Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud
Emir and Imam of Diriyah
Reign1765 – 1803
PredecessorMuhammad bin Saud (as Emir)
SuccessorSaud bin Abdulaziz bin Muhammad
Born1720
Died12 November 1803 (aged 82–83)
Issue
List
  • Saud
    Abdul Rahman
    Abdullah
    Umar
Names
Abdulaziz bin Muhammad bin Saud bin Muhammad bin Muqrin Al Maridi Al Adui
HouseAl Saud
FatherMuhammad bin Saud

Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن محمد آل سعود ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin Muḥammad Āl Suʿūd; 1720–1803)[1] was the second ruler of the Emirate of Diriyah. He was the eldest son of Muhammad bin Saud[2] and the son-in-law of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab. Abdulaziz ruled the Emirate from 1765 until 1803.[3][4] He was nicknamed by his people as the savior of his time (mahdi zamanihi in Arabic) due to his fearless activities.[5]

Early life

Abdulaziz was born in 1720[6][7] and was the eldest son of Muhammad bin Saud.[8][9] He was educated by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and became a Wahhabi scholar.[10]

Long before the death of his father Abdulaziz was announced the next ruler of the state at the request of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab.[2] From 1750 Abdulaziz was the chief military commander of the Emirate due to his father's old age.[11] In 1763 he led a military campaign of the Emirate attacking the regions under the rule of the Bani Khalid Emirate.[12] It was the first military attack of the Emirate outside the Nejd.[12] These attacks were followed by those against the Sudair and Jalajil tribes who did not join the religious movement of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab.[12] Next Abdulaziz raided the Ajman tribe who were the natives of the Najran region.[12] In the latter attack the forces of Abdulaziz were defeated losing nearly one thousand men.[12]

Reign

The reign of Abdulaziz bin Muhammad began in 1765 when his father died.[12] Abdulaziz's Bay'ah (Arabic: Pledge of allegiance) ceremony was supervised by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab.[13] Although his father was titled as Emir, Abdulaziz was given the titles of both Emir and Imam.[2] However, the latter title was not granted immediately after his succession to the throne, but it was given later.[13] Imam as a title was a reflection of Abdulaziz's religious education by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab[2] and his deeply religious personality.[14] His younger brother, Abdullah, unsuccessfully challenged the rule of Abdulaziz.[15]

Abdulaziz's father, Muhammad bin Saud, initiated attacks against the ruler of Riyadh, Dahham bin Dawwas, in 1747.[16] However, following the battles for nearly 25 years only in 1773 Riyadh was captured by Abdulaziz and became part of the Emirate.[4][16][17] Their military success and orthodox approach to religion won them great support in the area. Their standing was also boosted by Abdulaziz's practice of holding open meetings where tribal elders could meet with him, allowing access to their ruler. During his reign Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab was his major advisor and dealt with all major activities, including treasury.[2] However, following the capture of Riyadh Abdulaziz bin Muhammad himself began to control the budget of the state due to the significant increase in revenues.[2][9] From 1789 Abdulaziz's supremacy was recognised by all Najdi people.[18] As early as 1790 Abdulaziz's forces started their attacks in the region near the Euphrates in southern Iraq.[19] The region was the settlement of the Shammar tribe, originally from Najd, and they were defeated two times in 1791.[19] Muslat bin Mutlaq Al Jarba, son of the tribal leader Mutlaq bin Muhammad, killed in the battle which led to the migration of the tribe to southern Mesopotamia.[19]

The expansion continued with the capture of Qatif in 1794[20] and Hasa in 1795[21] where Shiites were dominant.[22] Abdulaziz's attacks against Hasa which had been under the rule of Banu Khalid began in 1792.[16] From 1797 the relations between Abdulaziz and the Ottoman authorities both in Baghdad and in Mecca became tense.[16]

In 1802 Hejaz, namely Taif and Khurma, was captured,[14] and the people, particularly men, living there were slaughtered.[21][22] In Taif Abdulaziz's forces took women and children as slaves.[23] They also demolished the heterodox texts and innovative household equipment such as mirrors and window frames and robbed the wealth of the local people.[24] Zubayr and other settlements in the region witnessed similar violence, too.[24]

In 1802 Bahrain was invaded and captured by the ruler of Muscat.[25] Abdulaziz bin Muhammad recaptured it in addition to Qatar and appointed there a governor, Abdullah bin Ufaysan, there.[25] The rulers of Bahrain, Abdullah and Salman, together with their families were sent to Diriyah where they were all detained.[25] Therefore, the Wahhabi influence also extended to Qatar and Bahrain.[26] However, due to the Ottoman attacks in Hejaz Abdulaziz bin Muhammad did not manage to fully consolidate his power in Bahrain and had to reduce his forces there which allowed the Al Khalifa to reestablish their rule.[25] Abdulaziz's governor, Abdullah bin Ufaysan, was detained by the Al Khalifa.[25] In 1803 Mecca was taken by Abdulaziz's forces, and the religious figures in the city declared their alliance to Wahhabis.[22] The attacks of the Saudi forces reached Syria, Iraq and Yemen where Abdulaziz managed to establish his authority.[26]

