King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has decided to replace Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Al Arabiya TV reported.
In addition, Mohammed bin Naif lost the post of the first prime minister and the post of head of the country's interior ministry. Saudi Arabia will be led by Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef.
Instead of bin Naif, the crown prince will be the 31-year-old son of the king, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who retained the post of defense minister and was also appointed first deputy prime minister.
According to the Al Arabia TV channel, the appointment of a new heir was supported by 31 of the 34 members of the royal family. The oath of allegiance to the new heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, will be taken on Friday, June 23, at a special ceremony in Mecca.
The current head of the Saudi dynasty led the state after the death of his brother Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who ruled the country from 1996 to 2015. Shortly after his coming to power, the king radically changed the order of succession to the throne in the kingdom.
Initially, the principle of inheritance was to transfer the throne and the title of “guardian and protector of the two sacred mosques” (the official title of the Saudi king. - Gazeta.Ru) from brother to brother, and not from father to son. According to this principle, each of the sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz, should become king.
However, the reform deprived the younger brother of the king and the last son of Abduliziz Muqrin bin Abdulaziz of the opportunity to take the throne of Saudi Arabia. The king appointed his sons as heirs, thereby rejuvenating the ruling dynasty.
In addition to changing the order of succession, princes were also appointed to ministerial posts. 55-year-old Prince Mohammed bin Naif became the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 30-year-old Mohammed bin Salman became the head.
As noted by the deputy chairman of the Association of Russian Diplomats, the former Russian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, traditionally in this country, top officials were located in the form of a "two" - the king and the crown prince.
However, after the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a "troika" scheme was used in the form of a king, a crown prince and his deputy:
“There was a certain artificiality in this scheme. Meanwhile, it was felt that the role of Muhammad was growing and he carried out a number of delicate missions both in the field of domestic economic security and in international affairs,” Baklanov told Gazeta.Ru.
The expert notes that the new crown prince has well-established ties in Russia, where he is well known. According to the interlocutor of Gazeta.Ru, the current leadership of Saudi Arabia adheres to the traditional line - "we must adapt to the realities of today, but do it with extreme caution."
From courses to crown princes
Now stripped of his title, 57-year-old Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is the second oldest son and one of ten children of the reigning king.
He was perceived in the West as a fairly open person by Saudi standards. The prince studied in America, although he did not complete his education at the university. At the same time, he attended FBI courses, and also trained at the British Scotland Yard.
Ben Naif began his career long before his father's accession to the throne. In 1999, he was appointed Assistant Minister of the Interior. In this position, he received numerous accolades for the successful implementation of the ministry's anti-terrorism program. Mohammed bin Naif is also the author of the government program to combat the rebels.
The new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was born in 1985 to his father's third wife. His brother is Turki bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG). Unlike his older brother, Mohammed bin Nayef, the new crown prince studied at home and received a bachelor's degree in law from King Saud University.
After completing his studies, Mohammed bin Salman spent several years in the private sector. The prince began his political activities in 2009, taking the post of special adviser to his father.
He then served as Governor of Riyadh Province, as well as Secretary General of the Riyadh Competition Board, Special Advisor to the King Abdulaziz Foundation Research and Archives Office, and a member of the Board of Attorneys of the Albir Society in the Riyadh Region.
Prince Mohammed is also the founder and chairman of the Foundation in His Name (MISK), which aims to help young people in need.
Most recently, the new crown prince chaired the Saudi Arabian Economic and Development Council, the country's main economic planning body, which, among other things, oversees the work of the world's largest oil company, Saudi Aramco.
According to the Arab and world media, Mohammed bin Salman is the favorite and most influential son of the current king since the time when he was the personal adviser not yet to the king, but to Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, where there is a special order of succession to the throne, which differs from the European model of transferring power from father to eldest son. The first ruler of the kingdom was Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, who gradually seized power in certain regions in order to unite them in 1932 into a new state. For brevity, Western sources usually refer to him as Ibn Saud. According to some reports, the king had more than 20 wives and about 100 children, including 45 sons. During his lifetime, he established the principle of inheritance of power according to agnatic seniority, that is, between representatives of the same generation.
Franklin Roosevelt and Ibn Saud
Therefore, the eldest son of Ibn Saud appointed his brother as crown prince after the death of his father in 1953. And all subsequent monarchs were sons of the first king of Saudi Arabia. By 2015, when King Abdullah died, only 12 direct descendants of Ibn Saud survived. One of them, Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz al Saud, previously named crown prince, took his half-brother's place on the throne. At that time, the new king was 79 years old.
