Ibn Saud: Difference between revisions

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'''Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud''' ({{lang-ar|عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود|translit=ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd ar RaḥmanRaḥmān Āl Suʿūd}}; 15 January 18751876<ref group="note">Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 18751876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author [[Robert Lacey]]'s book ''The 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 18751876 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"</ref> – 9 November 1953), known in the WestWestern world mononymously as '''Ibn Saud''' ({{lang-ar|ابن سعود}}; ''Ibn Suʿūd''),<ref group="note">''Ibn Saud'', meaning "son of Saud" (see [[Arabic name#Nasab|Arabic name]]), was a sort of title borne by previous heads of the [[House of Saud]], similar to a [[Scottish 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 of [[Riyadh]] in 1902 it referred to his father, [[Abdul Rahman bin Faisal]] {{harv|Lacey|1982|pp=15,65}}.</ref> was an Arab political and religious leader who founded [[Saudi Arabia]] – the third Saudi state – and reigned as its first [[King of Saudi Arabia|king]] from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been [[Emirate of Riyadh|Emir]], [[Sultanate of Nejd|Sultan]], and [[King of Nejd]], and [[King of Hejaz]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ibn Saud|author=John B. Glubb|author-link=John Bagot Glubb|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Saud|date=5 November 2021|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>

Ibn Saud was the son of [[Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Emir of Nejd]], and [[Sara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi]]. The family were exiled from their residence in the city of [[Riyadh]] in 1890. Ibn Saud reconquered Riyadh in 1902, starting three decades of conquests that made him the ruler of nearly all of central and north Arabia. He consolidated his control over the [[Nejd]] in 1922, then conquered the [[Hejaz]] in 1925. He extended his dominions into what later became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Ibn Saud's victory and his support for [[Islamic revival]]ists would greatly bolster [[pan-Islamism]] across the [[Islamic world]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Muhamad Ali|title=Islam and Colonialism: Becoming Modern in Indonesia and Malaya|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4744-0920-9|location=Tun
|page=150|chapter=Controlling Politics and Bureaucratising Religion}}</ref> Concording with [[Wahhabi Islam|Wahhabi]] beliefs, he ordered the demolition of several shrines, the [[Al-Baqi Cemetery]] and the [[Jannat al-Mu'alla]].{{sfn|Shahi|2013|p=51}} As King, he presided over the [[History of the oil industry in Saudi Arabia|discovery of petroleum in Saudi Arabia]] in 1938 and the beginning of large-scale oil production after [[World War II]]. He fathered [[Descendants of Ibn Saud|many children]], including 45 sons, and all of the subsequent kings of Saudi Arabia as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}.

Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, also known as Ibn Saud, was born on 15 January 1875 in Riyadh.<ref name=kingsofk>{{cite web|title=The kings of the Kingdom|work=Ministry of Commerce and Industry|url=http://beta.mci.gov.sa/English/AboutKingdom/Pages/KingdomKings.aspx|access-date=28 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022080810/http://beta.mci.gov.sa/English/AboutKingdom/Pages/KingdomKings.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists|year=2001

|jstor=4283169}}</ref> She died in 1910.<ref name=noble/> His full-siblings were Faisal, [[Noura bint Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Noura]], Bazza, Haya and [[Sa'ad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Saad]].<ref>{{cite news|title=نورة بنت عبد الرحمن.. السيدة السعودية الأولى|url=https://www.albayan.ae/five-senses/culture/2020-05-24-1.3866450|access-date=7 September 2020|work=Al Bayan|date=24 May 2020|language=ar}}</ref> He also had a number of half-siblings from his father's other marriages,<ref>{{cite book|year=2013|author=Alexei Vassiliev|author-link=Alexei Vassiliev|title=King Faisal: Personality, Faith and Times|publisher=Saqi|location=London|page=12|isbn=978-0-86356-761-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0AhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|isbn=978-0-86356-761-2}}</ref> including [[Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Muhammad]], [[Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Abdullah]], Ahmed, and [[Musaid bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Musaid]], who all had roles in the Saudi government.<ref>{{cite web|author=Christopher Keesee Mellon|title=Resiliency of the Saudi Monarchy: 1745-19751745–1975|hdl=10938/10663|location=Beirut|date=May 2015
|url=https://scholarworks.aub.edu.lb/bitstream/handle/10938/10663/pj-1848.pdf?sequence=1|publisher=[[American University of Beirut]]
|access-date=23 January 2021|format=Master's Project}}</ref> Ibn Saud was taught [[Quran]] by Abdullah Al Kharji in Riyadh.<ref>{{cite thesis
|author=Bilal Ahmad Kutty|title=Saudi Arabia under King Faisal|degree=PhD|page=52|year=1997|location=[[Aligarh Muslim University]]

