Stretching across most of the north and center of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia is a young country but heir to a rich history. In its western highlands, along the Red Sea, lies the Hijaz, the birthplace of Islam and the site of that religion's holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.
History | Saudi Arabia
Introduction
At the geographical heart of the country is a region known as Najd ("Highland"), a vast arid zone that until recently was populated by nomadic tribes. To the east, along the Persian Gulf, are the country's abundant oil fields that, since the 1960s, have made Saudi Arabia synonymous with oil wealth. These three elements – religion, tribalism and untold wealth – fueled the country's subsequent history.
The coastal parts of the territory that would become Saudi Arabia participated in the major trends in the history of the Arabian Peninsula in the Islamic period: the rise of Islam in seventh-century Western Arabia; the creation and expansion of the various Islamic empires until the 10th century; the establishment of separate and generally small Muslim states in the period leading up to the 15th century; and the ordering of the Arab Middle East led by the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century onwards.
Central Arabia was linked commercially and intellectually to Western Arabia and the Fertile Crescent, but was often isolated from general political and military trends because of its remoteness and relative poverty. In mid-18th century Central Arabia, an alliance of Wahhabi Muslim religious reformers and the Saud Dynasty formed a new state and society that resulted in the creation of three successive Saudi kingdoms, including the modern country of Saudi Arabia, officially proclaimed in 1932.
Wahhabi Movement
1. Origins and Expansion
As the population of Central Arabian "oasis cities" such as 'Uyaynah slowly grew from the 16th to the early 18th centuries, the 'ulama' (religious scholars) who resided there increased in number and sophistication. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the founder of the Wahhabi movement, was born in ʿUyaynah in 1703 into a family of judges and religious scholars, and as a young man he traveled widely in other regions of the Middle East.
It was upon returning to 'Uyaynah that he began preaching his revolutionary ideas of conservative religious reform based on a strict moral code. His teaching was influenced by the 14th-century Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who called for the purification of Islam through the expulsion of practices he saw as innovations, including speculative theology, Sufism, and popular religious practices such as saint worship.
The ruler of ʿUyaynah, ʿUthman ibn Muʿammar, welcomed the prodigal's return and even adhered to his doctrines. But, many opposed him and ʿAbd al-Wahhab's preaching was subjected to a series of severe tests. The chief of the al-Hasa region, who was from the influential Banu Khalid tribe, threatened to withhold gifts from ʿUthman or even go to war with him unless ʿAbd al-Wahhab was killed.
ʿUthman, unable to face this danger but unwilling to kill his guest, decided to dismiss ʿAbd al-Wahhab from his territory. ʿAbd al-Wahhab went to Al-Dirʿiyyah, about 65 km away, which had been the seat of local prince Muhammad ibn Saud since 1727. In 1745, people flocked to the reformer's teachings. The alliance of the theologian and the prince, duly sealed by mutual oaths of loyalty, soon began to prosper in terms of success and military expansion.
One by one, the enemies of the new union were conquered. The first wars left 'Uyaynah and parts of Al-Hasa under Wahhabi control, but the oasis city of Riyadh maintained stubborn resistance for 27 years before succumbing to constant pressure from the new movement. By 1765, when Muhammad ibn Saud died, only some parts of Central and Eastern Arabia had fallen under relatively effective Wahhabi rule.
Muhammad ibn Saud's son and successor, ʿAbd al-ʿAziz I (reigned 1765–1803) was largely responsible for this extension of his father's kingdom through his exploits as commander-in-chief of the Wahhabi forces, continued to work in full harmony with Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab. It was the latter who practically controlled the civil administration of the country, while ʿAbd al-ʿAziz himself, later in cooperation with his warrior son, Saud I (1803-14), busied himself with expanding his empire far beyond the limits inherited.
Meanwhile, in 1792, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab died at the age of 89. Wahhabi attacks on colonized areas began to attract the attention of officials in the Ottoman Empire, the dominant political force in the region. In 1798, an Ottoman force invaded Al-Hasa, although they were later forced to withdraw. Qatar fell to the Saudis in 1797, and they also gained control through local allies over Bahrain and parts of Oman.
2. Fight with the Ottomans
In 1801, the Wahhabis captured and sacked the Shia holy city of Karbala in Ottoman Iraq, looting and damaging important religious buildings. The following year, Saud led his father's army to capture Mecca in the Hijaz, which was also under Ottoman control. It was shortly after Saud's return from this expedition that his father was murdered by a Shia in the Al-Dir'iyyah mosque in revenge for the desecration of Karbala.
