"ملف ١١/ ٤٤ الشخصيات الرائدة في العراق وإيران والمملكة العربية السعودية" [و‎‎٣‎٨] (٩٦/٧٥)

1. Royal Family.
(1) ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn 'Abdur-Rahman al-Feysal
dl Sa’ud. —Ki'ng of Sa’udi Arabia, commonly known
as Ibn Sa’ud.
Born probably in 1882. Accompanied father on
flight from Riyadh upon its occupation by Ibn
Rashid in 1891. Grew up under tutelage of Sheykh
Mubarak of Kuwait, who gave asylum to family.
Seized opportunity in course of local warfare in
Eastern Arabia to deliver surprise attack on Riyadh
in January 1902 with very small force and retook it.
Became recognised head of the family although his
father ’Abdurrahman survived until 1928. Extended
• his authority gradually over whole of Nejd and Qasim
• and in 1914 took the coastal province of Hasa from
the Turks, who then made an agreement with him.
Entered into treaty relations with His Majesty’s
Government through the Government of India in
1915. Took Hail in 1921 and finally destroyed power
of Beni Rashid. Next fought King Huseyn, an old
enemy. Took Mecca in 1924 and completed con
quest of Hejaz by compelling abdication at end of
1925 of Huseyn’s son and successor ’AH. Acquired
suzerainty over ’Asir in 1926. Converted position
into one of practical sovereignty in 1930 and later
reduced ’Asir to status of ordinary province, follow
ing on repression of a rebellion there. Consolidated
this position by the Sa’udi-Yemen Treaty of Taif of
th£ 20th May, 1934, which secured his legal title to
Hr and Najran. Has thus become ruler of territory,
seaboards of which extend from just south of Aqaba
to just north of Medi in Yemen and 1 om Kuwait
neutral zone to north of Qatar Peninsula.
Ibn Sa’ud has measured his titles by his acquisi
tions. He became in 1902 Amir of Nejd and Imam
of the Wahhabis; in 1921 Sultan of Nejd and its
Dependencies; in January 1926 King of the Hejaz;
in 1927 King of the Hejaz and of Nejd and its
Dependencies; and finally in September 1932 King
of the Kingdom of Sa’udi Arabia, defined as a single
and united State, comprising his existing dominions,
though without express mention of ’Asir.
The hero of this spectacular aggrandisement is a
man of fine presence, some 6 foot 3 inches in height
and handsome except for a blotch across the left eye
due to neglected leucoma. He combines a strong
character with courage, much native shrewdness and
a charm which, though now a little stereotyped, is
still attractive. He is feared rather than loved by
his subjects on all of whom except those of the Shi’a
^^■suasion he imposes at least the forms of
^vvahhabism. His own Wahhabism is sincere, but
tempered by a readiness to compromise when his
temporal position requires innovations contrary to
the prejudice of extremists or sometimes even to the
original principles of his sect. On his own ground
he is an efficient ruler and a hard one, a Napoleon of
the desert, but too much of the desert to cope quite
successfully with the problems with which his con
quest of the Hejaz and his attainment of an inter
national position have confronted him. In diplomacy
he is normally fairly honest, but difficult. He is as
well disposed towards foreigners as is compatible
with his fundamental belief that Islam is all in all.
He has tried a strong constitution very high by living
hard and by innumerable marriages. It was
reckoned some years ago that he had already had
over 200 wives, though never more than the
permitted four at a time. He is known to find the
natural decline in his powers in this direction dis
concerting.
Was made a G.C.I.E. in 1920, but does not now
greatly prize an honour which he considers too
reminiscent of a past connexion with the Govern
ment of India only and in some sense vassalish.
Received the G.C.B. in November 1935, at the time
of the visit to Riyadh of Sir Andrew Ryan. His
relations with Great Britain have been mainly
friendly, and since 1939 he has acted as though he
firmly believed in his repeated asseverations, that
his interests and those of the Arabs in general are
bound up with those of His Majesty’s Government.
In earlier editions he was described as expecting
much for love, but his attitude throughout the
Palestine crisis of 1937-39 and during Rashid Aly’s
rebellion in Iraq in 1941 entitles him to the cancella
tion of that description. He was unwavering in
his sympathy for the Allied cause throughout the
present war and he proved by his acts that he
is ready to give “ his friends, the British Govern
ment,” every support possible. In January 1945 King
Farouqof Egypt visited Ibn Sa’ud at Yenbo. The visit
was ostensibly a private one, but was marked with
much oriental pageantry and much publicity. This
was followed by a visit from the Syrian President,
Shukri Kuwatly, early in February. In the same
month, Ibn Sa’ud, at the invitation of President Roose
velt, who was on his way home from the Yalta confer
ence, went to Egypt on a United States destroyer and
met the President at the Bitter Lakes. As Mr. Chur
chill was also in Egypt at the same time, the King was
very anxious to see him, and a meeting was arranged
in the Fayoum on the 17th February. He returned
to Jedda on a British cruiser, His Majesty’s Ship
Aurora, after an absence of eight days. On the
1st March, Ibn Sa’ud declared war on Germany and
Japan (with reservations in respect of the Holy
Places) thus qualifying Sa’udi Arabia for membership
of the United Nations and participation in the San
Francisco Conference. A personal visit by the
\ iceroy of India to Riyadh, on his way to India, in
early June gave the King great pleasure. British
army medical specialists who examined the King in
February at his request, found that his general
physical condition was excellent and his expectation
of life unusually good for a man of his age, but
warned him against abuse of the stimulants upon
which his private life now depends for its satisfaction
and prestige. He is, however, much crippled by
arthritis in both knees and cannot, for instance, walk
up or down any stairs.
The strains set up by Rashid Ali al Gailani’s un
fortunate arrival as a suppliant for sanctuary in
Riyadh in September 1945, and by the elevation of
Ibn Sand’s dynastic enemy, the Amir Abdullah of
Transjordan, to independent Kingship, have
increased Ibn Saud’s unsleeping suspicions of
Hashemite designs against him; and the abandon
ment of His Majesty’s Government’s 1939 White
Paper policy in Palestine was a grievous shock to
him. He used his influence constantly, however, to
urge caution and a realistic outlook upon other Arab
leaders, and to avert at all costs a hostile Anglo-
Arab confrontation.
A State visit to Egypt lasting from 10th to 22nd
January, 1946, considerably exhausted Ibn Sand, but
a few weeks in his desert camp at Rawdat Khafs
availed to re-establish his health and vigour. He
made his first aeroplane flight, from Afif to Taif, in
September 1945.
Ibn Sand came to the Hejaz for the pilgrimage
in the autumn of 1946, when many of those who had
not seen him for some time noticed that he had
aged markedly and seemed to be very tired. Indeed,
one dinner party was cut short by his Majesty’s
dozing off soon after the repast. However, a few
weeks in the more bracing climate of Riyadh,
whither the King returned by air, seem largely to
have restored his vigour.
Between 21st and 29th January, 1947, Ibn Sand
paid his first official visit to the oilfields near the
Persian Gulf coast. A very full and costly pro
gramme of entertainment was arranged by the
Arabian American Oil Company.
The Shaikh of Kuwait visited Ibn Saud at Riyadh
between 31st May and 21st June, 1947. He is
reported by the Political Agent in Kuwait to have
benefited by the change and to have acquired from
the King’s company a new confidence and authority
in dealing with his own relatives and subjects.
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