid detection, he reached the city, which was garrisoned by a large hostile force, and recaptured it in 1902 with only 40 men.
Welcomed as a returning leader, he later that day led Riyadh's inhabitants in prayer. Aware of the importance of keeping his grip on Riyadh, he immediately began repairs to the city walls. He also set about gaining the allegiance of the local populace and forged alliances with local tribes to undermine the Rashids' political power base. One of his first tasks was to establish himself in Riyadh as the Al Saud leader and the Wahhabi imam. Abd al Aziz obtained the support of the religious establishment in Riyadh, and this relatively swift recognition revealed the political force of Wahhabi authority. Leadership in this tradition did not necessarily follow age, but it respected lineage and, particularly, action. Despite his relative youth, by taking Riyadh Abd al Aziz had showed he possessed the qualities the tribes valued in a leader.
With Saudi rule firmly reestablished in their ancient capital, Abdulaziz began what turned out to be a 30-year struggle to reunite the tribes and city dwellers into what became the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ibn Sa'ud was anti-Turkish, but also anti-British, anti-Sherifian, anti-Shammar and leader of the puritanical Wahhabi sect (who rejected all luxury and the worship of saints, including Mohammed). However, he was also anxious to be on the winning side.
By 1905 the Ottoman governor in Iraq recognized Abd al Aziz as an Ottoman client in Najd. The Al Saud ruler accepted Ottoman suzerainty because it improved his political position. Nevertheless he made concurrent overtures to the British to rid Arabia of Ottoman influence.
Ibn Rashid of the Shammar saw an alliance with the Turks as the best way to remain independent from the Sherif and from Ibn Sa'ud of Riyadh. Open conflict between Al Sa‘ud and the al-Rashids ended with the death in battle of Ibn Rashid in 1906, and the al-Rashids withdrew to their power base in Hayil, in northwestern Arabia. Often, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz took wives from the ranks of those he had defeated. Such actions were primarily political, part of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz's overall strategy of inclusion rather than division. This even extended to the al-Rashids, who continued to skirmish with ‘Abd al-‘Aziz through the early 1920's. Ever mindful of the need to keep an eye on one's potential foes, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz later welcomed the surviving members of the al-Rashids into his court, where they remained and were treated well, as befitted their noble status.
‘Abd al-‘Aziz then turned his attention to other centers of opposition, and over the next few years, he personally led his men to victory on many occasions.
Following the Young Turk coup of 1908, the Ottomans abandoned their pluralistic and pan-Islamic policies, instead pursuing a policy of secular Turkish nationalism. The formerly cosmopolitan and tolerant Ottoman Empire began overtly discriminating against its non-Turkish inhabitants. Arabs in particular were faced with political, cultural and linguistic persecution. During this time, Arab nationalist groups in Syria, Iraq and Arabia began to rally. When the Ottomans entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers in 1914, they arrested many Arab nationalist figures in Damascus and Beirut. Arabs were further threatened by the construction of the Hijaz Railway, connecting Damascus and Mecca, which promised to facilitate the mobility of Turkish troops into the Arab heartland.
Desperate to court him once war with the Turks became a reality in 1914, the British Government engaged in a long-term strategic relationship that benefited both sides: British support aided the Saudis in their efforts to reunify the country, which meant driving the Turks from the region, and the rising Arabian polity that resulted meant that Britain could look upon a friendly government in a part of the world that the British regarded as essential to the defense of the centerpiece of their empire —India.
In 1913 ‘Abd al-‘Aziz marched dramatically onto the international stage, seizing first the Turkish garrison at Hofuf and then the coastal towns of al-‘Uqayr and Qatif, thus winning control of the Gulf coast. With this campaign, he brought into the Saudi remit an area that was, by virtue of its oil reserves, to provide unparalleled wealth for his nation in later years.
