Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia and Its Neighbors

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and Its Neighbors

Saudi Arabian Physical Environment

The Kabba in Mecca

Origin of the Saudi State The Arabian Peninsula was originally the home of isolated nomads, warring tribes Only the west, the Hijaz region, was under control of a political authority, the Ottoman Empire One of the nomadic tribes was the Saud In the 18 th Century, the leader of the Saud tribe, Muhammad ibn Saud became determined to extend his rule over larger areas of the region.

Origin of the Saudi State Muhammad ibn Saud established a partnership with a religious scholar, Abd al-Wahhab who lived in an oasis near current day Riyadh. He embraced the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and Abd al. Wahhab endorsed Muhammad as the leader of the Islamic world and declared a jihad against his rivals. The Saudi/Wahhabis captured Mecca and Medina from the Ottomans in the early 1800's, and also large areas of the Arabian peninsula and the parts of what is now Iraq before finally being driven back into the desert by Ottoman forces equipped and trained by European Advisors. By 1890, other nomadic tribes in the area opposed to Wahabbism had become stronger and the Rashidis defeated the Saudis and captured their capital, Riyadh. The Saudi leader at that time, Abd al-Rahman, fled to Kuwait, a town on the Persian gulf that was under the protection of the British, taking with him his 10 year old son Abd al-Aziz.

Origin of the Saudi State In 1901, the 21 year old Abd al-Aziz and 40 members of his family and followers infiltrated back into Arabia intent of capturing Riyadh. They scaled the walls under cover of darkness and waited on the rooftops for the Rashidi governor to come out of his fort for morning prayers at the mosque. When the governor emerged from the mosque after prayers, Abd al-Aziz attacked, killing the governor. The Rashidi garrison surrendered without further fight and the people of Riyadh welcomed the return of the Saudi reign. Abd al-Aziz is considered to be the father of modern Saudi Arabia and is generally known as ibn Saud.

Origin of the Saudi State Over the next three decades, with the help of fundamentalist fighters known as the Ikhwan (the brothers), Abd al-Aziz steadily expanded his territory. During WWI, he allied himself with the British against the Ottomans. By 1920 he had defeated the last remnants of the al-Rashid family and by 1925 he had also overcome the forces of Sharif Husayn, who had served under the Ottomans as “protector of the Holy Places” and ruler of the western lands or the Hijez. Abd al_Aziz took the title of Guardian of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. In 1932 the country of Saudi Arabia was created from the lands under control of Abd al-Saud.

The House of Saud

King Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud established the basic structure of the modern Saudi state. He began to build settlements and to encourage the nomads to settle in permanent homes. The current structure of the government was established. The country would be governed as an absolute monarchy with rulers always being chosen from the Saud family. Political parties were outlawed. ibn Saud died in 1953. He had already witnessed the beginning of rapid change in his country because of oil. In 1950 he received $200, 000 total for oil revenues but by the time he died three years later he was receiving $2, 500, 000 per week.

King Saud was the eldest son but not the most qualified. Lack of experience. More comfortable in a tent than a bureaucracy. By 1958 the country was almost bankrupt. Senior princes demanded that Saud put his brother Crown Prince Faysal in charge of the kingdom finances. In 1964 Saud s Abdicated in favor of Faysal.

King Faysal’s reign is second only to that of ibn Saud in terms of statebuilding. It has been said that “he led his country from medievalism into the jet age. ” He began the five year economic plans to build up the infrastructure of the country. He initiated education for girls. He founded the Organization of the Islamic conference in 1970. Faysal was assinated by one of his nephews in a majlis in 1975.

King Khalid Faysal was succeeded by his eldest half-brother, Khalid was already in poor health so although he ruled until 1982, he delegated most powers to his half-brother, Crown Prince Fahd who became King in his own right in 1982 when his brother died.