Seven of Sudairi Salman was born on December 31, 1935. With his mother Hussa Sudairi, the ruler of Saudi Arabia had the most joint sons - seven siblings. The heirs, closely related, supported each other in matters of transferring power and governing the state. They were nicknamed the "Sudairi Seven". Before Salman, the eldest of the brothers, Fahd, managed to visit the ruler. He was in power for over 20 years (1982-2005). Princes Sultan and Nayef were the heirs of King Abdullah until their death, but in the end only their younger brother Salman survived until the change of ruler.
Future king Salman in his youth The future king studied at the princes' school, which Ibn Saud built in Riyadh especially for his children. Since 1963, Salman has served as the acting governor of the capital region. In this position, he contributed to the transformation of the main city of Saudi Arabia into a modern metropolis. In particular, he actively established relations with Western countries, attracted foreign capital and advocated the development of tourism.
Features of the reign of King Salman
Given the advanced age of the surviving heirs of Ibn Saud, King Salman cannot boast of excellent health. In August 2010, he spent a long time in the United States, where he underwent spinal surgery and underwent a recovery period. In addition, he had a stroke, after which the left side of the body works noticeably worse than the right. And on top of all the age-related problems, King Salman suffers from the initial form of Alzheimer's disease. Knowing full well that his reign would not last long, from the first days the new monarch began a campaign to change the order of succession to the throne. First, he appointed as his successor Prince Muqrin - the youngest of the sons of Ibn Saud, born of a Yemeni concubine.
Muhammad ibn Salman (left) and Muhammad ibn Nayef A few months later, Salman reconsidered the candidacy of the crown prince, putting his nephew, Mohammed ibn Nayef, in his place. For Saudi Arabia, the emergence of the next generation of the royal family in the line of heirs was a huge but inevitable breakthrough. After all, there are almost no direct descendants of Ibn Saud, and the whole struggle for power will unfold when his grandchildren begin to rule.
King Salman with son and crown prince As it turned out, the ultimate goal of the king was to secure the inheritance for one of his sons - Prince Mohammed ibn Salman. First, he became his uncle's official deputy as crown prince, and then, as a result of a fierce struggle, he became the second person in Saudi Arabia after the king. Now Mohammed bin Salman is the Minister of Defense, heads the Council for Economic Affairs and the Royal Court. It is said that he has restricted access to his father and no one can get to Salman without the approval of the crown prince. The young ruler, who is just over 30 years old, is called the actual "power behind the throne."
Wives of the King of Saudi Arabia
Women in Saudi Arabia, even compared to other Arab states, are still seriously limited in their rights. Therefore, the spouses of the rulers of the state lead a secluded life, never appearing in public and not accompanying their husbands on foreign trips. Naturally, there are no official photographs of these women either. And general biographical information about them comes down to mentioning the relationship and the number of children born in marriage.
Salman is known to have been married five times and has 13 children. Two spouses - princesses Madavi bint Majid and Sultana bint Mandil - are often not indicated in official sources, because they are divorced from the king and do not have common heirs with him. Also terminated his marriage with Princess Sarah bint Faisal, who gave birth to the ruler of only one child - the son of Saud.
Prince Sultan aboard the spaceship For the first time, the future monarch married his cousin Sultana bint Turki. She died in July 2011 at the age of 71, and during her lifetime she oversaw various charities. The first wife gave birth to Salman 6 children - five sons and a daughter. His first and third sons, Princes Fahd and Ahmed, died in the early 2000s due to heart problems. The second son - Prince Sultan - is known for being the first person of royal blood, the first Arab and Muslim who flew into space. It happened in June 1985 on the space shuttle Discovery. Sultan currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Space Agency. The younger sons, Princes Abdul-Aziz and Faisal, hold minor government posts.
The Middle East has always been the cornerstone of international politics. The political interests of the sovereign rulers of the Arab world were closely intertwined in this region. Before the advent of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was considered the edge of the earth, being on the periphery of international politics. The main political events unfolded far beyond the borders of Arabia. Only Muslim shrines - Mecca and Medina, located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula, made these barren and desert lands a center of attraction for Muslims around the world.