About this time, the Ikhwan movement began to emerge among the beduin. The Ikhwan movement spread Wahhabi Islam among the nomads. Stressing the same strict adherence to religious law that Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab had preached, Ikhwan beduin abandoned their traditional way of life in the desert and move to an agricultural settlement called a hijra. The word hijra was related to the term for the Prophet's emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622, conveying the sense that one who settles in a hijra moves from a place of unbelief to a place of belief. By moving to the hijra the Ikhwan intended to take up a new way of life and dedicate themselves to enforcing a rigid Islamic orthodoxy. Once in the hijra the Ikhwan became extremely militant in enforcing upon themselves what they believed to be correct sunna (custom) of the Prophet, enjoining public prayer, mosque attendance, and gender segregation and condemning music, smoking, alcohol, and technology unknown at the time of the Prophet. They attacked those who refused to conform to Wahhabi interpretations of correct Islamic practice and tried to convert Muslims by force to their version of Wahhabism. The Ikhwan looked eagerly for the opportunity to fight nonWahhabi Muslims--and non-Muslims as well--and they took Abd al Aziz as their leader in this. By 1915 there were more than 200 hujar in and around Najd and nearly 100,000 Ikhwan waiting for a chance to fight.
Relying on the Ottomans to maintain stability in the Middle East before the war, Britain had earlier disdained a pact with Abd al Aziz, but after Britain's declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire in October 1914, the British sought an alliance with the House of Saud. By a treaty signed in December 1914, the British recognized Saudi independence from the Ottoman Empire and provided Abd al Aziz with financial subsidies and small arms. As his part of the agreement, Abd al Aziz promised to keep 4,000 men in the field against the House of Rashid, which was associated with the Ottomans.
In 1915 Abd al Aziz had various goals: he wanted to take Hail from the Al Rashid, to extend his control into the northern deserts in present-day Syria and Jordan, and to take over the Hijaz and the Persian Gulf coast. The British, however, had become more and more involved in Arabia because of World War I, and Abd al Aziz had to adjust his ambitions to British interests. The British prevented the Al Saud from taking over much of the gulf coast where they had established protectorates with several ruling dynasties. They also opposed Abd al Aziz's efforts to extend his influence beyond the Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi deserts because of their own imperial interests.
To the west, the British were allied with the Sharif family who ruled the Hijaz from their base in Mecca. The British encouraged the Sharif family to revolt against the Ottomans and so open a second front against them in World War I. Seeing an opportunity to liberate Arab lands from Turkish oppression, and trusting the honor of British officials who promised their support for a unified kingdom for the Arab lands, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, Emir of Mecca and King of the Arabs (and great grandfather of King Hussein), launched the Great Arab Revolt during the Great War. In 1916, the then Grand Hussein ibn Ali, proclaimed the independence Sharif of the Arabs. Although he initially assumed the leadership of all the Arabs, the lack of allied recognition and opposition from Imam Yahya of Yemen and ibn Saud of Najd, resulted in his recognition as King of Hijaz alone.
In this situation, Abd al Aziz had no choice but to focus his attentions on Hail. Bolstered by Ikhwan forces, Saudi control was extended to the outskirts of Hail, the Rashidi capital, by 1917. This caused problems with the Ikhwan because, unlike Mecca and Medina, Hail had no religious significance and the Wahhabis had no particular quarrel with the Rashidi clan who controlled it.
The Sharif family in Mecca, however, was another story. The Wahhabis had long borne a grudge against the Sharif because of their traditional opposition to Wahhabism. The ruler, Hussein, had made the situation worse by forbidding the Ikhwan to make the pilgrimage and then seeking non-Muslim, British help against the Muslim Ottomans.
When the Ottoman sultan, who had held the title of caliph, was deposed at the end of World War I, the Sharif took the title for himself. He had hoped that the new honor would gain him greater Muslim support, but the opposite happened. Many Muslims were offended that Hussein should handle Muslim tradition in such cavalier fashion and began to object strongly to his rule. To make matters worse for Hussein, the British were no longer willing to prop him up after the war. Abd al Aziz's efforts to control the Ikhwan in Transjordan as well as his accommodation of British interests in the gulf had proved to them he could act responsibly.
