Ibn Saud: Difference between revisions

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

|location=[[Indiana University]]|page=60|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303155302|degree=PhD|year=1981|id={{ProQuest|303155302}}}}</ref>

Ibn Saud completed his conquest of the Nejd and the eastern coast of Arabia in 1912.<ref name=kahtani/> He then founded the [[Ikhwan]], a military-religious brotherhood, which was to assist in his later conquests, with the approval of local [[Salafi]] [[ulema]].<ref name=kahtani/> In the same year, he instituted an [[agrarian policy]] to settle the [[nomadic pastoralist]] bedouins into colonies and to replace their tribal organizations with allegiance to the Ikhwan.<ref name=kahtani/>

 

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>{{cite 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/>

In 1925, Ibn Saud's forces captured the holy city of Mecca from Sharif Hussein, ending 700 years of [[Hashemite]] rule. Following this he issued the first decree which was about the collection of [[zakat]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Anthony B. Toth|title=Control and Allegiance at the Dawn of the Oil Age: Bedouin, Zakat and Struggles for Sovereignty in Arabia, 1916–1955|journal=[[Middle East Critique]]|year=2012|page=66

|volume=21|issue=1|s2cid=144536155|doi=10.1080/19436149.2012.658667}}</ref> On 8 January 1926, the leading figures in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah proclaimed Ibn Saud the King of Hejaz<ref>{{cite book|author=Clive Leatherdale|isbn=978-0-7146-3220-9|title=Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: The Imperial Oasis|year=1983|publisher=Psychology Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lt0-U4cUj9sC&pg=PR9|location=London; Totowa, NJ|page=9}}</ref> and the [[bayaa]] (oath of allegiance) ceremony was held in the [[Great Mosque of Mecca]].<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD

|author=Alexander Blay Bligh|title=Succession to the throne in Saudi Arabia. Court Politics in the Twentieth Century|page=56|year=1981

 

Ibn Saud raised Nejd to a kingdom as well on 29 January 1927.<ref>Joseph Kostiner. (1993). ''The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916–1936: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State'' Oxford University Press US, {{ISBN|0-19-507440-8}}, p. 104</ref> On 20 May 1927, the British government signed the [[Treaty of Jeddah (1927)|Treaty 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.<ref>{{cite thesis|author=Isadore Jay Gold|title=The United States and Saudi Arabia, 1933–1953: Post-Imperial Diplomacy and the Legacy of British Power|page=18|degree=PhD|location=[[Columbia University]]|id={{ProQuest|303285941}}|year=1984

With international recognition and support, Ibn Saud continued to consolidate his power. By 1927, his forces had overrun most of the central [[Arabian 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 the Ikhwan leaders, including [[Faisal al-Duwaish|Faisal Al Duwaish]], [[Sultan bin Bajad Al Otaibi|Sultan bin Bajad]] and [[Dhaydan bin Hithlain]], Ibn Saud organized a meeting in Riyadh in 1928, but none of them attended the meeting.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Abdulaziz Al Fahad|title=The 'Imama vs. the 'Iqal: Hadari-Bedouin Conflict and the Formation of the Saudi State

|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]]|issue=2

 

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