In political and economic terms, Arabia for 1000 years remained a blank spot on the international political map of the world. It is now here that the richest countries in the world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sheikhdom of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates are located. And even 100 years ago, these vast territories did not represent either political or economic interest for the rest of the world. The status of the king of Saudi Arabia today is the status of the most authoritarian and richest political figure, and the kingdom itself is one of the richest in the world.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the current status of the state
Saudi Arabia is the largest state in the Arab East, with an area of 2,149,690 sq. kilometers. Most of the country's territory is occupied by the Rub al-Khali desert, which makes the region unsuitable for living. The country's population is concentrated in coastal areas, in the northeast and southwest of the country. The main political and administrative centers of the state are also located here. However, the main wealth of the country is its huge oil reserves, in terms of which the Saudi Kingdom ranks second in the world, second only to Venezuela.
It is with the "black gold" that the heyday of the state is connected, which less than 100 years ago was a semi-feudal principality. Thanks to oil, today the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has weight in the international arena. Huge oil reserves became the foundation on which the colossal fortune of the ruling dynasty was built. Oil became a convenient instrument of international politics for the kings of Saudi Arabia.
However, oil is not the main reason for the stable political and social position of the largest country in the Arab world. The stability and successful development of the state became possible only thanks to the wise and competent policy of the ruling political elite. The Saudi dynasty managed not only to achieve the unification of the scattered lands of the Arabian Peninsula, but also withstood the political and economic confrontation with international capital. Since the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, the country has been entirely under the control of local rulers. The fall of Ottoman rule marked the beginning of an independent path of development of the state. The Kingdom of Saudis has not been in the status of a colony, dominion or protectorate for a single day. The discovery of huge oil reserves in the country in the 1930s opened up new opportunities for the ruling regime, which were effectively used by the local power elite.
The history of the kingdom began with a difficult process of unification, which covered the vast territories of the Arabian Peninsula, affecting numerous tribes and small states of the region. The unification took place around the dynasty of the Al Saud house, whose members personally took part in the ongoing events. The result of long and bloody internecine wars was the formation in 1932 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The head of the huge state was the head of the house of Saudis, which became a hereditary, ruling dynasty.
Today, Saudi Arabia is a state entity that lives according to the laws of the Basic Nizam, adopted in 1992. In accordance with the Main Law, Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, which is based on the state religion of Sunni Islam. The ruling elite of the country are representatives of the house of Saudis, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the king - the founder of the state Abdel Aziz. The king enjoys unquestioned power and authority, which is limited only by Sharia law.
Powers of the King of Saudi Arabia
To date, the king of the country is the son of the first king, Salman ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud. The king personally takes part in the administration of the state. Royal decrees have the force of state laws, but are put into effect only after agreement and consultation with a group of religious leaders in the country. Often, the decrees and orders of the king of Saudi Arabia become the subject of discussion by important civilians representing the civil and public elite of the kingdom.
The royal throne belongs to the current monarch indefinitely as long as the head of state is physically able to perform his functions and duties. The throne is inherited by the brother of the reigning monarch, whose candidacy is approved by the “Council of Devotion”, acting at the court. This legitimate and advisory body began its work quite recently, since 2006. In the absence of fraternal ties, the eldest man from the next generation may become the heir. The main duty of the monarch is to appoint a successor to himself. Previously, the monarch himself appointed the heir, acting at his own risk and guided by Sharia law and the Basic Nizam. The transfer of royal power occurs only through the male line. The female part of the House of Saudis does not participate in the order of succession to the throne.
The authoritarian rule of the Saudi king is based on modern institutions of public administration. All executive power in the state is in the hands of the Council of Ministers, whose composition is personally determined by the ruling monarch. All ministerial positions, including the post of prime minister, are occupied by representatives of the ruling dynasty. The executive power is completely under the control of the king. All decisions, orders of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must be agreed with the monarch and his entourage. The internal policy pursued by the government of the country is a complete reflection of the will of the king. The foreign policy of the country is also a program developed by the monarch in close contact with close people.
The interests of the family are the interests of the ruling elite. However, unlike other authoritarian political regimes, representatives of the Saudi dynasty personify the king of Saudi Arabia as one with the people of Saudi Arabia. This allows us to build a competent and balanced domestic policy, while maintaining a balance in civil society. The legislative power in the kingdom, which is represented by the Consultative Assembly, is built in a similar way. This body is a kind of parliament, consists of 150 members appointed directly by the king, there are no political blocs, no parties, no social and civil movements. Political culture is completely absent, not only in government bodies, but throughout the country as a whole. The term of office of the Consultative Assembly is four years. Until 2011, only representatives of the stronger sex were appointed to the legislative body of the country. Today, almost 1/5 of the members of the Consultative Assembly are women.