After the conclusion of the war, the victors reneged on their promises to the Arabs, carving from the dismembered Ottoman lands a patchwork system of mandates and protectorates. Armed conflict with the Saudis continued after the conclusion of the Great War, eventually forcing Hussein to give up his throne in favour of his eldest son, Ali. King Ali's younger brothers, Abdullah and Faisal, had become Amir of Transjordan (later King of Jordan) and King of Iraq, respectively. While the colonial powers denied the Arabs their promised single unified Arab state, it is nevertheless testimony to the effectiveness of the Great Arab Revolt that the Hashemite family was able to secure Arab rule over Transjordan, Iraq and Arabia.
Turkey's defeat in World War I left a political vacuum that ‘Abd al-‘Aziz had been readying himself to fill for some time. In 1919 the Ikhwan completely destroyed an army that Hussein had sent against them near the town of Turabah, which lay on the border between the Hijaz and Najd. The Ikhwan so completely decimated the Sharif's troops that there were no forces left to defend the Hijaz, and the entire area cowered under the threat of a Wahhabi attack. By 1920 he had assumed control over ‘Asir in the southwest and over the al-Rashid stronghold of Hayil in the north. He was then able to turn his attention to the Hijaz, in which were located the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah and the major port of Jiddah. Abd al Aziz restrained the Ikhwan and managed to direct them toward Hail, which they took easily in 1921. The Ikhwan went beyond Hail, however, and pushed into central Transjordan where they challenged Hussein's son, Abd Allah, whose rule the British were trying to establish after the war. At this point, Abd al Aziz again had to rein in his troops to avoid further problems with the British. The British-brokered 1922 Treaty of Uqair, which defined the boundaries of Iraq and Kuwait, was aimed primarily at containing Saudi expansion into territories ruled by Britain's protegés, a fact that is now often forgotten.
By 1924, when the Ikhwan had conquered the Hijaz, almost all the territory of the present-day Saudi state was under Abd al Aziz's authority. The Al Saud conquest of the Hijaz had been possible since the battle at Turabah in 1919. Abd al Aziz had been waiting for the right moment and in 1924, he found it. The British did not encourage him to move into Mecca and Medina, but they also gave no indication that they would oppose him. So the Wahhabi armies took over the area with little opposition. The Hashemites suffered a major blow when King Ali bin al-Hussein, the eldest brother of Abdullah and Faisal, lost the throne of the Kingdom of the Hijaz to Abdel Aziz bin Saud of Najd. Ali ibn Hussein, King of the Hijaz and Grand Sharif of Mecca, had experienced no success against ibn Saud and was himself forced to evacuate Mecca and Medina on 19 December 1925, so as to avoid bloodshed and profanation of the Holy cities. The loss, which was brought about by a partnership between Ibn Saud and followers of the Wahhabi movement, led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and brought to an end over one thousand years of Hashemite rule in Mecca.
When he became the ruler of Mecca and Medina as well, Abd al Aziz took on the responsibilities of Khadim al Haramayn (servant of the two shrines) and so assumed an important position in the wider Muslim world. Finally, by maintaining his authority under pressure from the Western powers, Abd al Aziz had become the only truly independent Arab leader after World War I. Thus, he had a role to play in Arab politics as well.
Abd al Aziz was careful not to make more enemies than necessary--and he tried to make those enemies he had into friends. One can see this clearly in his handling of his two rivals from World War I, the Rashidi of Hail and the Sharif of Mecca. After conquering Hail, Abd al Aziz reestablished the marriage links that his ancestor, Turki, had first forged between the two families by marrying three of the Rashidi widows into his family. He made a similar effort to gain the favor of the Hashimites after taking the Hijaz. Rather than expelling the family as a future threat, Abd al Aziz gave some of its members large tracts of land, enabling them to stay in the area and prosper.
On September 23, 1932, Abdel Aziz bin Saud proclaimed this territory the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and himself its king.
Abd al Aziz assured himself the continued loyalty of those who had been allied with him by granting them what favors he could. This was difficult, however, because the new Saudi kingdom had little money in its first twenty years. The event that was to change all this was the discovery of massive oil reserves in the kingdom.
