Ibn Saud (born c. 1880, Riyadh, Arabia—died November 9, 1953, Al-Ṭāʾif, Saudi Arabia) founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 after unifying Najd and the Hejaz, following decades of military campaigns during his rule in Riyadh (1902–53). He later initiated the exploration for oil in his kingdom, although the rapid wealth and development of his country had only just begun in his final years.

Revival of the Saud dynasty in Riyadh

The Saud dynasty ruled much of Arabia from 1780 to 1880, but, while Ibn Saud was still a child, his family was driven out by their rivals, the Rashīdīs, and became penniless exiles in Kuwait. In 1901 Ibn Saud, then in his 20s, set out from Kuwait with 40 followers in a bold attempt to regain his family’s lands.

Reaching their old family capital, Riyadh, Ibn Saud and a group of 15 warriors slipped into the town by night (January 15, 1902). The Rashīdī governor slept in the castle but came out every morning after dawn. Ibn Saud lay hidden until the governor emerged. Then, rushing forward with his men, he killed the governor and seized the castle. This exploit roused the former supporters of his dynasty. They rallied to so magnetic a leader, and, in two years of raids and skirmishes, Ibn Saud reconquered half of central Arabia.

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Ibn Rashīd, however, appealed for help to the Ottomans, who sent troops equipped with modern artillery. Ibn Saud, unused to such an army, suffered a defeat at Ottoman hands in the Battle of Al-Bukayriyah (June 15, 1904), but the Ottomans, unused to Arabian summers, were unable to sustain their victory and keep their troops supplied. The Ottoman-backed Rashīdīs were finally overpowered in the Battle of Rawḍat Mahannā (April 14, 1906), and Ibn Rashīd was killed, leaving Ibn Saud with a foothold in the Al-Qaṣīm region. The years 1907 to 1912 were passed in desultory fighting, some of which stemmed from the fickle nature of tribal alliances.

The Ikhwān and the expansion of the third Saudi state

The Saud dynasty’s close relationship with the Wahhābi movement, which called for religious renewal in the way of the pious forebears (salaf) of Islam, aided Ibn Saud in creating a military force independent of tribal loyalties in the region. In 1912 he encouraged the Bedouin to settle in military and agricultural settlements, called hijrahs, and abandon pastoral life. The hijrahs, whose populations ranged from 10 to 10,000, offered living quarters, mosques, schools, agricultural equipment and instruction, and arms and ammunition. The inhabitants were taught by religious teachers, who instructed them in the fundamentalist precepts of Islam taught by the 18th-century religious reformer Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. By 1918 they had formed a brotherhood—the Ikhwān—united by training and religious devotion instead of by clan or common origin, and they were ready to enter Ibn Saud’s elite army.

During World War I, meanwhile, Ibn Saud entered into a treaty with the British (December 1915), accepting protectorate status and agreeing to make war against the Rashīdīs, who were being supported by the Ottomans. But, despite receiving British arms and a subsidy of £5,000 a month from the British government (which continued until 1924), he was inactive until 1920, arguing that his subsidy was insufficient. During 1920–22, however, he marched against the Rashīdīs and extinguished their dynasty, doubling his own territory and attaining the title of sultan of Najd.

Ibn Saud now ruled central Arabia, but he faced pressure to continue west to the Hejaz region, along the Red Sea. This was the territory of Sharīf Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca, who had become king of the Hejaz during the war and who, after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, declared himself caliph (head of the Muslim community) in 1924. The Ikhwān were eager to liberate the holy places in Mecca and Medina from a ruler who lacked their strict dedication to salafī practice. Ibn Saud, meanwhile, feared encirclement by the rival Hashemite dynasty: Sharīf Hussein’s son Abdullah had become ruler of Transjordan in 1921, and another son, Faisal, king of Iraq. Moreover, the expansion across Arabia saw only a meager increase in revenue for Ibn Saud, but the Hejaz offered new sources of income, such as the taxes entitled to the custodians of the holy places in Mecca and Medina and the customs duties levied at the port in Jeddah.

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In the mid-1920s Ibn Saud was at the height of his powers; his strong personality and extraordinary charm had won the devotion of all his subjects. A skillful politician, he worked closely with the religious leaders, who always supported him. Relying on the Ikhwān to eliminate his Arab rivals, he sent them to raid his neighbors and then cabled the British, whose imperial interests were involved, that the raid had been against his orders. In 1924 the Ikhwān took Mecca. They then laid siege to Jeddah and Medina, which surrendered in 1925. On January 8, 1926, Ibn Saud was proclaimed king of the Hejaz at the Great Mosque of Mecca and he began ruling both Najd and the Hejaz as two separate administrative units.

At this point, there were no more rivals whom Ibn Saud needed to conquer, and those remaining had treaties with Britain. When Ibn Saud forbade further raiding by the Ikhwān, who sought to spread their interpretation of Islam, they charged him with treachery, quoting his own words against him. In 1927 they invaded Iraq against his wishes. They were repulsed by British aircraft, but Ibn Saud’s authority over them had vanished, and on March 29, 1929, the Ikhwān, the fanatics whom he himself had trained, were crushed by Ibn Saud himself at the Battle of Sibilla.

Unification of Saudi Arabia

The rebellion opened a new era: thereafter, Ibn Saud’s task was to strengthen his government, not expand his rule. On September 23, 1932, he issued a decree to unify his domains, Najd and the Hejaz, into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new kingdom received full international recognition as an independent state from the date of its establishment. The immediate effect was the centralization of authority in the House of Saud, decreasing the possibility of separatism by any faction outside the dynasty. There was little money for development, however: state revenue before World War II was derived primarily from pilgrimage, customs duties, and taxes, which had decreased as a result of the Great Depression. In May 1933 Ibn Saud signed his first concession agreement with an American oil company, the Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron). Not until March 1938 did the company strike oil, and work virtually ceased during World War II, so that Ibn Saud became nearly penniless.

Saudi Arabia took no part in the war, but toward its end the exploitation of oil was resumed. In 1944 Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company) was established as a joint venture between American oil companies and the Saudi government. The company paid more taxes to the U.S. government in 1944 than the yield to Saudi Arabia in royalties. Indeed, by 1950 Ibn Saud had received a total of only about $200,000, so he obtained a new agreement in 1950 that required Aramco to pay an income tax of 50 percent of the net operating income to the Saudis. In his final years the kingdom he had built from austerity and piety saw a rapid influx of wealth and extravagance. At the time of Ibn Saud’s death in 1953, he was receiving some $2,500,000 a week.