The judicial branch of power in the country is fully controlled by the monarch and is based on Sharia law. The King has the right to appoint judges, whose candidacies are presented by the Supreme Judicial Council. In turn, the Judicial Council itself depends on the will of the current king. All 12 members of the Supreme Judicial Council are appointed by the king from among high and authoritative spiritual and religious dignitaries. Despite this selective approach, the judiciary in Saudi Arabia is considered independent, but the King is the highest court in the state. The monarch has the exclusive right to intervene in the course of consideration of disputed cases, to declare an amnesty within the framework of his powers.
In 2005, an attempt was made by King Abdullah to reform the country's judicial legislation and the judicial system. However, the action of the corresponding royal decree ran into strong opposition from the judiciary. The reason for the opposition to judicial reform was the conservative policy of judges, who are accustomed to traditionally rely on Sharia norms in their work. The Western judicial system, which should have started working in the country, in their opinion, does not meet the basic Law and cannot be used in the current conditions. The same is being done today with the reform of the country's public administration. The desire of the king to make the monarchy enlightened runs into the foundations of Islam, which gives the ruling Saudi dynasty the only and legitimate right to the royal throne.
Historical excursion into the history of the royal power of Saudi Arabia
At the origins of the creation of the royal dynasty of the Saudis is the ruler of the city of Ad-Diriya, Muhammad ibn Saud, who first had a hand in creating a powerful and unified state in central Arabia. According to primary sources, the current ruling dynasty in Saudi Arabia was born in the middle of the 18th century. However, at that time, the young state did not have the strength to resist the might of the Ottoman Empire. After Turkish troops invaded the country in 1817, the first Saudi state ceased to exist. The Arabian Peninsula with its main Muslim shrines became one of the provinces of the vast Ottoman Empire.
The period of Turkish rule was short-lived. Just seven years after the start of the occupation, in 1824, a new state of the Saudis was founded in the small town of Riyadh. The second attempt to create a new public entity was no better than the previous one. After 67 years, the Saudis, under pressure from their longtime enemies, were forced to leave the country, taking refuge in neighboring Kuwait. Only in the 20th century that began, the attempt to create the Saudi state was crowned with success, but this was preceded by a long and bloody struggle for power and territory.
The young Abdul Aziz Saud managed to regain control of Riyadh by force in 1902. After a series of successful armed clashes with Turkish troops who arrived in the region to help Saudi rivals, the Saudis not only managed to maintain their influence in the capital, but also captured the entire Nejd Sultanate in 1912. From that moment on, centripetal processes began to unify all the lands of Arabia under the rule of the Saudi dynasty. Having entered into an alliance with the British, Abdul Aziz inflicts a final defeat on his political opponents. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, this vast region came under British political control. Instead of the former Turkish province on the Arabian Peninsula, five independent states arose.
Over the next five years, there was a stubborn struggle for the southwestern part of the peninsula, in which Mecca and Medina were located. The result of the bloody struggle was the capture in 1925 by the troops of Abdul Aziz of the main Muslim shrine of Mecca. Having received political recognition from the British, Abdul continued the struggle for the unification under his patronage of the rest of the territories of the Arabian Peninsula. In 1932, a new united state appeared on the political map - the united kingdom of Nejd and Hijaz, which received the new name of Saudi Arabia. The only political figure capable of leading the new state was Abdul Aziz Saud, who assumed the royal title. From now on, the Saud clan becomes the ruling dynasty, on which the entire system of state power of the kingdom rests.
All kings of Saudi Arabia
As already mentioned, the founder of the state of Saudi Arabia is considered to be a representative of the Saud family - Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. He is also the first monarch to take the royal throne in Riyadh. All subsequent Saudi kings are his sons. In accordance with the Basic Nizam, only direct descendants of the crowned person - sons or grandsons - can inherit royal power in the country.
There is no exact order of succession. The official royal title worn by royalty is the King of Saudi Arabia. Since 1986, another title has been added to the royal title - the Guardian of the Two Shrines. The chronology of the stay on the throne of the kings of Saudi Arabia and the years of the reign of monarchs is as follows:
- the first king of United Saudi Arabia - Abdul Aziz (r. 1932-1953);
- in 1953, the crown prince Saud, the second son of the first king Abdul Aziz, took the royal throne, was overthrown in 1964;
- the third king of Saudi Arabia was the second son of the founder of the state, Faisal (reigned 1964-1975), killed by his own nephew on March 25, 1975;
- his place in 1975 was taken by Khalid - a representative of the Al Jiluwi clan - a side branch of the ruling Al Saud dynasty - died on June 13, 1982;
- the fifth king of Saudi Arabia - Fahd, who headed the kingdom from June 1982 to August 2005;
- Abdullah became the sixth monarch in August 2005, died in January 2019 at the age of 90;
- the current king is Salman, head of the Saud clan and son of the first king, Abdul Aziz.