Looking for a foreign company to help develop the Kingdom’s oil reserves, King Abdulaziz chose not one of the many British firms that were already working in the region - in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain - but an American company, a choice made over the objections of Britain, then the dominant global power. The granting of the oil concession on July 7, 1933, to Standard Oil of California, which would evolve into the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), was followed in November of the same year by the establishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
In February 1945, King Abdulaziz met separately with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill along the Suez Canal. The main topic of conversation was the future of the Middle East in the post-war era. The meeting between King Abdulaziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Febuary 14, 1945 set the stage for close Saudi-U.S. relations. While Ibn Saud was angered by the United States’ acceptance of the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine, he overruled Prince Faisal’s call for breaking diplomatic relations with America.
prince (saad bin abdulrahman al-saud allah yerhamu)
more information about king abdulaziz!
The Unification Begins
On 15-16 January 1902, with only 62 supporters Abdul Aziz Al-Saud succeeded in capturing Riyadh. Only 23 men followed him into the city; the rest under his half-brother Mohammed were guarding the camels. Over the next 30 years he united the many Bedouin tribes on the Arabian Peninsula into one unified nation while retrieving al Hasa and the Hejaz, both part of his patrimony, from Turkish rule.
A New Nation
The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932. Abdul Aziz was the first King of Saudi Arabia and ruled until his death in 1953. Several of his sons have succeeded him: King Saud, King Faisal, King Khalid, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and the current ruler The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia
Control of the vast oil reserves that lay beneath the Kingdom was not Abdul Aziz's motive behind his desire to unite the country. Commercial quantities of oil were not discovered in Saudi Arabia until 1938 and the country did not have the resources to develop the oil fields. After World War II partnerships were formed with other countries and the exportation of oil began, yielding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we know today.
Saudi Arabian Trivia
The number of legitimate sons that Ibn Saud fathered has been quoted variously between forty-three and forty-five but the number of his daughters has never been revealed and perhaps never counted. Legitimate wives totaled at least twenty-two with some probably uncounted because of very prompt divorce. His last living son, Hamud, was born in 1947, after a spate of births during 1941-43.
prince (sultan bin salman bin abdulaziz bin abdulrahman al-saud)
King Abduallah Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud
HRH King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud was born in Riyadh in 1924 (1343 H). He was taught by a group of senior Ulema and prominent teachers. His knowledge was enhanced by his wide reading in politics, the economy and culture. In 1962 (1382 H) King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz appointed him Head of the National Guard, a military institution with a civilizing mission. Prince Abdullah heads this organization and has transformed it into a well equipped modern institution. In 1975, King Khaled issued an order appointing HRH as Second Deputy Premier in addition to his post as Head of the National Guard. When King Fahd assumed power following the death of King Khaled on 13/6/1982 (21/8/1402 H), he chose Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz as Crown Prince and First Deputy Premier. Prince Abdullah has played a remarkable role in achieving reconciliation and settling differences between Arab countries. In addition to his wide reading, Prince Abdullah is known for his love of horsemanship, a hobby reflected in his patronage of the Equestrian Club in Riyadh. His penchant for wide reading is evidenced by the establishment of the King Abdul Aziz Public Library in Riyadh, the capital, which contains thousands of books. In addition, he has established the King Abdul Aziz Foundation in Morocco. Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz also patronizes a cultural and social festival held annually in Janadriyah near Riyadh, under the title "National Festival for Heritage and Culture.". All those concerned with cultural, social and heritage activities participate in the festival, which is attended by men of letters and media professionals from Arab and Islamic countries.
the real full name of king abdullah is (abdullah bin abdulaziz bin abdulrahman bin faisal bin turki bin abdullah bin mohammad bin saud bin mohammad bin mugrin bin markhan al-saud)
THE REIGNS OF SAUD AND FAISAL, 1953-75
Upon Abd al Aziz's death in 1953 he was succeeded by his son, Saud. Saud had been designated crown prince some years before in a political act that went back to the days of Muhammad ibn Saud and Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab. The new King Saud did not prove to be a leader equal to the challenges of the next two decades. He was a spendthrift even before he became king, and this became a more crucial issue when he controlled the kingdom's purse strings. Saud paid huge sums to maintain tribal acquiescence to his rule in return for recruits for an immense palace guard, the White Army, so-called because they wore traditional Arab dress rather than military uniforms. Revenues could not match Saud's expenditures for the tribes, subsidies to various foreign groups, and his personal follies. By 1958 the riyal (for value of the riyal, see Glossary) had to be devalued nearly 80 percent, despite annual oil revenues in excess of US$300 million.