Key Saudi Leadership Today

King Fahd

Prince Abdullah

Prince Sultan

The Saudi Governing System The King is an absolute monarch but his powers are limited by the Sharia and Islamic teachings and by the need for consensus within the royal family and among religious leaders of the Ulema. Since 1953 the executive level of the Saudi government is a Council of Ministers, appointed by the and responsible to the King. The council consists of a prime minister, a first and a second deputy prime minister and 20 ministers. The enaction of legislation is by resolution of the Council of Ministers, ratified by royal decree. Must be compatible with the Sharia. The country is subdivided into 13 provinces governed by princes or other close relatives to the King. All governors are appointed by the king.

The Saudi Governing System In 1992 an 83 -article “Organic Law” comparable in many ways to a western constitution was proposed by the Council of Ministers. It was approved by the King in 1993. Does not include references to political, civil, and social rights of the ordinary people. Since 1993 there has been a Consultative Counsel (called the Majlis ash shoura) consisting of 90 members chosen by the King. It advises but has little real political influence. Justice is administered by a system of religious courts whose judges are appointed by the King. The King is the highest court of appeal. Religious Police ( al Mutawa’een) aew empowered to arrest anyone violating sharia law or Wahabbi religious standards. The King still holds daily majlis meetings open to any Saudi citizen.

Whabbism: The Saudi Religion The name Wahhabi is derived from Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, who died in 1792. He grew up in an oasis town in central Arabia where he studied Hanbali law, usually considered the strictest of Islamic legal schools, with his grandfather. While still a young man, he left home and continued his studies in Medina and then in Iraq and Iran. When he returned from Iran to Arabia in the late 1730 s, he attacked as idolatry many of the customs followed by tribes in the area who venerated rocks and trees. He extended his criticism to practices of the Shia, such as veneration of the tombs of holy men. He focused on the central Muslim principle that there is only one God and that this God does not share his divinity with anyone. From this principle, his students began to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (sing. , muwahhid), or "unitarians. " Their detractors referred to them as "Wahhabis. "

Whabbism Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab considered himself a reformer and looked for a political figure to give his ideas a wider audience. He found this person in Muhammad ibn Saud, the amir of Ad Diriyah, a small town near Riyadh. In 1744 the two swore a traditional Muslim pledge in which they promised to work together to establish a new state (which later became present-day Saudi Arabia) based on Islamic principles. The limited but successful military campaigns of Muhammad ibn Saud caused Arabs from all over the peninsula to feel the impact of Wahhabi ideas. When Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia and father of the current rulers, conquered the peninsula in the 1920 s, he used the Wahhabis to drive out his Hashemite rivals, who now rule Jordan.

Whabbism Wahhabism is still a major force in Saudi life today. The Saudi religious establishment - the ulema have imposed strict segregation of the sexes, an absolute prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol, a ban on women driving and many other social restrictions. The rules are enforced by the "mutawa", or religious police, who patrol the streets and shopping centers on the look-out for anyone breaking the rules. Wahhabi thought opposes all that is not orthodox in Islam, it particularly opposes non-Muslim elements such as the increasing European and American presence in the Persian Gulf.

Wahabbism Puritanical Wahhabi schools indoctrinate young men in radical militancy. Between the ages of 7 and 15, they are taught the fundamentals of strict Islam and religious obligations. Between the ages of 15 and 25, these young men are trained to fight and prepared for the jihad, or holy war — in this case conquest of Wahhabi Islam. The students they are charged with fulfilling missions related to the jihad. Many Muslims and Koranic scholars denounce this radical interpretation of Islamic precepts as one that distorts Islam’s holiest text into a cookbook for violent action.

Wahabbism The Wahhabi movement flourishes in every Muslim country — despite the fears of governments, and in some cases because of those fears. This has given suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization an international ideological and operational network. Over the past 10 years, Saudi Arabia, either directly or indirectly through nongovernmental organizations, has financed all of the Wahhabi movements in the region.

Wahabbism As soon as the U. S. air strikes against Afghanistan began on Oct. 7, one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in the kingdom published a “fatwah” against the royal family, warning, “Whoever supports the infidel against Muslims is considered an infidel. It is a duty to wage jihad on anyone who attacks Afghanistan. ” Since then, other clerics inside and outside the country have added their voices, in effect excommunicating Saudi Arabia’s ruling family for aiding the U. S. -led attacks on Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia