** New Saudi King

Early Monday, Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old King Fahd died. The 81-year-old crown prince, Abdullah--King Fahd's half-brother and the nation's de facto ruler since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995--is now king of Saudi Arabia.

Arabia, of course, is ancient. But Fahd and Abdullah (and the new 77-year-old crown prince, Sultan) are actually sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abd al Aziz, who proclaimed the kingdom less than 75 years ago. Just how Arabia became "Saudi" matters a lot now, and explains volumes about the Saudi king's continual tightrope walk between an oil-thirsty West and the nation's Wahhabi religious leaders.

Since When Is Arabia "Saudi"?

Arabia is ancient, but the story of Saudi Arabia doesn't begin until the 18th century, with the simultaneous rise of two men: Muhammad ibn Saud, a leader in the central Arabian town of Ad Diriyah, and Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, founder of Sunni Islam's puritanical Wahhabi movement.

Saud + Wahhab = Nation?

In the 1740s, Abd al Wahhab traveled to Ad Diriyah, where Muhammad ibn Saud received the young theologian warmly. Soon prince and preacher had pledged loyalty to each other and to the foundation of a properly Islamic state in Arabia.

The Saud clan conquered local towns and villages, smashing Shia Muslim shrines and establishing Wahhabi-based authority throughout central Arabia. A few decades later, they moved on to points east, including Karbala, Iraq, and points west, including Mecca and Medina, the holiest of Muslim places.

But taking the Wahhabi show on the road ticked off the Ottoman Turks, the Muslim world's superpower. So, in the early 19th century, the Ottomans dispatched an Egyptian force to recapture Mecca and Medina. The Egyptians went above and beyond the call, razing the Saudis' hometown and shipping the head of the clan off to Turkey for beheading. Saudi Arabia, in less than 80 years, was kaput.

Down, But Not Out

Egyptian control, however, proved short-lived. In 1824, one of Muhammad ibn Saud's grandsons retook what was left of Ad Diriyah and expelled the Egyptians from nearby Riyadh, which from then on would serve as the Saudi capital.

The Saudis quickly re-established control over central Arabia, where Wahhabi beliefs had truly taken root. It helped that, this time, they accepted the nominal sovereignty of the Turks. But it did not help that the clan continually fought with itself for control. In 1891, a powerful new family--the Rashidis--violently sent the fractious Saudis packing. And for the second time in 70 years, Saudi Arabia was kaput.

Third Time's the Charm

What was left of the Saudi clan took refuge in Kuwait. Among them was the heir apparent, Abd al Aziz--the founding father of modern Saudi Arabia (and father of more than 40 recognized sons, including the current king, Abdullah).

In 1902, Abd al Aziz led a small force that scaled the walls of Riyadh and recaptured the Saudi capital. The locals, who didn't much care for their Rashidi governor, hailed Abd al Aziz as a hero, and the religious establishment recognized him as the Wahhabi imam. Within a few years, the Saudis were once again the dominant force in central Arabia.

By 1925, the Saudis, with staunch Wahhabi support, had seized control of Mecca and Medina again, too. The staunchest Wahhabis wanted to go after British-protected regimes in Iraq and Jordan next, but Abd al Aziz made deals with the British and destroyed the most radical militants instead. In 1932, Abd al Aziz felt secure enough to proclaim a new kingdom and endow it with his family name: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 1938, oil was discovered under the king's sand, and Saudi Arabia went ka-ching.

~ Steve Sampson
August 1, 2005