File 4006/1919 Pt 1 ‘Arabia:- Visit of the sons of the Sheikh of Koweit + Amir of Nejd to England.’ [‎331r] (665/863)

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NOTE ON CENTRAL ARABIA.
K.C.LE.j8^tem^rol 1 ^r^rtoVc^Vo“Ntn 1 f^’tT ! v Faisal lbn Saud »
“ tribes ’ with - 1 ^ traders
The history of Najd during the last 200 years lias been a stormy one but the
throne^hL b aboul iroo’iT* | CCa %° lla ! f 01 ' 1 , breakB > maintained itself on the
mi one since about I70U A.D., when Sand L, the ancestor from which the
annly derives its name, established himself in the Central Highlands of Arabia as'an
independent baron. Central Arabia was at that time divided up into a number of
semi-independent principalities owing a vague allegiance to the King of Hasa on the
brand KfTn an 0 "A ^Yb 6 P ositi ° n ° f . Saad and las sufchLr betb
b ■ 1 ti 1 b t ; n0t ; " nllke that oi tllelr contemporary Rob Rov in the
beottish Highlands between the powerful duchies of Argyll and Montrose. "
ie atrairs of Arabia underwent a striking change about the year 1759 A n
Abdul VVa r hhah Pe bh T the SCene the brd 61 ' 0f the Wahhabi sect, Mohammad Ibn
li se i as the’vii , "t° Se C0 ' 0pe , r - al - 0n Ml,h animad the fourth of his line, established
,, £ s 1 1 uler ot ^ new religious state which by dint of force or persuasion
rapidly engulfed not only the various principalities of the interior but also the
original suzerain power of Hasa. By 1790 a.d. Sand III., the son and successor of
Muhammad, was master of all Central and Eastern Arabia.
1 he spread of the \\ ahhabi doctrines and the military successes of the new State
alaimed the Turks who now took active steps to ward off the threatened danger; and
wVifm 'V'i yeU1 ? a r . Stale ol wai ‘ existe d between the Ottoman Empire and the
W ahhabi Euler. At first fate favoured the latter, who extended his conquests on
eveiy side, captured Mecca in 1803, Madina m the following year, and the territory
oi Oman soon after, sacked the sacred city of Kerbela on the borders of Mesopotamia,
1 aided Lasra and Damascus and m short brought under his sway practically the
whole of Arabia. But the lurks persevered; Sand III. died, his successor, Abdul
Aziz 11., was assassinated and the throne of Najd fell to Abdullah, whose dilatory
tactics in face of Muhammad Ali, Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Egypt, and his sons, resulted in the
dramatic collapse of the great empire which'he had inherited. In 1818 a.d. Ibrahim
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. captured the W ahhabi capital, Daraiyya, after a four months’ siege, massacred
many members of the royal family, and the religious luminaries of the Wahhabi sect,
and sent Abdullah himself in chains to Egypt, where he was executed.
Eor the next 30 years Central Arabia had a sufficient experience of Turkish rule •
at frequent intervals revolts headed by members of the Ibn Sand family, which had
escaped the massacre of Daraiyya, met with a greater or less measure of success, but
Eajd did not recover its complete independence until Faisal, the grandson of
Abdullah, escaped from Cairo and recovered the throne between 1840 and 1850 a.d.
Najd »ow enjoyed a period of comparative peace, but on the death of Faisal
about 1809, his two eldest sons, Abdullah and Sand, plunged the country into civil
strife in their struggle for the throne. Each occupied it in turn for short periods
and Abdullah invited the assistance of the comparatively new dynasty of Ibn Rashid
m a final effort to establish himself permanently on the throne; but he reckoned
without his host, for Muhammad Ibn Rashid, having defeated and slain Sand, deposed
his ally Abdullah and took the throne of Najd for himself.
lor a decade or more the I bn Sand dynasty lay dormant, while its surviving
remnants lived in exile at Bahrain and Kuwait rather than serve a foreign ruler in
their own territories, Abdullah had left no children, but Sand had left a considerable
lamily, and a third son of Faisal, by name Abdul Rahman, survived to live in retire
ment at Kuwait with a large family of growing boys. The duty of recovering Najd
was never forgotten; many attempts were made without success by both branches of
the family, and at the beginning of the 20th century, Najd bem^afe^JnJflie hands
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