This article is about Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, the first king of Saudi Arabia. For his ancestor who is also called Ibn Saud, seeMuhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin.
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (Arabic:عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود); (15 January 1876[note 3] – 9 November 1953), known in theWestern world asIbn Saud (Arabic:ابن سعود;Ibn Suʿūd),[note 4] was aNajdi statesman and tribal leader who became the founder and firstking of Saudi Arabia, reigning from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously beenEmir,Sultan,King of Nejd, andKing of Hejaz.[1]
TheAl Saud family had been a power in central Arabia for the previous 130 years. Under the influence and inspiration ofWahhabism, the Saudis had previously attempted to control much of theArabian Peninsula in the form of theEmirate of Diriyah, the first Saudi state, until its destruction by anOttoman army in theOttoman–Wahhabi war in the early nineteenth century.[4]
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, also known as Ibn Saud, was born on 15 January 1876 inRiyadh.[5][6] He was the fourth child and third son of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal,[7] one of the last rulers of theEmirate of Nejd, the second Saudi state, a tribalsheikhdom centered on Riyadh.[8] Ibn Saud's mother was Sara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi[9] of the Sudairi family.[10] She died in 1910.[11] His full-siblings were Faisal,Noura, Bazza, Haya andSaad.[12] He also had a number of half-siblings from his father's other marriages,[13] includingMuhammad,Abdullah, Ahmed, andMusaid, who all had roles in theSaudi government.[14] Ibn Saud was taughtQuran by Abdullah Al Kharji in Riyadh.[15]
In 1891, the House of Saud's long-term regional rivals led byMuhammad bin Abdullah Al Rashid conqueredRiyadh. Ibn Saud was 15 at the time.[16] He and his family initially took refuge with theAl Murrah, aBedouin tribe in the southern desert of Arabia. Later, the Al Sauds moved to Qatar and stayed there for two months.[17] Their next stop was Bahrain where they stayed briefly. The Ottoman State allowed them to settle in Kuwait[18] where they settled and lived for nearly a decade.[17] Ibn Saud developed a rapport with the Kuwaiti rulerMubarak Al Sabah and frequently visited hismajlis. His father, Abdul Rahman, did not endorse these visits, perceiving Mubarak's lifestyle as immoral and unorthodox.[7]
On 14 November 1901 Ibn Saud and some relatives, including his half-brother Muhammad and several cousins (amongst themAbdullah bin Jiluwi), set out on a raiding expedition into the Nejd, targeting mainly tribes associated with the Rashidis.[19] On 12 December they reached Al Ahsa and then proceeded south towards theEmpty Quarter with the support from various tribes.[19] Upon this Abdulaziz Al Rashid sent messages to Qatari rulerJassim bin Mohammed Al Thani and to the Ottoman governor of Baghdad asking their help to stop Ibn Saud's raids on the tribes loyal to Al Rashid.[19] These events led to a decrease in the number of Ibn Saud's raiders, and his father also asked him to cancel his plans to capture Riyadh.[19] However, Ibn Saud did not cancel the raid and managed to reach Riyadh. On the night of 15 January 1902, he led 40 men over thecity walls on tilted palm trees and took the city.[19][20] The Rashidi governor of the city, Ajlan, was killed by Abdullah bin Jiluwi[19] in front of his own fortress. The Saudi recapture of the city marked the beginning of the third Saudi State.[21]
Following Ibn Saud's victory the Kuwaiti ruler Mubarak Al Sabah sent him an additional seventy warriors commanded by Ibn Saud's younger brother Saad.[19] Upon settling in Riyadh, Ibn Saud took up residence in the palace of his grandfather,Faisal bin Turki.[22]
Following the capture of Riyadh, many former supporters of the House of Saud rallied to Ibn Saud's call to arms. He was a charismatic leader and kept his men supplied with arms. Over the next two years, he and his forces recaptured almost half of the Nejd from the Rashidis.[23]