|year=1997|location=[[Aligarh Muslim University]]|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144512812.pdf}}</ref>

|publisher=Selwa Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020061757/http://selwapress.com/images/rg_disco.pdf|access-date=29 April 2012|archive-date=20 October 2013|url-status=dead|year=2007}}</ref> He and his family initially took refuge with the [[Al Murrah]], a [[Bedouin]] tribe in the southern desert of Arabia. Later, the Al Sauds moved to Qatar and stayed there for two months.<ref name=kahtani>{{cite thesis|author=Mohammad Zaid Al Kahtani|title=The Foreign Policy of King Abdulaziz|degree=PhD|location=[[University of Leeds]]

On 14 November 1901 Ibn Saud and some relatives, including his half-brother Muhammad and several cousins (amongst them [[Abdullah bin Jiluwi Al Saud|Abdullah bin Jiluwi]]), set out on a raiding expedition into the Nejd, targeting mainly tribes associated with the Rashidis.<ref name=lpg>{{cite thesis|author=Lawrence Paul Goldrup|title=Saudi Arabia 1902–1932: The Development of a Wahhabi Society|location=[[University of California, Los Angeles]]|year=1971|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/302463650|degree=PhD|page=25|id={{ProQuest|302463650}}}}</ref> On 12 December they reached Al Ahsa and then proceeded south towards the [[Empty Quarter]] with the support from various tribes.<ref name=lpg/> Upon this Abdulaziz Al Rashid sent messages to Qatari ruler [[Jassim 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.<ref name=lpg/> 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.<ref name=lpg/> 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 the [[Riyadh city wall|city walls]] on tilted palm trees and took the city.<ref name=lpg/><ref>{{cite book|author=William Ochsenwald|author-link=William L. Ochsenwald|title=The Middle East: A History|year=2004

|year=2004|publisher=[[McGraw Hill Education|McGraw Hill]]|page=697|isbn=978-0-07-244233-5|location=Boston, MA}}</ref> The Rashidi governor of the city, Ajlan, was killed by Abdullah bin Jiluwi<ref name=lpg/> in front of his own fortress. The Saudi recapture of the city marked the beginning of the third Saudi State.<ref>''[[Current Biography|Current Biography 1943]]', pp. 330–334</ref>

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.<ref name=lpg/> Upon settling in Riyadh, Ibn Saud took up residence in the palace of his grandfather, [[Faisal bin Turki Al Saud (1785–1865)|Faisal bin Turki]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Douglas Carruthers|title=Captain Shakespear's Last Journey (Continued)|journal=[[The Geographical Journal]]|date=June 1922|doi=10.2307/1780633|jstor=1780633|volume=59|issue=6|page=402|bibcode=1922GeogJ..59..401C
|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2238268 }}</ref>

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 wage [[guerrilla 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 named [[qaimmaqam]] of southern Nejd by the Ottomans<ref>{{cite journal|author=Peter Sluglett|title=The Resilience of a Frontier: Ottoman and Iraqi Claims to Kuwait, 1871–1990|journal=[[The International History Review]]|date=December 2002|volume=24|issue=4|page=792|doi=10.1080/07075332.2002.9640981|jstor=40111134|s2cid=153471013}}</ref> which he held until 1913 when an Anglo-Ottoman agreement was signed.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Camille Lyans Cole|display-authors=et. al.|title=Mapping Tribes: Ottoman Spatial Thinking in Iraq and Arabia, c. 1910|journal=Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association|date=Fall 2022|volume=9|page=226|issue=2|url=https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/902202}}</ref> Ibn Saud's victory in [[Battle of Rawdat Muhanna (1906)|Rawdat Muhanna]], in which Abdulaziz Al Rashid died, ended the Ottoman presence in Nejd and [[Al-Qassim Region|Qassim]] 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.<ref>{{cite thesis|author=Abdulkarim Mohamed Hamadi|title=Saudi Arabia' Territorial Limits: A Study in Law and Politics

The British Foreign Office had previously begun to support [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca]] and Emir of the Hejaz, by sending [[T. E. Lawrence]] to him in 1915. The Saudi Ikhwan began to conflict with Hussein in 1917, just as his sons [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]] and [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal]] entered Damascus. The Treaty of Darin remained in effect until superseded by the [[Jeddah]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|author=Abdullah Mohammad Sind|title=The Direct Instruments of Western Control over the Arabs: The Shining Example of the House of Saud|access-date=10 January 2013

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 by [[Eqab bin Mohaya]], the head of the Talhah tribe. This allowed Ibn Saud the leverage to negotiate a new and more favorable treaty with the British in 1922, signed at Uqair. He met [[Percy Cox]], British High Commissioner in Iraq, to draw boundaries<ref name=ibnsaud>[http://www.ibnsaud.info/main/3101.htm Ibn Saud meets Sir Percy Cox in Uqair to draw boundaries] ibnsaud.info {{webarchivecite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108124401/http://www.ibnsaud.info/main/3101.htm|archive-date=8 January 2016
|url=http://www.ibnsaud.info/main/3101.htm|title=Ibn Saud meets Sir Percy Cox in Uqair to draw boundaries|website=ibnsaud.info}}</ref> 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 between [[British India]] and the United Kingdom depended upon coaling stations on the approach to the [[Suez Canal]].<ref name=ibnsaud/>

|journal=EUI Working Papers|year=2002|volume=11|page=23|hdl=1814/1769|issn=1028-3625|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1814/1769}}</ref> Tensions finally boiled over when the [[Ikhwan Revolt|Ikhwan rebelled]]. After two years of fighting, they were suppressed by Ibn Saud in the [[Battle of Sabilla]] in March 1929.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Abdullah F. Alrebh|title=Covering the Building of a Kingdom: The Saudi Arabian Authority in The London Times and The New York Times, 1901–1932|journal=[[Digest of Middle East Studies|DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies]]|date=September 2015|volume=24|issue=2|pages=187–212|doi=10.1111/dome.12073}}</ref>

On 23 September 1932, Ibn Saud formally united his realm into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with himself as its king.<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD

|degree=PhD|author=Odah Sultan|url=http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/14829|title=Saudi–American Relations 1968–78: A study in ambiguity|year=1988

|year=1988|location=[[University of Salford]]}}</ref> He transferred his court to [[Murabba Palace]] from the [[Masmak Fort]] in 1938<ref>{{cite web|title=Murabba Palace Historical Centre|url=http://www.simbacom.com/riyadh-ksa/historic/murabba.html|work=Simbacom|access-date=22 July 2013

|title=Rebirth of a historic center|journal=Saudi Embassy Magazine|url=http://www.saudiembassy.net/files/PDF/Publications/Magazine/1999-Spring/rebirth.htm|date=Spring 1999
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807161001/http://www.saudiembassy.net/files/PDF/Publications/Magazine/1999-Spring/rebirth.htm
|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 August 2013|datejournal=SpringSaudi 1999Embassy Magazine}}</ref>

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.<ref name=mai>{{cite journal|author=Mai Yamani|author-link=Mai Yamani|title=From fragility to stability: a survival strategy for the Saudi monarchy|volume=2|issue=1

|issue=1|journal=Contemporary Arab Affairs|date=January–March 2009|pages=90–105|doi=10.1080/17550910802576114}}</ref>

