Ibn Saud

Ibn Saud
Imam of Nejd
Official Portrait of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Official portrait, 1940s
King of Saudi Arabia
Reign23 September 1932 – 9 November 1953
Bay'ah23 September 1932
PredecessorPost established
SuccessorSaud
Emir/Sultan/King of Nejd
Reign13 January 1902 – 23 September 1932[note 1]
PredecessorAbdulaziz bin Mutaib (as Emir of Jabal Shammar)
SuccessorHimself (as King of Saudi Arabia)
King of Hejaz
Reign8 January 1926 – 23 September 1932[note 1]
PredecessorAli bin Hussein
SuccessorHimself (as King of Saudi Arabia)
Born(1875-01-15)15 January 1875
Riyadh, Nejd
Died9 November 1953(1953-11-09) (aged 78)
Shubra Palace, Ta'if, Saudi Arabia
Burial
Al Oud cemetery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Spouses
See list
Issue
among others...
Names
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud
HouseHouse of Saud
FatherAbdul Rahman bin Faisal, Emir of Nejd
MotherSara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi
Occupation
  • Tribal chieftain
  • religious leader
  • politician[note 2]
Military career
Allegiance Saudi Arabia
Battles / wars

Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن بن فيصل بن ترکي بن عبدالله بن محمد بن سعود; 15 January 1875[note 3] – 9 November 1953), known in the Western world mononymously as Ibn Saud (Arabic: ابن سعود; Ibn Suʿūd),[note 4] was an Arab political and religious leader who founded Saudi Arabia – the third Saudi state – and reigned as its first king from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, and King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.[1]

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 revivalists would greatly bolster pan-Islamism across the Islamic world.[2] Concording with Wahhabi beliefs, he ordered the demolition of several shrines, the Al-Baqi Cemetery and the Jannat al-Mu'alla.[3] As King, he presided over the discovery of petroleum in Saudi Arabia in 1938 and the beginning of large-scale oil production after World War II. He fathered many children, including 45 sons, and all of the subsequent kings of Saudi Arabia as of 2024.


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  1. ^ John B. Glubb (5 November 2021). "Ibn Saud". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. ^ Muhamad Ali (2016). "Controlling Politics and Bureaucratising Religion". Islam and Colonialism: Becoming Modern in Indonesia and Malaya. Tun: Edinburgh University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-4744-0920-9.
  3. ^ Shahi 2013, p. 51.