In 1904,Abdulaziz bin Mutaib Al Rashid appealed to the Ottoman Empire for military protection and assistance. The Ottomans responded by sending troops into Arabia. On 15 June 1904, Ibn Saud's forces suffered a major defeat at the hands of the combined Ottoman and Rashidi forces. His forces regrouped and began to wageguerrilla warfare against the Ottomans. Over the next two years, he was able to disrupt their supply routes, forcing them to retreat. However, in February 1905 Ibn Saud was namedqaimmaqam of southern Nejd by the Ottomans[24] which he held until 1913 when an Anglo-Ottoman agreement was signed.[25] Ibn Saud's victory inRawdat Muhanna, in which Abdulaziz Al Rashid died, ended the Ottoman presence in Nejd andQassim by the end of October 1906. This victory also weakened the alliance between Mubarak Al Sabah, ruler of Kuwait, and Ibn Saud due to the former's concerns about the increase of Saudi power in the region.[26]
Ibn Saud completed his conquest of the Nejd and the eastern coast of Arabia in 1912.[17] He then founded theIkhwan, a military-religious brotherhood, which was to assist in his later conquests, with the approval of localSalafiulema.[17] In the same year, he instituted anagrarian policy to settle thenomadic pastoralist bedouins into colonies and to replace their tribal organizations with allegiance to the Ikhwan.[17]
In May 1914, Ibn Saud made a secret agreement with the Ottomans as a result of his unproductive attempts to get protection from the British.[27] However, due to the outbreak ofWorld War I, this agreement which would have made Ibn Saud the wali or governor of Najd did not materialize, and because of the Ottomans' attempt to develop a connection with Ibn Saud the British government soon established diplomatic relations with him.[27] The British agent, CaptainWilliam Shakespear, was well received by the Bedouin.[28] Similar diplomatic missions were established with any Arabian power who might have been able to unify and stabilize the region. The British entered into theTreaty of Darin in December 1915, which made the lands of the House of Saud a Britishprotectorate and attempted to define the boundaries of the developing Saudi state.[29] In exchange, Ibn Saud pledged to again make war against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans.
Ibn Saud as a guest of Shaikh Khaz'al inMohammerah. The image includesSheikh Khaz'al, Emir ofArabistan, Ibn Saud,Sir Percy Cox, along with Saudi Arabia dignitaries and other British officials
During this period, Ibn Saud also sought to strengthen his position through regional alliances.Sheikh Khaz'al Emir ofArabistan advised the Ottoman authorities that Ibn Saud was more valuable to them than Al-Ahsa and Qatif, urging them to support him as a strategic asset.[30] As part of his diplomatic engagements, Ibn Saud traveled toMohammerah as a guest ofSheikh Khaz'al. The two leaders arrived in Basra on the evening of November 26. The next morning, the British senior political officer, accompanied by two high-ranking British military representatives of the stationed army commander in Basra, boarded Sheikh Khaz’al's ship and presented Ibn Saud with the Sword of Honor along with a welcome letter from the army commander. He spent the day inspecting the British military base camps, their organization, and the latest military equipment, including warplanes, which he showed great interest in.[31]
The British Foreign Office had previously begun to supportHussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and Emir of the Hejaz, by sendingT. E. Lawrence to him in 1915. The Saudi Ikhwan began to conflict with Hussein in 1917, just as his sonsAbdullah andFaisal entered Damascus. The Treaty of Darin remained in effect until superseded by theJeddah conference of 1927 and the Dammam conference of 1952, during both of which Ibn Saud extended his boundaries past the Anglo-Ottoman Blue Line. After Darin, he stockpiled the weapons and supplies which the British provided him, including a 'tribute' of £5,000 per month.[32] After World War I Ibn Saud received further support from the British, including a glut of surplus munitions. He launched his campaign against the Al Rashidi in 1920; by 1922 they had been all but destroyed.