Petroleum was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938 by [[Chevron Corporation|SoCal]], after Ibn Saud granted a concession in 1933.<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel Yergin|author-link=Daniel Yergin|title=The Prize, The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power|year=1991|publisher=Touchstone

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 of [[Muhammad 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 Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. In 1926, after a caravan of EgyptiansEgyptian pilgrims on the way to Mecca were beaten by his forces for playing bugles, he was impelled to issue a conciliatory statement to the Egyptian government. In fact, several such statements were issued to Muslim governments around the world as a result of beatings suffered by the [[pilgrim]]s visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} With the uprising and subsequent suppression thereafter of the Ikhwan 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 the [[Hajj]], the majority of which were sanctioned by a millennium of scholarship.<ref>{{cite journal|year=2017

|volume=16|year=2017|doi-access=free}}</ref>

|title=المجلة المصرية نون – سيرة حياة الأمير المناضل راشد الخزاعي|work=Noonptm|access-date=25 October 2011|archive-date=11 September 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911013106/http://www.noonptm.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=951|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1934 Saudi Arabia defeated Yemen in the [[Saudi–Yemeni War (1934)|Saudi-Yemeni War]].<ref name=kst34/> This was the first modern war -– the Saudis had British [[Rolls-Royce Armoured Car|Rolls-Royce armoured cars]] and French [[Renault FT|Renault FT-17]] tanks -– between Arab states.<ref name=kst34>{{Cite journal|author=K S Twitchell|author-link=Karl Twitchell|year=1934|title=The Operations in the Yemen|journal=Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society|volume=21|issue=3|pages=445–49|doi=10.1080/03068373408725322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=May Darwich

|date=Spring 2018|title=The Saudi Intervention in Yemen: Struggling for Status|journal=[[Insight Turkey]]|volume=20|issue=2|pages=125–142

|archive-date=11 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811132850/http://anntv.tv/new/showsubject.aspx?id=17145|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://alrai.com/pages.php?news_id=284850|title=جريدة الرأي ; راشد الخزاعي.. من رجالات الوطن ومناضلي الأمة|work=Al Rai|access-date=25 October 2011|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008072744/http://alrai.com/pages.php?news_id=284850|archive-date=8 October 2011|work=Al Rai
|access-date=25 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asharqalarabi.org.uk/ruiah/b-sharq-115.htm|title=مركز الشرق العربي ـ برق الشرق |work=Asharq Al Arabi|access-date=25 October 2011}}</ref>

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.<ref>Abdullah Al Ali Al Mansour Al Zaamil. ''The True Account of the History of Abdul Aziz Al Saud'', p. 429</ref><ref>Abdul-Hameed Al-Khateeb. ''The Just Imam'', Part 2, pp.102-103102–103</ref>

[[Image:Franklin D. Roosevelt with King Ibn Saud aboard USS Quincy (CA-71), 14 February 1945 (USA-C-545).jpg|thumb|Ibn Saud converses with U.S. president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (right) in 1945 through interpreter [[Colonel Bill Eddy]], on board the {{USS|Quincy|CA-71|6}}, after the [[Yalta Conference]]. [[Fleet Admiral]] [[William D. Leahy]] (left) watches.]] [[File:Kings_Farouk_and_Ibn_Saud_in_1946.jpg|alt=Kings_Farouk_and_Ibn_Saud_in_1946|thumb|[[Farouk of Egypt|King Farouk]] of Egypt and Sudan alongside Ibn Saud checking an [[Egyptian Army|Egyptian army]] unit in 1946.]]