From the long list, it appears that only one monarch, Khalid, was indirectly related to the ruling dynasty. All other persons who occupied the throne in Riyadh are direct descendants of the founder of the state. We should pay tribute to the first king of Saudi Arabia in his desire to make the ruling dynasty strong and stable. After himself, the monarch left 37 sons, each of whom had the legal right to hold a high post.
The second king Saud became one of the most significant people for the kingdom. The years of his reign are associated with the formation of a stable system of state power and administration in Saudi Arabia. Under him, a slender state apparatus appeared in the kingdom. Despite the fact that ministerial positions were occupied by relatives and persons close to the monarch, the result was not long in coming. His reforms in the field of finance and economy allowed the state to become one of the locomotives of the Arab world. During the reign of Saud, the monarchy finally takes on the contours of a totalitarian regime. Criticism of the king is criminalized. However, among the negative, the royal decree of 1962, which abolishes the institution of slavery in the country, stands out as a bright spot.
The fate of this monarch, like his successor King Faisal, is remarkable in the history of the royal house of Saudi Arabia. These two siblings - the sons of the founder of the dynasty - ceased to be kings against their will. The first, after 11 years of reign, was overthrown from the throne by his own brothers, dissatisfied with the style and methods of his rule. Faisal became the heir by law, who took the place of Saud on the royal throne. However, the third king of Saudi Arabia also did not have to hold a high post for long. Fate took him all the same 11 years. He was killed during a solemn ceremony, and the nephew of the monarch became the murderer.
Faisal's reign was marked by rapid growth in oil production. According to this indicator, the country in the mid-60s becomes the world leader. Petrodollars flowed into the country like a huge river, allowing the royal power and the state apparatus to set more ambitious goals and solve complex domestic and foreign policy tasks. Under King Faisal, the oil industry comes under state control. A modern urban and transport infrastructure is being created in the country. From a semi-feudal kingdom, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is moving into the category of economically developed states. King Faisal sought to make the Saudi kingdom the leader of the Arab East.
However, the policy of dual standards pursued by the royal house of the Saudis, led by Faisal, did not yield significant dividends. During the six-day war, Saudi Arabia acted as a united front with other Arab countries, harshly criticizing Israel and Western countries that supported Israeli aggression. During this period, there is a cooling in relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The penultimate monarch Abdullah ibn Abdul-Aziz became the brightest personality in the new history of the kingdom. With his submission, the cult of worship of a person of royal blood was abolished in the country. Abdullah forbade his numerous relatives, who number more than 7 thousand, to use the state treasury for personal purposes. For the first time in the history of Islam, the leader of an Islamic state met with the Pope. This meeting took place in November 2007 in the Vatican. Under King Abdullah, the country received a comprehensive program for the development of the social sphere, the results of which were not slow to affect the improvement of the education and health sectors.
The current king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, ascended the royal throne on January 23, 2019. Prior to his accession to the throne, the new monarch was the governor of the capital district and served as minister of defense in the government of his brother, King Abdullah. The reign of the last living king of Saudi Arabia looks controversial. Despite significant transformations and reforms in the social sphere and in the economy, the country is plunging into an era of totalitarianism. In the period 2014-1016, a wave of executions swept through the country, which significantly undermined the foreign policy image of the ruling regime.
The residence of the reigning monarch of Saudi Arabia is the royal palace, an ultra-modern high-rise building towering hundreds of meters above the country's capital. Here are not only the chambers of the king and crown princes, most of the buildings house government services, ministries. Solemn receptions and meetings of the highest bodies of state power are also held here.
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On January 23, 2015, in Riyadh, the oldest acting monarch in the world at that time, the king of Saudi Arabia, who ruled since 2005, Abdullah ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, died of a lung infection from a lung infection.
The approximate age of the king was 91 years old, he had three dozen wives and more than forty children.
United state
The very name of this largest state comes from the ruling dynasty in the country. The ancestors of the Saudis have been known since the 15th century, and from the middle of the 18th they began to fight for the creation of a single state. In this struggle, they relied on various currents of Islam, including Wahhabism. The Saudis, in order to achieve victory, entered into agreements with foreign states - including Great Britain and the United States, as was already the case in the 20th century.