Dissatisfaction grew over wasteful expenditures, the lack of development of public projects and educational institutions, and the low wages of the growing labor force. Citizens were becoming aware of the dual culture emerging in Saudi Arabia. Privileged classes had been unknown in the early days of Abd al Aziz's reign; his first palace was made of the same sun-dried mud bricks that the peasants used, shaykhs and beduin herdsmen called each other by their first names, and the clothing of rich and poor was quite similar.
Dissatisfaction came from many sources, chief of which were a few of the more liberal princes and the sons of the rising middle class educated abroad. In an effort to discourage the formation of critical attitudes, college students abroad were forbidden to major in law, political science, or related areas. In 1956 Aramco Saudi workers called a second strike, the first having occurred in 1953. Saud issued a royal decree in June 1956 forbidding further strikes under penalty of dismissal.
In foreign relations Saud followed the inclinations of his father and promoted Arab unity by demanding, in cooperation with Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt, the liberation of Palestine. Saudi Arabia's ties with Egypt had been strengthened by a mutual defense pact in October 1955. Together Nasser and Saud assisted in financing an effort to discourage Jordan from joining the Western-sponsored Baghdad Pact. When French, British, and Israeli forces invaded Egypt in 1956 as a result of Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, Saud granted the equivalent of US$10 million to Egypt, severed diplomatic relations with Britain and France, and placed an embargo on oil shipments to both countries.
United States-Saudi relations also declined during the early years of Saud's reign. Nationalists criticized the leasing of the Dhahran air base to the United States, calling it a concession to American imperialism. In 1954 the United States Point Four mission was dismissed.
A major reorientation of Saudi policy was initiated in 1957 after Saud's successful visit to the United States. In a conference with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Saud gave support to the Eisenhower Doctrine and agreed to a five-year renewal of the lease of the Dhahran air base.
But as Western relations improved, those with Egypt worsened. Egypt and Saudi Arabia had been drawn together because of their mutual interest in obtaining Arab independence from non-Arab foreign intervention. Beyond that point all similarity of objectives vanished. Nasser had deposed a king in Egypt and was encouraging revolutionary attitudes in other Arab countries. His notions of Arab unity and economic socialism were abhorrent to Saud and to many Saudis who wished to preserve an independent and capitalistically oriented kingdom. Furthermore, the Egyptians trafficked with the Soviet Union, from whom the Saudis had declined an arms offer and to whom they denied diplomatic recognition because of their fear of communism. The presence of large numbers of Egyptian military attachés and teachers in Saudi Arabia caused concern among the Saudis that, at the very least, unacceptable views would circulate. Saudi officials were aghast when Syria and Egypt merged in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. Yet the shock generated by news of the union paled before the subsequent disclosures of an alleged conspiracy by Saud to subvert the venture and to assassinate Nasser.
The embarrassed senior members of the royal family had also become increasingly unhappy over Saud's tendency to appoint his inexperienced young sons to major government positions rather than older, more seasoned family members. They feared that such appointments indicated a plan to transfer the succession to his offspring as opposed to the traditional practice of selecting the most senior and experienced family member as leader. These fears, combined with their concern over Saud's profligate spending and the alleged assassination plot, increased family dissatisfaction to the point that senior members of Al Saud urged Saud to relinquish power to Faisal.
On March 24, 1958, Saud issued a royal decree giving Faisal executive powers in foreign and internal affairs, including fiscal planning. As a result of Faisal's initiation of an austerity program in 1959 that included a reduction of subsidies to the royal family, the budget had been balanced, currency stabilized, and embarrassing national debts resolved.
The reductions in the royal household budget incensed Saud and his circle, and a dispute arising out of Saud's desire to give full control of a Hijaz oil refinery to one of his sons made Faisal's position increasingly precarious. In January 1961, Faisal and his Council of Ministers tendered their resignations.
Saud assumed the post of prime minister and made another brother, the progressive Talal, minister of finance and national economy. A new cabinet was formed composed of many Western- educated commoners. There was much talk of innovative governmental moves, but none materialized. Talal, concluding that Saud had misrepresented his intentions to engage his support, departed for Cairo, taking several air force officers and their airplanes with him. Civil war broke out in Yemen in September 1962, and Egyptian forces arrived to support the revolutionaries against the Saudis, who supported the overthrown royalist government. At that time the destruction of the Saudi monarchy seemed a distinct possibility.
Faisal had been restored as deputy prime minister and foreign minister in March 1962, to substitute for Saud, who was in the United States for medical treatment. In October 1962, Faisal was urged by the ulama and many princes to accept the kingship, but he declined, citing his promise to his father to support Saud. Instead Faisal again became prime minister, named Khalid deputy prime minister, and formed a government. He took command of the armed forces and quickly restored their loyalty and morale.
The following month he announced a ten-point plan for reform. Projected changes in the government included promises to issue a constitution, establish local government, and form an independent judiciary with a supreme judicial council composed of secular and religious members. He pledged to strengthen Islam and to reform the Committee for Encouragement of Virtue and Discouragement of Vice (also known as the Committee for Public Morality). Progress was to be ensured by the regulation of economic and commercial activities, and there was to be a sustained effort to develop the country's resources. Social reforms would include provisions for social security, unemployment compensation, educational scholarships, and the abolition of slavery. Consultations between Faisal and President John F. Kennedy led to promises of United States support of Faisal's plans for reform and of Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity. Diplomatic relations were reestablished with Britain and France, and debts to them were repaid.
Faisal's projects and the budgetary allowance necessary to modernize the armed forces for their engagement in Yemen meant that the king's personal income had to be cut. In March 1964, a royal decree endorsed by the royal family and the ulama reduced Saud's powers and his personal budget. The response from Saud, who had been on an extended and expensive tour of Europe with a large entourage, was outrage. Saud tried to garner support for a return to power, but the royal family and ulama held firm. On November 2, 1964, the ulama issued a final fatwa, or religious decree on the matter. Saud was deposed, and Faisal was declared king. This decision terminated almost a decade of external and internal pressure to depose Saud and to assert the power and integrity of conservative forces within the Al Saudi.
During his reign, Saud had largely cut himself off from the citizenry, relying heavily on his advisers, many of whom were primarily concerned with acquiring personal wealth and power. Faisal, in contrast, despite working long hours on affairs of state, made himself available to the public daily in the traditional majlis, followed by a meal open to anyone. During the times he had acted as prime minister for Saud, Faisal had strengthened the power of the Council of Ministers (see The Council of Ministers , ch. 4) and in 1954 had been primarily responsible for the creation of the ministries of commerce and industry and of health.
When Faisal became king (1964-75), he set himself the task of modernizing the kingdom. His first two official acts were protective, directed toward safeguarding the nation from potential internal and external threats that could thwart development. In the first month of Faisal's reign, Khalid, a half brother, was designated crown prince, thus ensuring that the succession would not be disturbed by the kind of family power politics that had nearly destroyed Saudi hegemony in the past. Sultan, another half brother serving as the minister of defense and aviation, was charged with modernizing the army and establishing an air defense system to protect the nation and its petroleum reserves from potential external and internal threats.
Funds to the King Abd al Aziz University in Jiddah were substantially increased, and the University of Petroleum and Minerals was opened in Dhahran. Faisal felt that, although undesirable, foreign influence was unavoidable as long as the population remained undereducated and unable to assume the country's many demanding positions. Faisal reorganized the Central Planning Organization to develop priorities for economic development. The result was that oil revenues were spent on investments designed to stimulate growth.