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. president [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] on 14 February 1945.<ref name=rudy9/> The meeting took place on board {{USS|Quincy|CA-71|6}} in the [[Great Bitter Lake]] segment of the Suez Canal.<ref name=rudy9>{{cite news|author=Rudy Abramson|title=1945 Meeting of FDR and Saudi King Was Pivotal for Relations|url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-09/news/-mn-388_1_king388-saudstory.html|access-date=22 July 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=9 August 1990|location=Washington DC}}</ref> The meeting laid down the basis of the [[Saudi Arabia–United States relations|future relations between the two countries]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bahgat Gawdat|title=Saudi Arabia and the War on Terrorism|journal=Arab Studies Quarterly|date=Winter 2004|volume=26|issue=1|pages=51–63|jstor=41858472}}</ref> The other meeting was with British prime minister [[Winston Churchill]] in the Grand Hotel du Lac on the shores of the Fayyoun Oasis, fifty miles south of [[Cairo]], in February 1945.<ref name=resource>{{cite web|title=Ibn Saud meets British Prime Minister Winston Churchill|url=http://sacmclubs.org/king_abdulaziz/main/3665.htm|work=King Abdulaziz Information Resource|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130722081550/http://sacmclubs.org/king_abdulaziz/main/3665.htm|archive-date=22 July 2013|access-date=22 July 2013|url-status=dead|url=http://sacmclubs.org/king_abdulaziz/main/3665.htm}}</ref> 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.<ref name=resource/>

|volume=6|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,819242,00.html}}</ref> His first flight was between [[Afif]] and Taif in September 1945.<ref name="qdl">{{cite web|title=File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia|publisher=[[Qatar Digital Library]] |url=https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100061134244.0x00004c|access-date=18 August 2023|date=13 January 1948}}</ref> Ibn Saud met with [[Farouk of Egypt|King Farouk]] during his ten-day state visit to Egypt from 10 to 22 January 1946.<ref name="qdl" /> 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.<ref name="qdl" />

Ibn Saud participated in the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], but Saudi Arabia's contribution was generally considered token.<ref name="A Country Study" /> The Saudis deployed 800 to 1,200 troops against Israel, including volunteers, who were attached to the Egyptians.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 December 2017 |title=King Abdulaziz archives reveal film about Saudi Army in Palestine |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1214996/saudi-arabia |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=Arab News |language=en}}</ref> He actively attempted to resolve the dispute between the Kingdom of Egypt and the United Kingdom in the early 1952 and developed a proposal for a settlement between two countries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Saudi Arabian move for a settlement|issue=52217|date=24 January 1952

|author=Michel G. Nehme|title=Saudi Arabia 1950–80: Between Nationalism and Religion|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=1994|volume=30|issue=4

|issue=4|pages=930–943|jstor=4283682|doi=10.1080/00263209408701030}}</ref>

Ibn Saud was tall,<ref name=tam29>{{cite news|author=Mohammed Leopold Weiss|title=My friend Ibn Saud|work=[[The Atlantic]]|issue=144
|date=August 1929|location=Boston|id={{ProQuest|203560415}}}}</ref> his height reported as between 1.93&nbsp;m (6&nbsp;ft&nbsp;4 in)<ref>David Lamb. (1988). ''The Arabs: Journeys Beyond the Mirage'', Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, {{ISBN|978-0394757582}} p.265</ref><ref>Kenneth Williams. (1933) ''Ibn Saʻud: the puritan king of Arabia'', J. Cape, p. 21</ref> and 1.98&nbsp;m (6&nbsp;ft&nbsp;6 in).<ref>Richard Halliburton. (2013). ''Seven League Boots: Adventures Across the World from Arabia to Abyssinia'', Tauris Parke Paperbacks, p. 255</ref> He was known to have a strong, charming, and charismatic personality that earned him respect among his people and foreign diplomats. His family and others described Ibn Saud as an affectionate and caring man.<ref name=noble/>

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.<ref name=stig>{{cite journal|author=Stig Stenslie|title=Power behind the Veil: Princesses of House of Saud|journal=Journal of Arabian Studies: Arabia, the Gulf, and the Red Sea|year=2011|volume=1|issue=1|pages=69–79|doi=10.1080/21534764.2011.576050|s2cid=153320942}}</ref>