Before Saudi Arabia acquired the current state and political structure, there were two unsuccessful attempts to form the kingdom of the Saudis: in 1744 under the leadership of Mohammad ibn Saud and in 1818, when Turki ibn Adallah ibn Muhammad ibn Saud became the ruler of the Arabian lands, and later - his Faisal's son. But by the end of the 19th century, the Saudis were expelled from Riyadh to Kuwait by representatives of another powerful family - the Rashidi.
Founder of the royal dynasty
At the beginning of the new - twentieth - century, among the Saudis, who wanted to create a single Arabian state under their rule, a young man appeared who was more attracted to weapons and military sciences than religious treatises or the subtleties of Eastern philosophy. His name was Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdu-Rahman ibn Faisal Al Saud, or simply Ibn Saud, the first king of Saudi Arabia.
Starting with one of the provinces - Nejd - relying on the teachings of "pure" Islam, making the basis of his army the Bedouins, whom he taught to settle down, relying on English support at the right time, using the technical and scientific achievements of the new century - radio, cars, aviation, telephone communication - Abdul Aziz in 1932 became the head of the mighty Islamic state founded by him. Since then, representatives of the same family have been at the head of Saudi Arabia in turn: Ibn Saud and his six sons.
Islamic World Center
Among the magnificent epithets that are awarded to the autocratic ruler of the Saudi kingdom, there is one of the most significant names in the Muslim world - "Keeper of the two shrines." The King of Saudi Arabia owns the two main cities for devout Muslims - Mecca and Medina, which are the main shrines of Islam.
It is towards Mecca that Muslims turn their eyes during daily prayers. In the center of Mecca is the Main, Protected, Great Mosque - Al-Haram, in the courtyard of which is the Kaaba - the "sacred house" - a cubic building with a Black stone built into one of its corners, which was sent by Allah to the prophet Adam, and which the prophet touched Mohammed. These shrines are the main goal to which the pilgrim performing the Hajj aspires.
Medina is the city in which the second most important mosque for Muslims is located - Masjid an-Nabawi - the Mosque of the Prophet, under the green dome of which is the burial place of Mohammed.
The King of Saudi Arabia, among other things, is a person who is responsible for the safety of Muslim shrines, for the life and safety of huge masses of people - those who perform the Hajj.
Son of the eighth wife
The founder of Saudi Arabia - Abdul Aziz ibn Saud - was a true eastern ruler: numerous wives, of which there were several dozen, bore him 45 sons-heirs. The eighth wife of Ibn Saud was Fahda bint Aziz Ashura, whom he took as his wife after the Saudis killed her first husband - the worst enemy of Abdul Aziz - the ruler of one of the Arabian emirates named Saud Rashidi. It was she who was born King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died in January 2015 and left a noticeable mark on the history of the monarchy.
When in 1982 Abdullah was to be declared crown prince by right of seniority, his half-brother Fahd, who ascended the throne, thought for a long time: all the Al-Sauds who ascended the throne were born to one, beloved wife of Ibn Saud - Hussa from the Sudeiri family. Nevertheless, Abdallah, who belongs to a different family by his mother - Shamar - became king, and he became the de facto ruler long before the official coronation (2005): he became prime minister in 1995, when Fahd retired, becoming disabled after a stroke.
If I were a sultan...
Life at all levels looks unusual for a European. It is difficult to imagine the head of a European country who would be married 30 times, like King Abdullah.
Saudi Arabia is a country that lives on and in the house of a man cannot live more than 4 wives, this is how the family life of the king of the Saudis was organized. Abdulla is a father of many children, in total he had about four dozen children, of which 15 were sons.
Abdullah's childhood passed among the Bedouins, which influenced the monarch's hobbies - until recently he spent a lot of time in Morocco, where he was engaged in falconry, and his stable of racehorses was known throughout the world.
Welfare basis
Anyone who today sees the capital of the SA - Riyadh - or at least photos showing the inside of the plane of the king of Saudi Arabia, it will be difficult to imagine that at the time of its formation in 1932, Saudi Arabia belonged to the poorest countries in the world. In the late 1930s, colossal reserves of oil and gas were discovered on the Arabian Peninsula. Development and development of deposits were given to American oil companies, who at first took most of the profits for themselves. Gradually, control over oil production passed to the state, that is, petrodollars became the basis of the wealth of the Saudi kingdom.
The Saudis play a major role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which controls about two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. The influence of the Saudi monarchs on the formation of prices for hydrocarbons determines their importance in world politics. It has changed throughout the 20th century, but has steadily increased.