Troubled by the spread of republicanism in the Arab world that challenged the legitimacy of the Al Saud, Faisal called an Islamic summit conference in 1965 to reaffirm Islamic principles against the rising tide of modern ideologies. Faisal dedicated to Islamic ideals that he had learned in the house of his maternal grandfather, a direct descendant of Abd al Wahhab, the eighteenth-century initiator of the revival of religious orthodoxy in Arabia (see The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam, 1500-1850 , this ch.). Faisal was raised in a spartan atmosphere, unlike that of most of his half brothers, and was encouraged by his mother to develop values consonant with tribal leadership. Faisal's religious idealism did not diminish his secular effectiveness. For him, political functioning was a religious act that demanded thoughtfulness, dignity, and integrity. Respect for Faisal increased in the Arab world based on the remarkable changes within Saudi Arabia, Faisal's excellent management of the holy cities, his reputation as a stalwart enemy of Zionism, and his rapidly increasing financial power.
Faisal proceeded cautiously but emphatically to introduce Western technology. He was continually forced to deal with the insistent demands of his Westernized associates to move faster and the equally vociferous urgings of the ulama to move not at all. He chose the middle ground not merely in a spirit of compromise to assuage the two forces but because he earnestly believed that the correct religious orientation would mitigate the adverse effects of modernization. For example, in 1965 the first Saudi television broadcasts offended some Saudis. One of Faisal's nephews went so far as to lead an assault on one of the new studios and was later killed in a shoot-out with the police. Such a family tragedy did not, however, cause Faisal to withdraw his support for the television project.
Under Faisal's reign a massive educational program was initiated. Expenditures for education increased to an annual level of approximately 10 percent of the budget. Vocational training centers and institutes of higher education were built in addition to the more than 125 elementary and secondary schools built annually. Women's demands, increasingly vocalized, led to the establishment of elementary schools for girls. These were placed under religious control to pacify the many who were opposed to education for women. Health centers also multiplied (see Education; Health , ch. 2).
Regional affairs within the peninsula, with the exception of Yemen, primarily concerned boundary disputes. Faisal made much progress, but at his death Saudi Arabia still possessed more unsettled than settled frontiers. In August 1965, a final determination of boundaries was reached between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. In 1965 Saudi Arabia also agreed on border delineations with Qatar. The Continental Shelf Agreement with Iran in October 1968 established the separate rights of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, and an agreement was reached to discourage foreign intervention there. The formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971 did not receive official recognition until the settlement of the long-standing Al Buraymi Oasis dispute.
Saudi Arabia's largest problem within the peninsula remained the settlement of the Yemen crisis. In August 1965, Faisal and Nasser agreed at Jiddah to an immediate cease-fire, the termination of Saudi aid to the royalists, and the withdrawal of Egyptian forces. In 1965 at Harad in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt sponsored a meeting of Yemeni representatives from the opposing sides. The conference became deadlocked, and hostilities resumed after the promised Egyptian troop withdrawals. The royalists claimed extensive victories. The Egyptians announced that they would not withdraw their remaining troops and were incensed at what they believed was renewed Saudi intervention. Egyptian aircraft bombed royalist installations and towns in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia responded by closing its two Egyptian banks, an action countered by Egypt's sequestration of all Saudi Arabian property holdings in Egypt.
Saud, then residing in Egypt, made a personal gift of US$1 million to the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and made broadcasts from its capital and from Cairo, stating his intention to return to rule "to save the people and land of Saudi Arabia." A series of terrorist bomb attacks against residences of the royal family and United States and British personnel led to the arrests of a group, including seventeen Yemenis, accused of the sabotage. They were found guilty and were publicly beheaded in accordance with the law. Egyptian and Saudi disagreements over the area were not resolved until the Khartoum Conference of August 1967.
In the aftermath of the June 1967 War between Israel and various Arab states, the disputes between Arab states had to take a secondary position to what the Arabs called the "alien threat" of Israel. Faisal's influence at Arab conferences continued to increase, his position strengthened by the enormous revenues with which he could make good his commitments, and by his irreproachable reputation as a pious Muslim. Faisal's pan-Islamic pronouncement took concrete form after the June 1967 War when an Islamic nation, Jordan, received a direct threat to its existence and that same "infidel power," Israel, seized and retained Jerusalem, the third holiest city of Islam.