Ibn Saud was also very close to his sister [[Noura bint Abdul Rahman Al Saud|Noura]], who was one year older. On several occasions, he identified himself in public with the words: "I am the brother of Noura."<ref name=noble>{{cite web|title=King Abdulaziz' Noble Character|work=Islam House

|work=Islam House|access-date=29 April 2012|url=http://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_king_Abdul_Aziz.pdf}}</ref><ref name=stig/> Noura died a few years before her brother, and the King was deeply saddened by her death.<ref name=noble/>

|author=Jerald L. Thompson|title=H. St. John Philby, Ibn Saud and Palestine|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA111290|degree=MA
|location=University of Kansas|degree=MA|date=December 1981}}</ref><ref name=amin>{{cite web|author=Amin K. Tokumasu|title=Cultural Relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan from the Time of King Abdulaziz to the Time of King Fahd|url=http://www.darah.info/bohos/Data/15/13.htm|work=Darah|access-date=2 January 2013|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708081440/http://darah.info/bohos/Data/15/13.htm|archive-date=8 July 2013|access-date=2 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=richard>{{cite news|author=Richard Halliburton|title=Ibn Saud, King of Arabia, Goes out from Mecca to Grant an Interview|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/657021218/?terms=prince%20khalid%20al%20saud&match=1|access-date=27 September 2020

|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/657021218/?terms=prince%20khalid%20al%20saud&match=1|access-date=27 September 2020|work=The Kansas City Star|date=24 June 1935}}</ref> He survived the attack unhurt, and the three assassinsattackers were arrested.<ref name=amin/><ref name=richard/> Another assassination attempt occurred in 1951 when [[Captain (military rank)|Captain]] Abdullah Al Mandili, a member of [[Royal Saudi Air Force]], tried to bomb the King's camp from an airplane.<ref name=rosb/> The attempt was unsuccessful, and Al Mandili escaped to Iraq with the help of tribes.<ref name=rosb>{{cite journal|author=Rosie Bsheer|title=A Counter-Revolutionary State: Popular Movements and the Making of Saudi Arabia|journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past & Present]]|date=February 2018|volume=238|issue=1|page=247
|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtx057}}</ref>

Ibn Saud's eldest son [[Turki I bin Abdulaziz Al Saud|Turki]], 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.<ref name=kingsofk/> Instead, Ibn Saud appointed his second son, [[Saud of Saudi Arabia|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 son [[Khalid bin Muhammad Al Saud|Khalid]] to be designated the heir.<ref name="A Country Study"/>

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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Faisal, Rich and Powerful, Led Saudis Into 20th Century and to Arab Forefront|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/26/archives/faisal-rich-and-powerful-led-saudis-into-20th-century-and-to-arab.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=26 March 1975|access-date=6 April 2021|author=Paul L. Montgomery|author-link=Paul L. Montgomery}}</ref> However, he made the decision to keep Prince Saud as crown prince in thefor fear that doing otherwise would lead to decreased stability.<ref name=mai/>

|doi=10.1080/00263209808701231|date=July 1998|volume=34|pages=34–53}}</ref> He also remarked, "We know what to avoid, and we know what to accept for our own benefit."<ref>{{cite journal|author=G. D. Van Peursem|title=Guests of King Ibn Saud|journal=The Muslim World|date=April 1936|volume=26|page=113|issue=2|doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.1936.tb00862.x}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite journal|author=Amani Hamdan|title=Women and education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and achievements|journal=International Education Journal|year=2005|volume=6|issue=1|pages=42–64|archive-date=19 April 2012|url=http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v6n1/hamdan/paper.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419030452/http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v6n1/hamdan/paper.pdf}}</ref>