King - reformer
It is impossible to imagine the possibility of drastic changes in the foreign policy and internal structure of a country where an autocratic monarch is in power, where you can pay with your head for criticizing government decisions, where there is no legislative body: laws are royal decrees. All the more curious is the glory of the king-reformer, which was awarded to King Abdullah. Saudi Arabia experienced some relaxation under him - both in the severity of Eastern etiquette, and in the traditional Islamic harsh attitude towards women.
One of the first decrees of the 6th king of the Saudis canceled the ceremony of kissing the royal hand, replacing it with a more democratic handshake. The most important decision for Abdullah was the ban on members of the royal family from using state treasury funds for personal needs.
A real revolution was the establishment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology near the city of Jeddah, where girls and boys are allowed to study together. The appointment of a woman to a public post was no less a sensation: Nora bint (bint is an analogy for a male bin - “son”) Abdullah bin Musaid Al-Faiz became deputy minister for girls' affairs. The admission of women to some sports has made the image of the Saudi king even more attractive to supporters of democratic reforms. The allocation of funds for study abroad significant funds has made the CA even more open to the world.
The daughter of King Abdullah - Princess Adilla - became the face of a conservative system of government. The Minister of Education's wife, a beautiful, self-confident woman, is perceived by many as a symbol of renewal, although there is no talk of a radical revision of the female role in Islam.
Traditions are unshakable
Still, the main thing for the ruling family in the kingdom is the holiness and immutability of traditions based on the observance of Sharia norms.
Women for "improper behavior" or frivolity in dress, amputation of a hand for theft, severe punishment for fortune-telling as "witchcraft", etc., is a common practice in the life of Saudi society.
Such traditions include the ostentatious luxury that surrounds the royal throne of the Saudis. From a technical point of view, the personal plane of the King of Saudi Arabia is the most reliable aircraft of the late 20th century, but in terms of interior decoration it looks like a fairy-tale palace of the Sultan from the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.
And this applies to the numerous villas, yachts and cars owned by the royal family.
One of the richest monarchs
It is almost impossible to accurately calculate the personal wealth of a monarch, especially in a country as closed to foreigners as Saudi Arabia. Figures from 30 to 65 billion dollars are called. In any case, this is not a poor person, even if you take into account the number of members of the royal family. There is someone to spend petrodollars there - the wives of the king of Saudi Arabia make up an impressive harem, although formally the Koran forbids having more than four. We have to actively use the institution of divorce, which in the East is devoid of unnecessary formalism.
Family matters
Today's world is a continuous process of information exchange, carried out at various levels. At the end of 2013, an interview appeared in British newspapers, which was made by the daughter of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Princess Sahara. It claimed that she and her three sisters had been under house arrest for 13 years by their father.
Newspapers and news portals published stories about the manners of the royal harems. The mother of the Sahara, the ex-wife of the king of Saudi Arabia, was also involved in them. The photo of Al-Anud Daham Al-Bakhit Al-Faiz, who at the age of 15 became the wife of Abdullah, and ten years later was deprived of her daughters and expelled after a divorce, added drama.
This scandal forced to pay special attention to the problem of discrimination against women in the Muslim world. Articles about the terrible inequality between men and women in Saudi society flooded the print and electronic media. Photographs of the king of Saudi Arabia, a symbol of the medieval style of government based on unbridled luxury, were especially popular.
But it turned out not everything is so simple, the world is still multifaceted. Another wave came up. Activists of Islamic organizations, among whom there were many women, with no less passion accused journalists and politicians of trying to impose their morality on a society that they do not honor with self-sufficiency. The protest against the aggressive imposition of Western views on lifestyle seemed just as sincere and justified.
The king is dead, long live the king
Today on the throne in Riyadh Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is the seventh king of Saudi Arabia. The photographs of the new ruler do not differ much in the eyes of a European from those that were taken during the life of King Abdullah.
The history of the Saudi state continues.
On the night of January 23, the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah, died.
Full name of the king Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz As Saud.
Abdullah was the son of the first king of Saudi Arabia Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and his eighth wife
Fahda Ash-Shuraim .It was the father of the late king who created the state with the name of Saudi Arabia in 1932. From the 13th century, Arabia was all under Egypt, from 1517 to 1745 under the Ottoman Empire. In 1745, the ruler of the emirate of Najd, named Saud, began to fight the Turks for the unification of the country. Emir ibn Saud united most of the country in 1926 and proclaimed himself the King of Hijaz and Nejd, and in 1932 the country was named Saudi Arabia after the Saudi dynasty.
Flag and coat of arms of Saudi Arabia. On the green flag is the Arabic inscription ""There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger" .
