Ibn Saud (Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud) , c.1880-1953, founder of Saudi Arabia and its first king. His family, with its regular seat at Riyadh in the Nejd , were the traditional leaders of the ultraorthodox Wahhabi movement in Islam. During Ibn Saud's youth the Saud family was in exile in Kuwait. In 1902 he and a small party of relatives and servants recaptured Riyadh. By 1912 he had completed the conquest of the Nejd and organized a well-trained army. During World War I the British made slight efforts to cultivate Ibn Saud's friendship but favored his rival, Husayn ibn Ali of the Hejaz . In 1924-25, Ibn Saud defeated Husayn and proclaimed himself king of Hejaz and Nejd. After consolidating his power over most of the Arabian peninsula, he changed (1932) the name of his kingdom to Saudi Arabia. He forced many of the nomad tribes to adopt a settled way of life and to abandon their private wars and vendettas. He is credited with suppressing the robbery and extortion that formerly harassed pilgrims to Mecca and Medina. In 1936 and 1939 he granted oil concessions to American companies. The oil deposits of Arabia proved to be among the richest in the world, and Ibn Saud used some of the income derived from them on national improvements. The greater part of his oil revenues, however, was spent on the royal family. During World War II, Ibn Saud remained neutral but favored the Allies. He took only a minor part in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. He was succeeded by Prince Saud, his eldest son.

Bibliography: See H. S. J. Philby, Arabian Jubilee (1953) and D. A. Howarth, The Desert King (1967).

Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (b. 24 Nov. 1880, d. 9 Nov. 1953). King of Saudi Arabia 1932–53 Born in Riyad of the Wahhabi dynasty, he was forced into exile to Kuwait in 1902. From there, he organized and led a successful Bedouin revolt which enabled him to recapture Riyad. He then conquered the Turkish province of Al Hasa, and was recognized by the British as Emir of Nejd and Hasa in 1915. He then challenged Hussein ibn Ali, whom he eventually defeated, annexing Azir in 1923, and taking the Holy City of Mecca in 1925. He proclaimed himself King of Hejaz and Nejd in Mecca on 8 January 1926, a country which covered most of the Arabian peninsula. In 1932, he renamed his kingdom Saudi Arabia. A devout Muslim, he laid the foundations of the country's subsequent development (and the royal household's fortune) by granting the first concession to oil exploration in 1933, and by creating the Arabia-American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in 1944. He maintained a good relationship with the USA and the UK, which he supported in World War II.

Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud

Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (1880-1953) was an Arab political leader who founded the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During his rule, from 1932 to 1953, much of the Arabian peninsula developed from a group of desert sheikhdoms to a politically unified kingdom with new wealth from oil fields.

Ibn Saud was born in Riyadh in the central Arabian principality of Nejd. He escaped with his father, Abd al-Rahman, to exile in Kuwait in 1891, when the rival Rashidi family seized Saudi lands. In 1902 the young Ibn Saud with a small number of warriors recaptured Riyadh in a daring raid.

Although the modern history of Arabia dates from the Saudi reoccupation of Riyadh, there was much history and tradition in the young sheikh's policy. Ibn Saud revived the family alliance with the Wahhabis, an 18th-century puritanical reform movement within Islam which had spread over central Arabia. Skillfully combining the Wahhabi religious zeal with his own personal charisma and political capability as a desert sheikh, Ibn Saud expanded his authority over most of the peninsula. Especially important were the Ikhwan, settled military and agricultural colonies which protected and extended the Saudi domain while beginning the settling-down process for the once nomadic Bedouin.

In 1913 Ibn Saud occupied the Ottoman province of al-Hasa on the Persian Gulf, a territory in which oil would soon be found. Two years later he accepted British protection and a financial subsidy in return for agreeing not to attack British interests in the gulf area or the sharif Husein ibn Ali of Mecca. The political ambitions of Ibn Saud and Husein inevitably clashed following World War I. While Husein had dissipated his resources in inefficient administration, in the Arab Revolt of 1916, and in a vain attempt to establish himself as king of all the Arabs, Ibn Saud consolidated his status and power in Arabia. In addition, the puritanical Wahhabis felt shame and contempt for the more worldly practices of the Islamic holy cities ruled by Husein since 1908. Ibn Saud also realized his need for the profits of the pilgrimage trade for his expansionist policies. In 1924, with Husein's self-proclamation as caliph as the last straw, Ibn Saud's forces besieged Mecca and forced his rival's abdication and exile. In 1926 Ibn Saud assumed the title of king of the Hejaz, a year later that of the Nejd; in 1932 he joined them in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In 1933 Ibn Saud granted the first oil concession to an American company later known as ARAMCO, but the worldwide depression and World War II prevented much further development. Following the war, oil production and government revenues from oil royalties grew very quickly. Government income, synonymous with the King's personal funds, jumped from less than $1 million in 1920 to $7 million in 1939 to over $200 million in 1953, when Ibn Saud died.

Further Reading

There are several good studies of Ibn Saud: H. St. J. B. Philby, Arabian Jubilee (1953); Jacques Benoist-Méchin, Arabian Destiny (trans. 1957); and two studies by David Howarth, The Desert King: Ibn Saud and His Arabia (1964) and The Desert King: The Life of Ibn Saud (1968). K. S. Twitchell, Saudi Arabia (1947; 3d ed. 1958), and H. St. J. B. Philby, Sa'udi Arabia (1955), are good general histories. □