The defeat of the Al Rashidi doubled the size of Saudi territory because, after the war of Ha'il, Ibn Saud sent his army to occupy Al Jouf and the army led byEqab bin Mohaya, the head of the Talhah branch of theOtaibah tribe. This allowed Ibn Saud the leverage to negotiate a new and more favorable treaty with the British in 1922, signed at Uqair. He metPercy Cox, British High Commissioner in Iraq, to draw boundaries[33] and the treaty saw Britain recognize many of Ibn Saud's territorial gains. In exchange, Ibn Saud agreed to recognize British territories in the area, particularly along the Persian Gulf coast and in Iraq. The former of these were vital to the British, as merchant traffic betweenBritish India and the United Kingdom depended upon coaling stations on the approach to theSuez Canal.[33]
Ibn Saud sitting with Abdullah Ali Reda on the day he enteredJeddah in 1925
In 1925, Ibn Saud's forces captured the holy city of Mecca from Sharif Hussein, ending 700 years ofHashemite rule. Following this he issued the first decree which was about the collection ofzakat.[34] On 8 January 1926, the leading figures in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah proclaimed Ibn Saud the King of Hejaz[35] and thebayaa (oath of allegiance) ceremony was held in theGreat Mosque of Mecca.[36]
Ibn Saud raised Nejd to a kingdom as well on 29 January 1927.[37] On 20 May 1927, the British government signed theTreaty of Jeddah, which abolished the Darin protection agreement and recognized the independence of the Hejaz and Nejd, with Ibn Saud as their ruler. For the next five years, Ibn Saud administered the two parts of his dual kingdom as separate units. He also succeeded his father, Abdul Rahman, as Imam.[38]
With international recognition and support, Ibn Saud continued to consolidate his power. By 1927, his forces had overrun most of the centralArabian Peninsula, but the alliance between the Ikhwan and the Al Saud collapsed when Ibn Saud forbade further raiding. The few portions of central Arabia that had not been overrun by the Saudi-Ikhwan forces had treaties with London, and Ibn Saud was sober enough to see the folly of provoking the British by pushing into these areas. This did not sit well with the Ikhwan, who had been taught that all non-Wahhabis were infidels. In order to settle down the problems with theIkhwan leaders, includingFaisal Al Duwaish,Sultan bin Bajad andDhaydan bin Hithlain, Ibn Saud organized a meeting in Riyadh in 1928, but none of them attended the meeting.[39] Tensions finally boiled over when theIkhwan rebelled. After two years of fighting, they were suppressed by Ibn Saud in theBattle of Sabilla in March 1929.[40]
On 23 September 1932, Ibn Saud formally united his realm into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with himself as its king.[41] He transferred his court toMurabba Palace from theMasmak Fort in 1938[42] and the palace remained his residence and the seat of government until his death in 1953.[43]
Ibn Saud had to first eliminate the right of his own father in order to rule, and then distance and contain the ambitions of his five brothers, particularly his brother Muhammad, who had fought with him during the battles and conquests that gave birth to the state.[23]
Petroleum was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938 byChevron Corporation, after Ibn Saud granted a concession in 1933.[44] Through his advisersSt John Philby andAmeen Rihani, Ibn Saud granted substantial authority over Saudi oil fields to American oil companies in 1944. Beginning in 1915, he signed a "friendship and cooperation" pact with Britain to keep his militia in line and cease any further attacks against their protectorates for whom they were responsible.[citation needed]
Ibn Saud's newly found oil wealth brought a great deal of power and influence that he would use to advantage in the Hejaz. He forced many nomadic tribes to settle down and abandon "petty wars" and vendettas. He began widespread enforcement of the new kingdom's ideology, based on the teachings ofMuhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. This included an end to traditionally sanctioned rites of pilgrimage, recognized by the orthodox schools of jurisprudence, but at odds with those sanctioned by al-Wahhab. In 1926, after a caravan of Egyptian pilgrims on the way toMecca were beaten by his forces for playing bugles, he was impelled to issue a conciliatory statement to theEgyptian government. In fact, several such statements were issued to Muslim governments around the world as a result of beatings suffered by thepilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca andMedina.[citation needed] With the uprising and subsequent suppression thereafter of theIkhwan in 1929, the 1930s marked a turning point. With his rivals eliminated, Ibn Saud's ideology was in full force, ending nearly 1,400 years of accepted religious practices surrounding theHajj, the majority of which were sanctioned by a millennium of scholarship.[45]
Ibn Saud established aShura Council of theHejaz as early as 1927. This council was later expanded to 20 members and was chaired by Ibn Saud's son,Prince Faisal.[46]
Ibn Saud was able to gain loyalty from tribes near Saudi Arabia, such as those in Jordan. For example, he built very strong ties withRashed Al-Khuzai from the Al Fraihat tribe, one of the most influential and royally established families during the Ottoman Empire. Prince Rashed and his tribe had dominated eastern Jordan before the arrival of Sharif Hussein. Ibn Saud supported Rashed and his followers in rebellion against Hussein.[47]
In 1935 Prince Rashed supportedIzz ad-Din al-Qassam's defiance, which led him and his followers into rebellion against Abdullah I of Jordan. In 1937, when they were forced to leave Jordan, Prince Rashed Al Khuzai, his family, and a group of his followers chose to move to Saudi Arabia where Prince Rashed lived for several years under Ibn Saud's hospitality.[47][50][51][52]
Ibn Saud's charity earned him respect among his people. The King would direct money to be handed to the impoverished whenever he saw them. This is why the poor would eagerly anticipate his appearance in villages, towns, and even the desert.[53][54]
"O Abdul-Aziz, may Allah give you in the Hereafter as He has given you in the world!" an elderly woman once said to Ibn Saud's procession. The King ordered that she be given ten bags of money from his car. Ibn Saud noticed the old woman having trouble bringing the money back to her home, so he had his aid service deliver the money and accompany her back to her home.[55] Ibn Saud was on a picnic outside of Riyadh when he came across an elderly man dressed in rags. The old man proceeded to stand up in front of the King's horse and said, "O Abdul-Aziz, it is terribly cold, and I have no clothes to protect me". Ibn Saud, saddened by the man's condition, removed his cloak and gave it to him. He also offered the elderly man a stipend to help him with his everyday costs.[11]
Due to the abundance of the poor, Ibn Saud established a guest house known as the "Thulaim" or "The Host", where rice, meat, and several types of porridge were distributed to the poor. As the economy deteriorated, Ibn Saud began to increase his aid to the needy. He gave them "royal kits" of bread and "waayid", which were monetary gifts given to them on an annual basis.[56] The King said, "I haven't obtained all this wealth by myself. It is a blessing from Allah, and all of you have a share in it. So, I want you to guide me to whatever takes me nearer to my Lord and qualifies me for His forgiveness."[57]
Ibn Saud positioned Saudi Arabia as neutral inWorld War II, but was generally considered to favor theAllies.[58] However, in 1938, when an attack on a main British pipeline in theKingdom of Iraq was found to be connected to the German Ambassador,Fritz Grobba, Ibn Saud provided Grobba with refuge.[59] It was reported that he had been disfavoring the British as of 1937.[60]
In the last stage of the war, Ibn Saud met significant political figures. One of these meetings, which lasted for three days, was with U.S. presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.[61] The meeting took place on boardUSS Quincy in theGreat Bitter Lake segment of the Suez Canal.[61] The meeting laid down the basis of thefuture relations between the two countries.[62] The other meeting was with British prime ministerWinston Churchill in the Grand Hotel du Lac on the shores of the Fayyoun Oasis, fifty miles south ofCairo, in February 1945.[63] Saudis report that the meeting heavily focused on the Palestine problem and was unproductive in terms of its outcomes, in contrast to that with Roosevelt.[63]
After naming his son Saud asCrown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the King left most of his duties to him, and he spent most of his time inTaif.[64] His first flight was betweenAfif and Taif in September 1945.[65] Ibn Saud met with KingFarouk of Egypt during his ten-day state visit to Egypt from 10 to 22 January 1946.[65] Ibn Saud's first official visit to the Saudi Arabia's oil fields occurred between 21 and 29 January 1947 which was organized by the Arabian American Oil Company.[65]
Ibn Saud participated in the1948 Arab–Israeli War, but Saudi Arabia's contribution was generally considered token.[58] The Saudis deployed 800 to 1,200 troops against Israel, including volunteers, who were attached to the Egyptians.[66] He actively attempted to resolve the dispute between theKingdom of Egypt and theUnited Kingdom in the early 1952 and developed a proposal for a settlement between two countries.[67]
While most of the royal family desired luxuries such as gardens, splendid cars, and palaces, Ibn Saud wanted a royal railway from thePersian Gulf to Riyadh and then an extension to Jeddah. His advisors regarded this as an old man's folly. Eventually,ARAMCO built the railway, at a cost of $70 million, drawn from the King's oil royalties. It was completed in 1951 and was used commercially after the King's death. It enabled Riyadh to grow into a relatively modern city. But when a paved road was built in 1962, the railway lost its traffic.[68]
Ibn Saud was very tall for a Saudi man of his time,[70] his height reported as between 1.85m (6 ft 1 in)[71][72] and 1.88m (6 ft 2 in).[73] He was known to have a charming and charismatic personality that earned him respect among his people and some foreign diplomats. His family and others described Ibn Saud as an affectionate and caring man.[11]