Sack of Karbala

In 1802 Abdulaziz bin Muhammad's forces led by his heir and son Saud attacked Karbala and Najaf in Iraq.[27] Unlike other attacks the goal of Saudi forces was not to rule or control the region.[27] They massacred thousands of the Shia population, stole enough precious loot to load 4,000 camels, and destroyed the dome over the shrine of Imam Hussain.[28][29] They also stole the gold, jewels, and rare minerals in the shrine.[29] This incident also had another and much more significant effect: it added a sectarian nuance to the Sunni-Shia divide in the Muslim world.[29]

The observations of Lieutenant Francis Warden, a British military official, about the attack are as follows:[30]

They pillaged the whole of it [Karbala], and plundered the Tomb of Hussein...slaying in the course of the day, with circumstances of peculiar cruelty, above five thousand of the inhabitants...

Personal life and death

Abdulaziz married to the daughter of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and the daughter of Uthman bin Mu'ammar, the ruler of Uyayna.[4][31] He had four sons: Saud, Abdul Rahman, Abdullah and Umar.[11] Of them Saud was born through Abdulaziz's marriage to the daughter of Uthman bin Mu'ammar.[32]

Abdulaziz was much more adhered to the Wahhabi cause and more aggressive than his father.[33] However, like his father he dressed in a plain way, and his armaments were not decorated unlike those of the Mamluk and Ottoman rulers.[34]

Shortly after his capture of Mecca Abdulaziz returned to Diriyah where he was assassinated by a Persian man who was a darwish when Abdulaziz was leading Asr Salat in the mosque of Turaif in November 1803.[4][22][35] The motive of the assassin was to take revenge against him due to the killing of his sons in the Karbala attack.[27] The British newspaper London Times dated 12 March 1804 reported the following about the assassination:[33]

Abdulaziz ibn Muhammad was assassinated by Ibadgi Osman, a Mussulman of the sect of Ali. He had profaned the tomb of Ali, and thus excited the fury of the disciples of that prophet. Ibadgi Osman resolved to avenge the ashes of Ali. He crossed the desert of Arabia on a dromedary, entered the tent of Abdulaziz while he was at prayers, and plunged a cangiar into his breast crying, "Let this avenge the tomb of Ali, for thy profanations." The brother of Abdulaziz, hearing the noise, ran into the tent, where he found his brother bathed in his blood, and the assassin, who squatted himself down, saying his prayers, and calmly awaiting death. He attacked him; but Ibadgi Osman, who was the strongest of the two, got up and killed his assailant with the same cangiar which was still stained with the blood of his brother. The soldiers then entered, and cut the assassin in pieces with their sabers.

Abdulaziz was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud.[3][8]

Writings

A student of his father-in-law, Abdul Wahab, Abdulaziz followed his footsteps in writing on tawhid and the avoidance of grave-worshiping and other such related matters, his epistles being praised by Al-Shawkani, a scholar.[36]