The conflict between the Ottomans and the Wahhabis of Arabia would now become increasingly tense. In 1804, Saud captured Medina, and the Wahhabi empire embraced all of Arabia as far as Yemen and Oman.
Year after year, Saud visited Mecca to preside over the hajj pilgrimage as an imam of the Muslim congregation. But, this "tide" would soon turn to his disadvantage. The sultan of the Ottoman Empire, preoccupied in other directions, entrusted Muhammad Ali, the virtually independent viceroy of Egypt, with the task of crushing those whom the Ottomans considered heretics. An Egyptian force landed on the Hijaz coast under the command of Muhammad Ali's son Tusun. Saud inflicted a severe defeat on the invaders, but reinforcements allowed Tusun to occupy Mecca and Medina in 1812. The following year, Muhammad Ali personally took command of the expeditionary force. In the east, Britain severely restricted the maritime activities of the Qawasim dynasty, who were allied with the Wahhabis, in 1809.
Allah ibn Saud was hardly of his father's caliber, and the capture of Al-Raʿs in the region of Al-Qasim by the Egyptians in 1815 forced him to sue for peace. This was duly arranged, but the truce was short-lived, and in 1816 fighting was renewed, with Ibrahim Pasha, another of Muhammad Ali's sons, in command of the Egyptian forces. Gaining the support of the volatile tribes by skillful diplomacy and generous gifts, he advanced into Central Arabia. Along with most of the major tribes, he appeared before Al-Dirʿiyyah in April 1818. The fighting ended in September with the surrender of ʿAbd Allah, who was sent to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and beheaded.
Local Wahhabi leaders were also executed, Al-Dirʿiyyah was razed to the ground, and Egyptian garrisons were sent to major cities. The Saud family suffered heavy losses during the fighting. Some managed to escape before surrendering; the rest were sent to Egypt for detention along with descendants of Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab. The Wahhabi empire ceased to exist, but the faith survived in the desert and cities of Central Arabia, defying the new rulers of the land.
Second Saudi State
The dynasty was restored and the second Saudi state began in 1824, when Turki (1823-1834), grandson of Muhammad ibn Saud, managed to capture Riyadh and expel the Egyptian garrison. After that, Riyadh remained the state capital. Turki attempted to maintain friendly ties with the Ottoman governors of Iraq, as he accepted Ottoman nominal sovereignty, and with the British. Al-Hasa and Haʾil fell again to the Saudis in 1830, when the Central Arabian city's militias, which formed the bases of the Saudi army, outnumbered the nomadic tribes.
Literature, commerce, and agriculture flourished despite the crushing losses
to society occasioned by the return of cholera.
In 1834, Turki was murdered by an ambitious cousin, who was then deposed and executed by Turki's son Faisal. He had been taken into captivity in Egypt in 1818, but escaped in 1828 to join his father and play an important role in reestablishing Wahhabi rule. He refused to pay Egyptian tribute, and in 1837 an Egyptian expeditionary force entered Riyadh. Faisal was captured the following year and returned to Cairo.
Khalid, son of Saud and brother of ʿAbd Allah, was installed as ruler of Najd by the Egyptians on the condition of recognizing Egyptian hegemony.
Khalid's subservience to his Egyptian and Ottoman masters was increasingly resented by his Wahhabi subjects, and in 1841 his cousin 'Abd Allah ibn Thunayan raised the standard of revolt. Riyadh was captured by a daring coup; its garrison was expelled; and Khalid, who was in Al-Hasa at the time, fled by ship to Jeddah. ʿAbd Allah resisted when Faisal reappeared in 1843, only to be overpowered and killed. Thus, Faisal resumed his reign after a five-year interruption and ruled largely unchallenged, despite occasional tribal revolts and friction with the inhabitants of the city of Al-Qasim, until his death in 1865.
The Hijaz remained in Ottoman hands, while northern Arabia (the province of Jabal Shammar) was locally autonomous but recognized Riyadh's supremacy. Faisal reestablished Saudi authority for a short time in Bahrain and for a longer period in Al-Buraymi and the interior of Oman. He extended his influence as far as Hadhramaut and the borders of Yemen.
Only British intervention stopped the extension of direct Saudi power
over the western Gulf coast.
Administration under Faisal was simple and involved few people, mainly members of the royal family and descendants of Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Justice in the provinces was carried out by officials appointed by Riyadh; even the tribes paid taxes; and the writing of poetry and history flourished.