At the Khartoum Conference Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait agreed to set up a fund equivalent to US$378 million to be distributed among countries that had suffered from the June 1967 War. The Saudi contribution would be US$140 million. Jordan and Egypt were both in desperate financial positions. The monies were intended not only to ease this situation but also to buttress their political bargaining power. Egypt could no longer continue expensive commitments to the war in Yemen, and Nasser and Faisal agreed to a compromise proposed by Sudan for financial and economic pullouts in Yemen. Military aggression against Israel was not mentioned, but the conferees agreed neither to recognize nor to make peace with Israel and to continue to work for the rights of Palestinians.
A fire in the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on August 21, 1969, prompted the Islamic Summit Conference of September 1969 in Rabat, Morocco. Representatives agreed to intensify their efforts to ensure the prompt withdrawal of Israeli military forces in the occupied lands and to pursue an honorable peace.
Having increased Saudi economic power, in July 1973 threatened to reduce oil deliveries if the United States did not seek to equalize its treatment of Egypt and Israel. The threat was realized during the October 1973 War between Israel and two Arab states when the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed a general rise in oil prices and an oil embargo on major oil consumers that were either supporters of Israel or allies of its supporters. The embargo was a political protest aimed at obtaining Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territory and recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people.
At an Arab conference held in Algiers in November 1973, Saudi Arabia agreed with all the participants except the representative of Jordan to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Jordan's King Hussein refused to participate but was encouraged by Faisal to attend the follow-up conference in October 1974 in Rabat. At this meeting Hussein gave his reluctant agreement to the proposal that the PLO should be the negotiators with Israel over the establishment of a Palestinian entity in the territory newly occupied by Israel. In return Saudi Arabia promised Hussein US$300 million a year for the next four years.
As a result of the 1973 agreements that tripled the price of crude oil in response to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Saudi Arabia acquired vastly increased revenues to devote to domestic programs. However, Faisal's failing health, overwork, and age prevented him from formulating a coherent development plan before he was assassinated on March 25, 1975. He was shot by his nephew, a disgruntled brother of the nephew killed in the 1965 television station incident.
King Khalid
1912-1984) King of Saudi Arabia 1975-1982.
His political line was traditionalist-nationalist, opposing the modernizing line popular with other members of the royal family, among them some of the top ministers. Much because of religious tensions in the kingdom, Khalid supported stricter enforcement of conservative Islam in all sectors of life.
His rule as king was restrained by poor health condition; he was susceptible to heart attacks. This would eventually be what killed him. The future king Fahd, performed many of his duties.
Khalid was a quite popular king, especially among the Bedouins.
BIOGRAPHY
1912: Born in Riyadh as son of the ruler over Riyadh, Ibn Saud, later king of Saudi Arabia, and Jawhara bint Musaid al-Jiluwi.
— His training involved Islamic sciences, riding, tracking, markmanship and attending daily assemblies with his father.
1929: Assisted his father in suppressing the Ikhwan rebellion.
1932: With the formation of Saudi Arabia, he becomes Governor of Hijaz.
1934: Is appointed Minister of Interior.
1962 September: Is appointed Deputy Prime Minister.
1963: Is appointed Commander of the National Guard.
1965 March: Named crown prince, after his older brother Muhammad had become ill.
1970: Khalid's heart condition worsens, creating much doubt in Saudi Arabia about his future ability to take over as king.
1975 March After the death of King Faisal, Khalid becomes new king. He names Fahd his crown prince, and gives him much authority.
— April: Signs an agreement with Oman over a long disputed border matter (Buraymi Oasis).
1978: Khalid opposes strongly the Camp David Accords.
— Undergoes open heart surgery.
1979 March: After that Egypt has signed a peace treaty with Israel, Khalid cuts off all links.
1982 June: Dies from a heart attack. He is succeeded by Fahad.