References

  1. ↑ Martin Sicker (2001). The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Westport, CT; London: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-96891-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alejandra Galindo Marines (2001). The relationship between the ulama and the government in the contemporary Saudi Arabian Kingdom: an interdependent relationship? (PhD thesis). Durham University. p. 88.
  3. 1 2 J. E. Peterson (2003). Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780810827806.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Parvaiz Ahmad Khanday (2009). A Critical Analysis of the Religio-Political Conditions of Modern Saudi Arabia (PDF) (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2018.
  5. ↑ Peter C. Valenti (2015). State-Building in Central Arabia: Empires and Regional Actors at the Crossroads of al Qasim (PhD thesis). New York University. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-321-62492-2. ProQuest 1666383783.
  6. ↑ Khalid Abdullah Krairi (October 2016). John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953 (PhD thesis). University of Birmingham. p. 383.
  7. ↑ Sabra Naji Alshahrani (2015). Saudi Women's Role in Development of Society (MA thesis). Charles University in Prague. p. 36. hdl:20.500.11956/75139.
  8. 1 2 Charles F. Balka (December 2008). The Fate of Saudi Arabia: Regime Evolution in the Saudi Monarchy (MA thesis). Naval Postgraduate School. p. 16. hdl:10945/3805.
  9. 1 2 Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1997). Saudi Arabia under King Faisal (PDF) (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. p. 27.
  10. ↑ Cameron Zargar (2017). "Origins of Wahhabism from Hanbali Fiqh". Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law. 16 (1): 100. doi:10.5070/N4161038736.
  11. 1 2 Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9798641924397. ProQuest 303295482.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Saeed 'Amr M. Al-'Amr Al-Beeshi (1994). The Social and Political History of the Western Coast of the Gulf, 1207-1256/1793-1840 (PhD thesis). University of Manchester. pp. 50–54. ISBN 978-1-392-10160-5. ProQuest 2217103618.
  13. 1 2 Cole M. Bunzel (2023). Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 208–209. doi:10.1515/9780691241609. ISBN 9780691241609.
  14. 1 2 Nawaf bin Ayyaf Almogren. Diriyah Narrated by Its Built Environment: The Story of the First Saudi State (1744-1818) (MS thesis). MIT. hdl:1721.1/127856.
  15. ↑ Abdullah Hazaa Othman; Oleg Evgenievich Grishin; Bakil Hasan Nasser Ali (2020). "The Conflict Wings in the Saudi Political System". Journal of Politics and Law. 13 (3): 65. doi:10.5539/jpl.v13n3p64. S2CID 225480634.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Muinuddin Ahmad Khan; Harford Jones (March 1968). "A Diplomat's Report on Wahhabism of Arabia". Islamic Studies. 7 (1): 38–39. JSTOR 20832903.
  17. ↑ Turki bin Khalid bin Saad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2015). Saudi Arabia-Iran relations 1929-2013 (PhD thesis). King's College London. OCLC 1085141810.
  18. ↑ Muhammad S.M. El Shaafy (May 1967). The First Saudi States in Arabia (With Special Reference to its Administrative, Military and Economic Features) in the light of Unpublished Materials from Arabic and European Sources (PhD thesis). University of Leeds. p. 33.
  19. 1 2 3 John Frederick Williamson (1974). A political history of the Shammar Jarba tribe of al-Jazīrah, 1800-1958 (PhD thesis). Indiana University. pp. 30–31. ISBN 9798659836040. OCLC 4481937. ProQuest 302745090. The source calls him Ibn Saud
  20. ↑ Abdulaziz Mohamed Hasan Ali Al Khalifa (April 2013). Relentless Warrior and Shrewd Tactician: Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmad of Bahrain 1795-1849 A Case Study of Shaikhly Statecraft in the Nineteenth Century Gulf (PhD thesis). University of Exeter. p. 73. hdl:10871/12461.
  21. 1 2 Jacob Goldberg (1986). The Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia. The Formative Years. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 9–11. doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674281844.c1. ISBN 9780674281844.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Nadav Safran (2018). Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest for Security. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press. pp. 10, 12. ISBN 9780674789852.
  23. ↑ Adil Rasheed (2018). "Wahhabism and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Evolving Symbiosis" (PDF). In Sanjay Singh (ed.). West Asia in Transition. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Pentagon Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-93-86618-17-7.
  24. 1 2 Ben L.T.V. Rich (November 2015). The State as an Identity Racketeer: The Case of Saudi Arabia (PhD thesis). Monash University. p. 81.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Abdul Wahap Saleh Babeair (1985). Ottoman Penetration of the Eastern Region of the Arabian Peninsula, 1814-1841 (PhD thesis). Indiana University. pp. 17–18, 24. ProQuest 303386071.
  26. 1 2 Mohamed Zayyan Aljazairi (1968). Diplomatic history of Saudi Arabia, 1903-1960's (MA thesis). The University of Arizona. pp. 2–3. hdl:10150/318068.
  27. 1 2 3 Hassan S. Abedin (2002). Abdul Aziz Al Saud and the Great Game in Arabia, 1896-1946 (PhD thesis). King's College London.
  28. ↑ Sayed Khatab (2011). Understanding Islamic Fundamentalism: The Theological and Ideological Basis of Al-Qa'ida's Political Tactics. Cairo; New York: The American University in Cairo Press. p. 74. ISBN 9789774164996.
  29. 1 2 3 Aidan Parkes (Spring–Summer 2019). "Power Shifts in the Saudi–Iranian Strategic Competition". Global Security and Intelligence Studies. 4 (1). doi:10.18278/gsis.4.1.3. hdl:1885/163729. S2CID 182451007.
  30. ↑ Alastair Crooke (30 March 2017). "You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia". HuffPost. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  31. ↑ Adham Saouli (2009). Dilemmas of Late Formation. International System and State Survival in the Middle East. Case Studies: Saudi Arabia and Iraq (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews. p. 126. hdl:10023/752.
  32. ↑ James Wynbrandt (2010). A Brief History of Saudi Arabia (PDF). New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8160-7876-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2021.
  33. 1 2 Emine Ö. Evered (2012). "Rereading Ottoman Accounts of Wahhabism as Alternative Narratives: Ahmed Cevdet Paşa's Historical Survey of the Movement". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 32 (3): 622–632. doi:10.1215/1089201X-1891615. S2CID 144063808.
  34. ↑ Mohamed Mohamed El Amrousi (2001). Beyond Muslim space: Jeddah, Muscat, Aden and Port Said (PhD thesis). UCLA. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-493-48568-3. ProQuest 304688724.
  35. ↑ Jerald L. Thompson (December 1981). H. St. John Philby, Ibn Saud and Palestine (MA thesis). University of Kansas.
  36. ↑ Jamal al-Din Zarabozo (2003). The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab. Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. p. 155. ISBN 978-9960295008.
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