Faisal's death
In 1865, when his power was a recognized factor in Arab politics, Faisal died. His children competed for the succession. His eldest son, ʿAbd Allah, succeeded first, holding out against his brother Saud II's rebellion for six years until the Battle of Judah (1871), in which Saud triumphed. ʿAbd Allah fled and Saud took power. But over the next five years, the throne changed hands no fewer than seven times in favor of different members of the Saud family.
Drought in 1870–1874 exacerbated the effects of the civil war as the unity
of the Wahhabi community disintegrated.
Meanwhile, ʿAbd Allah appealed to the Ottoman governor in Baghdad, who came to his aid, but took advantage of the situation to occupy the province of Al-Hasa for the empire in 1871 – an occupation that lasted 42 years.
The Rashids
Saud II died in 1875, and after a brief respite from the chaos, ʿAbd Allah (as ʿAbd Allah II) returned to the throne the following year only to find himself powerless against the Rashidi emirs of Jabal Shammar, with their capital at Haʾil. The Rashidis had ruled there since 1836, first as agents of the Saud family, later becoming independent, with strong links to the Ottomans and growing wealth from the caravan trade. Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Rashid (reigned 1869–1897) was undoubtedly the dominant figure in Arab politics when ʿAbd Allah (now as ʿAbd Allah II) returned to Riyadh for his third period of authority.
At first, the Rashidis refrained from any forward action, but they soon intervened in the chaotic affairs of the Wahhabi state. And it was not long before 'Abd Allah was persuaded to join Ibn Rashid in Ha'il (ostensibly as a guest, but actually as a hostage), while a representative of the Rashidis was appointed governor of Riyadh in 1887.
ʿAbd Allah was finally allowed to return to Riyadh and was even appointed governor of the city in 1889. ʿAbd Allah did not live to enjoy his restoration for long, however: he died in the same year, leaving it to his younger brother, ʿAbd al -Rahman, the almost hopeless task of reviving the dynasty.
ʿAbd al-Rahman soon became involved in hostilities with the Rashidis. The Battle of Al-Mulaydah (at Al-Qasim) resolved the issue between them decisively in 1891, and for the second time in a space of 70 years the Wahhabi state appeared to be completely destroyed. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān fled with his family to take refuge in Kuwait as a guest of its rulers. Unlike the first Saudi regime, which was ended by external conquest, the second Saudi state fell mainly because of internal disputes between members of the royal family.
Ibn Saud and the Third Saudi State
ʿAbd al-ʿAziz (known as Ibn Saud), son of the exiled ʿAbd al-Rahman, took advantage of his new location to acquire useful knowledge of world affairs, while the new Rashidi prince, ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Mitʿab, alienated the population of Najd . In 1901, young Ibn Saud (he was about 22 to 26 years old) left Kuwait with a force of 40 followers in what must have seemed like a lost adventure. On January 15, 1902, with a select body of just 15 warriors, he scaled the walls of Riyadh, surprised and defeated governor Rashidi and his escort in front of the gate of the Mismak (or Musmak) fort, being hailed by the population as their ruler.
The following years saw the development of the third Saudi state's struggle to once again expand its control over most of the Arabian Peninsula and thus reestablish the glories of the first Saudi state in the 18th century. The first challenge was from the Rashidis, whose power was in no way wasted and who received substantial help from the Ottomans in men and materials.
In 1904, Ibn Saud defeated a combined force of Rashidis and Ottomans, but then allowed the Ottomans to place garrisons in Central Arabia for a year. Ibn Rashid continued the fight, but was killed in battle in 1906, and since then Ibn Saud, who secured the withdrawal of Ottoman troops from Al-Qasim in 1906, became the undisputed master of Central Arabia.
Ibn Saud dedicated himself to the task of recovering the entire kingdom of his ancestors. He was cautious enough to continue recognizing Ottoman sovereignty (if only nominally) and, by cultivating contacts with Britain, hoped to balance each power against the other.
Meanwhile, he busied himself with reorganizing the country's administration, including initiating a plan designed to ensure the stability and permanence of its military force. In 1912, he established the first Ikhwan ("Brothers") colony in the desert pits of Al-Artawiyyah, populated entirely by Bedouins. The colony formed a militant cantonment dedicated to the "service of God" and prince. During the next decade, around 100 similar colonies organized around tribal group identity were founded across the country, providing Ibn Saud with a formidable military force. At the same time, however, the Saudi military also included soldiers recruited from cities and colonized areas.
Ibn Saud's first major achievement in Najd was the seizure of the province of Al-Hasa from the Ottomans in 1913, although he was again forced to reassert Ottoman sovereignty over his entire territory in 1914. During the First World War (1914- 18), he was helped by British subsidies, but he managed, through skillful diplomacy, to remain relatively quiet, although surrounded by enemies. In 1919, however, he struck his first blow, against Hussein ibn Ali of the Hijaz, whose army was annihilated by the Ikhwan.