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/11/joe-biden-is-making-clear-that-saudi-human-rights-violations-wont-be-ignored/|access-date=30 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318211544/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/11/joe-biden-is-making-clear-that-saudi-human-rights-violations-wont-be-ignored/|archive-date=18 March 2021|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=11 March 2021|quote=During the four-hour meeting between the President and the King, where the two discussed oil, Palestinian territories and their future partnership, “7-foot tall Nubian slaves” could be found on the opposite deck of the destroyer}}</ref> and regulated slavery in his kingdom in 1936.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Alaine S. Hutson|title=Enslavement and Manumission in Saudi Arabia, 1926-381926–38|journal=[[Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies]]|year=2002|volume=11|issue=1|pages=49–70 |doi=10.1080/10669920120122243|s2cid=145685854 |quote=1936, the same year in which King Abd al Aziz ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud (r. 1902-53) decreed the Saudi Arabian slave regulations}}</ref> It was only his son, King Faisal, who abolished [[Slaveryslavery in Saudi Arabia|slavery in Saudiarabia]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite news|author=Gabriel Marinescu |title=The History of the House of Saud: A Timeline of the Saudi Royal Family and Their Rise to Power|access-date=30 September 2023|work=The Science Survey|url=https://thesciencesurvey.com/news/2023/03/14/the-history-of-the-house-of-saud-a-timeline-of-the-saudi-royal-family-and-their-rise-to-power/|access-date=3014 SeptemberMarch 2023|workquote=TheDue Scienceto Survey|date=14pressures MarchFaisal 2023issued an executive order in 1967 abolishing slavery.}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite journal|author=C. C. Lewis|title=Ibn Sa'ūd and the Future of Arabia|journal=International Affairs|date=July 1933|volume=12|issue=4|page=529|doi=10.2307/2603605|jstor=2603605}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|author=Fahd M. Al Nafjan
|title=The Origins of Saudi-American Relations: From recognition to diplomatic representation (1931-1943)|location=[[University of Kansas]]|degree=PhD

|degree=PhD|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303791009|page=83|year=1989|id={{ProQuest|303791009}}}}</ref> He had much more positive views about the United States, including finance, and in 1947 when [[the World Bank]] was suggested to him as the source of development loans instead of the [[US 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.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Joseph J. Malone|title=America and the Arabian Peninsula: The First Two Hundred Years|journal=Middle East Journal|date=Summer 1976|volume=30|issue=3|pages=421–422|jstor=4325520}}</ref>

|title=Shaping the Saudi state: Human agency's shifting role in the rentier state formation|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|year=2007|volume=39|issue=4|pages=539–563|doi=10.1017/S0020743807071073|s2cid=145139112|url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/4561/1/4561.pdf }}</ref> and "In my youth and manhood, I made a nation. Now, in my declining years, I make men for it."<ref name=paulrb/> 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!"<ref name=mai/>

Ibn Saud experienced heart disease in his final years and also, was half blind and racked by [[arthritis]].<ref name="kingdt"/> In October 1953, his illness became serious.<ref>{{cite news|title=Warrior King Ibn Saud Dies at 73|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52939653
|access-date=2 April 2013|newspaper=[[The West Australian]]|date=10 November 1953|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Before Ibn Saud slept on the night of 8 November, he recited the [[shahada]] several times, which were his last words.<ref name=noble/> He died in his sleep of a heart attack in [[Shubra Palace]] in Ta'if<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Michael R. T. Dumper|title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&pg=PA344|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-919-5|page=344

|page=344|editor2=Bruce E. Stanley|location=Santa Barbara, CA}}</ref> on 9 November 1953 at the age of 78, and Prince Faisal was at his side.<ref name=kingsofk/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Richard Cavendish|title=Death of Ibn Saud|journal=[[History Today]]|year=2003|volume=53|issue=11

|issue=11|url=http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-ibn-saud}}</ref>

On 23 November 1916, British diplomat Sir Percy Cox arranged the Three Leaders Conference in Kuwait where Ibn Saud was awarded the Star of India and the Order of the British Empire.<ref name="Mohammed Al Mutari-2018">{{cite journal|author=Mohammed Al Mutari|title=Control of al-Hasa (Saudi Arabia) and direct contact with Britain, 1910 –1916|journal=Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences|date=August 2018|volume=5|issue=2|page=144

|issue=2|page=144|url=https://journals.ajsrp.com/index.php/jhss/article/download/814/769/1532}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|author=Gamal Hagar|degree=PhD|year=1981

{{Commons-inline|Ibn Saud}}

[[Category:20th-century kings of Saudi kingsArabia]]