Understanding the Middle East: History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures by Trimnell Edward

Author:Trimnell, Edward [Trimnell, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beechmont Crest Publishing
Published: 2011-10-24T05:00:00+00:00

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All the king’s sons

Ibn Saud (the first member of the Al-Saud dynasty to officially take the title of “king”) was the father of Saudi Arabia in more ways than one. He married multiple times—often to the daughters of tribal leaders whose support he needed in order to consolidate his rule. He fathered more than 80 children. All of the Saudi kings since Saud have been children of the prolific patriarch.

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Ibn Saud takes over the House of Saud

After Ibn Saud’s daring capture of Riyadh, this father decided that he was ready to assume the top leadership position in the House of Saud. Abdel Rahman abdicated in favor of his son. The young Ibn Saud was now in charge. But his work was not yet done. The Rashids still controlled most of the region surrounding Riyadh (known as the Najd).

Ibn Saud turned to the traditional military arm of the House of Saud: the Wahhabis. Driven by their religious zeal, the Wahhabis had fought Al Saud’s enemies on land and sea during the 1700s and 1800s. The Wahhabis had traditionally fought with minimal military structure, as a confederation of loosely coordinated tribes. They had nevertheless been an effective fighting force in past generations. But Ibn Saud decided that it was time to update their methods to match the twentieth century.

Ibn Saud organized the Wahhabis under a single command structure, called Ikhwan, or “Brotherhood.” This would make it easier to control and coordinate their movements. By the mid-1910s, the ranks of the Ikhwan exceeded 14,000.

Even as he unified them, Ibn Saud also took steps to prevent the Ikhwan from becoming too formidable. He scattered them in villages throughout his territory, where they could be quickly called into action, but would not be able to conspire against the House of Saud. The Saudi ruler had no illusions about what really drove the Wahhabis: although they fought for Al-Saud as a practical matter, their real objective was the unification of the Arabian Peninsula under Wahhabi Islam.

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