In 1920, Ibn Saud's son Faisal captured the province of Asir between the Hijaz and Yemen. In 1921, Ibn Saud defeated the forces of Muhammad ibn Talal, the last Rashidi emir, and annexed all of northern Arabia, occupying Al-Jawf and Wadi Al-Sirhan the following year. Kuwait has experienced border raids and a Saudi blockade on the payment of customs duties. Meanwhile, Faisal I and Abdullah I, sons of Hussein ibn Ali, were placed on the thrones of Iraq and Transjordan respectively by the British government. These territories and the Hijaz served as a formidable British-protected cordon around the northern and western borders of the Wahhabi state, although incidents along the border were frequent.
In 1923, the British government invited all rulers involved in these sporadic hostilities to attend a conference in Kuwait and, if possible, resolve their differences. The British also made it clear that the subsidies hitherto paid to Ibn Saud and Hussein ibn Ali would be terminated.
The conference ended in complete disagreement, and in September 1924 the Wahhabis attacked the Hijaz. They captured Al-Ta'if after a brief fight, but this was followed by a massacre of the city's male civilians. The Saudis occupied Mecca unopposed. Ibn Saud then besieged Jeddah and Medina, while Hussein ibn Ali abdicated his throne in favor of his son ʿAli. At the end of 1925, Medina and Jeddah surrendered to the Saudis. The district of Al-ʿAqabah-Maʿan, adjacent to the northern Hejaz, was occupied by Transjordan to prevent it from falling into Wahhabi hands.
On January 8, 1926, Ibn Saud, who had adopted the title Sultan of Najd in 1921, was proclaimed king of the Hijaz in the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
In 1927 he also changed his title from sultan to king of Najd and its dependencies, the two parts of his dual kingdom being administered for the time being as separate units. In the same year, the Treaty of Jeddah, negotiated between Ibn Saud and a British special envoy, Sir Gilbert Clayton, placed Saudi relations with Britain on a permanent basis, as the British fully recognized Saudi independence. A series of Saudi-sponsored Islamic conferences in the Hijaz legitimized their presence as rulers.
Association with Christian powers placed Ibn Saud in an awkward position with the more religious elements in Najd. Furthermore, their supposed complacency with British involvement and protection of Iraq and Transjordan, both of which the Ikhwan thought ripe for conquest, created tension with their military supporters. Incidents on its borders created a state of virtual, though undeclared, war in which British aircraft played a role in discouraging Wahhabi incursions. Ibn Saud also on several occasions violently suppressed the Ikhwan's political and military opposition.
In 1928 and 1929, Faisal al-Dawish, Sultan ibn Bijad and other leaders of the Ikhwan, accusing Ibn Saud of betraying the cause for which they had fought and opposing the taxes levied on his followers, again challenged the king's authority. The rebels sought to prevent the centralization of power in the hands of the king and maintain the purity of Wahhabi practices against what they saw as innovations advocated by Ibn Saud. The majority of the population rallied to the king's side, and this, with the support of the Najdi ʿulama, allowed him to defeat the rebels. The civil war, however, dragged on until 1930, when the rebels were surrounded by the British in Kuwaiti territory and their leaders handed over to the king.
With his defeat, power definitively passed into the hands of the
city's inhabitants and not the tribes.
Ibn Saud was finally free to give his full attention to the development of his country and the foreign policy problems that surrounded him on all sides. Above all, he was concerned with asserting and maintaining the complete independence of his country and within it the exclusive supremacy of Islam. As long as these fundamental objectives remained, he was not only ready to cooperate with all nations, but prepared to look sympathetically on some of the practices that had taken root in the Hijaz and other areas as a result of foreign contacts.
The ban on music, for example, was progressively circumvented by radio, which was also used as a tool to unite the kingdom and increase military efficiency. And so the latitudinarian spirit, slowly at first, but with ever-increasing momentum, lessened some of the inhibitions of the Puritan regime. On the other hand, Ibn Saud strictly opposed the intervention of any foreign government in the regime's internal politics. However, in addition to members of the royal family and Najdi and Hejazi traders, many of the king's chief advisors were foreign Muslims. Some of the foreign advisors were political refugees from their homelands and served Ibn Saud for many years.
Source:
Author: Vanessa Chamma
Graduated in Arabic Literature and bachelor's in international relations
Researcher and Author
Lines of Research: History, Middle East, Geopolitics.
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