Ibn Saud had twenty-two consorts.[74] Many of his marriages were contracted in order to cement alliances with other clans, during the period when the Saudi state was founded and stabilized. Aside from his legal wives, he also hadconcubines in hisharem,[74] who by definition were slaves (slavery in Saudi Arabia being legal). These included Baraka Al Yamaniyah. He was the father of almost one hundred children, including 45 sons.Muhammad Leopold Weiss reported in 1929 that one of Ibn Saud's spouses had poisoned the King in 1924, causing him to have poor sight in one eye.[70] He later forgave her, but divorced her.[70]
One of the significant publications about Ibn Saud in the Western media was a comprehensive article by Noel Busch published inLife magazine in May 1943 which introduced him as a legendary monarch.[75]
Ibn Saud had akennel forsalukis, a dog breed originated in the Middle East.[76] He gave two of his salukis, a male and a mate, to BritishField Marshal SirHenry Maitland Wilson who brought them to Washington, D.C., USA.[76] The male, named Ch Abdul Farouk, won a championship in the USA.[76]
Ibn Saud was said to be very close to his paternal aunt, Jawhara bint Faisal. From a young age, she ingrained in him a strong sense of family destiny and motivated him to regain the lost glory of the House of Saud. During the years when the Al Saud family were living almost as refugees in Kuwait, Jawhara bint Faisal frequently recounted the deeds of his ancestors to Ibn Saud and exhorted him not to be content with the existing situation. She was instrumental in making him decide to return to Nejd from Kuwait and regain the territories of his family. She was well educated in Islam, in Arab custom and in tribal and clan relationships. She remained among the King's most trusted and influential advisors all her life. Ibn Saud asked her about the experiences of past rulers and the historical allegiance and the roles of tribes and individuals. Jawhara was also deeply respected by the King's children. The King visited her daily until she died around 1930.[77]
Ibn Saud was also very close to his sisterNoura, who was one year older. On several occasions, he identified himself in public with the words: "I am the brother of Noura."[11][77] Noura died a few years before her brother, and the King was deeply saddened by her death.[11]
On 15 March 1935, three armed men from Oman attacked and tried to assassinate Ibn Saud during his performance ofHajj.[78][79][80] He survived the attack unhurt, through the intervention of the crown prince, and the three attackers were killed by bodyguards.[79][80][81]
Another assassination attempt occurred in 1951, whenCaptain Abdullah Al Mandili, a member ofRoyal Saudi Air Force, tried to bomb the King's camp from an airplane.[82] The attempt was unsuccessful, and Al Mandili escaped to Iraq with the help of tribes.[82]
Ibn Saud's eldest sonTurki, who was the crown prince of the Kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz, died at age 18, predeceasing his father. Had Turki not died, he would have been the crown prince.[5] Instead, Ibn Saud appointed his second son,Prince Saud, heir to the Saudi throne in 1933. He had many quarrels with his brother Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman as to who should be appointed heir. Muhammad wanted his sonKhalid to be designated the heir.[58]
When the King discussed succession before his death, he favoured Prince Faisal as a possible successor over Crown Prince Saud due to Faisal's extensive knowledge, as well as his years of experience. Since Faisal was a child, Ibn Saud recognised him as the most capable of his sons and often tasked him with responsibilities in war and diplomacy. In addition, Faisal was known to embrace a simple Bedouin lifestyle. "I only wish I had three Faisals", Ibn Saud once said when discussing who would succeed him.[83] However, he made the decision to keep Prince Saud as crown prince for fear that doing otherwise would lead to decreased stability.[23]
Ibn Saud said, "Two things are essential to our state and our people ... religion and the rights inherited from our fathers."[84] He also remarked, "We know what to avoid, and we know what to accept for our own benefit."[85]
Amani Hamdan argues that the King's attitude towards women's education was encouraging since he expressed his support in a conversation with St John Philby in which he stated, "It is permissible for women to read."[86]
Ibn Saud kept servants,[87][88] and regulated slavery in his kingdom in 1936.[89] It was only his son, King Faisal, who abolishedslavery in Saudi Arabia in 1967.[90]
Ibn Saud repeated the following views about the British authorities many times: "The English are my friends, but I will walk with them only so far as my religion and honor will allow."[91][92] He had much more positive views about the United States, including finance, and in 1947 whenthe World Bank was suggested to him as the source of development loans instead of theUS Export-Import Bank, Ibn Saud reported that Saudi Arabia would do business with and be indebted to the United States instead of other countries and international agencies.[93]
