Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Paul M. Cobb, White Banners: Conten-

tion in Abbasid Syria, 750–880 (Albany: State University 

of New York Press, 2001); Tayeb El-Hibri, Reinterpreting 

Islamic Historiography: Harun al-Rashid and the Narra-

tive of the Abbasid Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press, 1999); Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet 

and the Age of the Caliphates (Harlow: Longman, 2003); 

J. J. Saunders, A History of Medieval Islam (New York: 

Barnes & Noble, 1965).

Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud

 

(Ibn Saud) 

(1880–1953) 

charismatic founder of the modern Kingdom of Saudi 

Arabia and political patron of the conservative Wahhabi 

sect of Islam

Abd al-Aziz was the descendant of the Al Saud clan 

of central Arabia that had formed a strategic alli-

ance with the revivalist leader m

Uhammad

 

ibn

 a

bd

al

-W

ahhab

 (1703–92) and established a tribal state 

that ruled much of the Arabian Peninsula during 

the 18th and 19th centuries. In a period of political 

fragmentation, he revived Saudi control of the pen-

insula after conducting a raid from neighboring 

Kuwait in 1902 that resulted in the capture of the 

town of Riyadh, the future capital of s

aUdi

 a

rabia

.

He then conquered other regions of the peninsula 

with the assistance of the Ikhwan (Brotherhood), 

a Wahhabi fighting force recruited from among 

Arab tribes. In 1926, after the fall of m

ecca

 and 

m

edina

, religious authorities recognized Abd al-

Aziz as king of the Hijaz and sultan of Najd, the 

western and central regions of Arabia, respectively. 

With the support of tribal allies, 

Ulama

, and the 

British, he defeated a rebellion among the Ikhwan 

in 1927–30, and in 1932, he renamed his realm the 

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abd al-Aziz was a skillful statesman and leader 

in times of peace, in addition to being a man of war. 

He consolidated his power through consultations 

with close advisers and merchants, intermarriage 

with influential tribes and clans, and generous 

disbursements of state revenues. Although he had 

ruthlessly suppressed the Ikhwan, he maintained 

solid ties with Wahhabi ulama and gave them 

control of the country’s religious and educational 

affairs. They were not capable of seriously oppos-

ing him as he moved to modernize the kingdom, 

however. He granted Standard Oil of California 

oil

 exploration rights in 1933, and he persuaded 

the ulama to allow for the introduction of radio 

transmissions and the telephone. Oil was first dis-

covered in 1938, and Abd al-Aziz quickly moved 

to use the new revenues to build family properties 

and palaces. It was not until after World War II, 

however, that the Saudi kingdom and the royal 

family began to fully enjoy the profits of the oil 

industry. This was when Saudi Arabia became 

the first Arab country to form close ties with the 

United States, as signaled by Abd al-Aziz’s meet-

ing with President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945 on 

the deck of the USS Quincy. The newly formed 

Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) then 

K  2