Shortly before his death, the King stated, "Verily, my children and my possessions are my enemies."[94] and "In my youth and manhood, I made a nation. Now, in my declining years, I make men for it."[75] His last words to his two sons, the future King Saud and the next in line Prince Faisal, who were already battling each other, were "You are brothers, unite!"[23]
A staunch opponent ofZionism,[95] Ibn Saud had a highly ambivalent opinion of the Jews. On the one hand he often expressed his dislike for the Jews by referring to theQuran and theHadith.[96] In 1937 he called them "a race accursed by God" who are "destined to final destruction and eternal damnation".[97] For him they were "enemies of Islam and prophet Muhammad"[96] and "enemies of the Muslims until the end of the world."[98] In some instances he made use ofantisemitic tropes, calling the Jews a "dangerous and hostile race" with an "exaggerated love of money",[96] accusing them of "making trouble wherever they exist" or igniting conflicts between Muslims and Christians.[99]
On the other hand, he thought of the Jews, at least those who were not Zionists, as "[g]ood friends of the Arabs", opposed declaring an anti-Jewishjihad and fiercely condemned the anti-Jewish1929 Hebron massacre, which he considered a clear violation of Islamic principles.[100] According to a Najrani Jew David Shuker now living in Israel, the King also had an associate, Yosef ben Aavetz, a Jew and the Jews of Najran were treated well.[101]
Ibn Saud experienced heart disease in his final years and also, was half blind and racked byarthritis.[64] In October 1953, his illness became serious.[102] Before Ibn Saud slept on the night of 8 November, he recited theshahada several times, which were his last words.[11] He died in his sleep of a heart attack inShubra Palace in Ta'if[103] on 9 November 1953 at the age of 77, and Prince Faisal was at his side.[5][104]
The funeral prayer was performed atAl Hawiyah in Ta'if.[5] Ibn Saud's body was brought to Riyadh where he was buried inAl Oud cemetery[5][105] next to his sister Noura.[106]
U.S. presidentDwight D. Eisenhower issued a message on Ibn Saud's death on 11 November 1953.[107] U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles stated after the King's death that he would be remembered for his achievements as a statesman.[108]
^abIbn Saud incorporated the kingdoms ofNejd andHejaz into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 23 September 1932. Thereafter, he reigned asKing of Saudi Arabia until his death in 1953.
^In addition to their political role, the rulers of the Al Saud family also held religious authority over their subjects, holding the title of imam.
^Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British authorRobert Lacey's bookThe Kingdom, a leading Saudi historian found records that show Ibn Saud in 1891 greeting an important tribal delegation. The historian reasoned that a 10 or 11-year-old child (as given by the 1880 birth date) would have been too young to be allowed to greet such a delegation, while an adolescent of 15 or 16 (as given by the 1876 date) would likely have been allowed. When Lacey interviewed one of Ibn Saud's sons prior to writing the book, the son recalled that his father often laughed at records showing his birth date to be 1880. Ibn Saud's response to such records was reportedly that "I swallowed four years of my life." p. 561"
^Ibn Saud, meaning "son of Saud" (seeArabic name), was a sort of title borne by previous heads of theHouse of Saud, similar to aScottish clan chief's title of "the MacGregor" or "the MacDougal". When used without comment it refers solely to Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, although prior to the capture ofRiyadh in 1902 it referred to his father,Abdul Rahman bin Faisal (Lacey 1982, pp. 15, 65).
^Muhamad Ali (2016). "Controlling Politics and Bureaucratising Religion".Islam and Colonialism: Becoming Modern in Indonesia and Malaya. Tun: Edinburgh University Press. p. 150.ISBN978-1-4744-0920-9.
^David W. Del Testa, ed. (2001). "Saūd, Abdulaziz ibn".Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists. Westport, CT: Oryx Press. p. 165.ISBN978-1573561532.
^abcdMai Yamani (January–March 2009). "From fragility to stability: a survival strategy for the Saudi monarchy".Contemporary Arab Affairs.2 (1):90–105.doi:10.1080/17550910802576114.
^Joseph Kostiner. (1993).The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916–1936: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State Oxford University Press US,ISBN0-19-507440-8, p. 104
^Abdullah F. Alrebh (September 2015). "Covering the Building of a Kingdom: The Saudi Arabian Authority in The London Times and The New York Times, 1901–1932".DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies.24 (2):187–212.doi:10.1111/dome.12073.
^abStig Stenslie (2011). "Power behind the Veil: Princesses of House of Saud".Journal of Arabian Studies: Arabia, the Gulf, and the Red Sea.1 (1):69–79.doi:10.1080/21534764.2011.576050.S2CID153320942.
^abRosie Bsheer (February 2018). "A Counter-Revolutionary State: Popular Movements and the Making of Saudi Arabia".Past & Present (238): 247.doi:10.1093/pastj/gtx057.
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