On November 9, 1953, the founder of the state died at the age of 72. After that, his sons from the Saud dynasty began to rule the country.
It should be noted that the lack of sons in Abdul Aziz ibn Saud did not have, he had 45 children-boys !!! Since 1953, five of his sons have been kings.
Sons became kings ibn Saud: Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd.
Saudi Arabia in general area ranks 13th among the countries of the world, and by population only 50th place . Because more than 60% of the country's territory does not have a permanent population except for nomadic Bedouins, and even nomads do not penetrate into some desert places.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia is a very rich country due to the production and sale of oil (3rd place in the world) and gas.
Deceased today (January 23), king Abdullah, was born August 1, 1924, in the capital Riyadh. As already noted, he is the son of the king and the founder of the state. His father ibn Saud killed one of his enemies, the Emir of the Arabian Peninsula Saud Rashidi and his wife Fahd brought to his palace and made her one of his many wives, from her the king was born Abdullah. The king had 2 sisters on the mother's side and 44 blood brothers on the father's side.
Abdullah received his first high position at more than 30 years old, then he became mayor of the holy city Mecca . At the age of 38, his brother, King Faisal, appointed Abdullah Commander of the National Guard. At 51, another brother of Abdullah, King Khalid, makes him the second vice-premier of the country. Another brother, Fahd, who ascended the royal throne, made Abdullah his heir and first deputy prime minister. Since 1982 (from the age of 58), Abdullah has been crown prince And held the title of heir for 23 years.
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August 3, 2005 , the coronation of King Abdullah, the new The king was 81 years old at the time.!
In Saudi Arabia, absolute monarchy. The king, he is both the ruler of the country and the head of the government, he appoints all ministers and officials, he is also the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, he also appoints four governors in the province, he is the highest Judge of the State . Against the king and his laws, no one has the right to even say a word on pain of death.
The king himself appoints his heir. It should be noted that in Saudi Arabia, the life expectancy for men and women is equal, 66 years, but King Abdullah turned out to be a long-liver, he lived for 91 years, of which the last 10 years he was king. Therefore, it is not surprising that he outlived his two younger brothers, the crown princes, who died without waiting for the throne.
In 2011, an 83-year-old prince named Sultan, and in 2012 Prince Naif, who, under Abdullah, was also the Minister of the Interior.
Maybe this is for the best, because the crown princes, especially Naif, did not particularly agree with his brother-king and wanted to drag the country into the distant past, distinguished by a strong temper.
King Abdullah for his 10-year rule of the country, went down in history as Arab reformer. The first thing he did was forbade the use of the state treasury to all his close blood relatives, and he has not many, not few, about 7,000 people! and they are all princes and princesses holding high government positions. The king also issued a decree that now, when meeting with him, he does not need to kiss his hand, as it was before 2005, but he must be greeted in a modern way, with a handshake!
King Abdullah for the first time releases money to the country's budget for state scholarships for students who go to study abroad. This was immediately used by 70,000 Arab students.
Slavery in Saudi Arabia was abolished in 1962, but now King Abdullah has decided to ease the lot of Arab women in the country. He allows women to drive and even a plane, allows girls to study at the University of the country in the same classroom with the guys, and even appoints a woman as the rector of the University. In addition, women began to have the right to participate in municipal elections and be elected to leadership positions. The woman took the post of Deputy Minister of Education for Girls.
In 2011, King Abdullah laid $37 billion new social spending program , including new unemployment benefits, education and housing subsidies, debt relief, and a new sports channel. He also promised to spend a total of $400 billion by the end of 2014 to improve the education, health and infrastructure of the kingdom.
And quite an invisible thing, to King Abdullah became the first ruler of Saudi Arabia to came to the Vatican to meet the Pope of Rome to talk about cooperation with the Christian world!
It should be noted that King Abdullah professes Wahhabi Islam and is the Custodian of the two Islamic shrines, Mecca and Medina . This is a very holy, if not the holiest, spiritual duty in the Islamic world.
The king, of course, was a very religious person, they spoke of him as a softer ruler, a very energetic and serious person. However, in the American magazine he was called one of the most brutal dictators of our time, ranking 4th among the dictators of our time, after the leaders of North Korea, Sudan and Manyama.
Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the world that has retained a public execution. And in the square, in the middle of Riyadh, people are being executed. The fact that a woman cannot go anywhere without a man's escort... If you meet a single woman or a woman with small children on the streets of Saudi Arabia, then she falls under the article of a prostitute and the Arabs can immediately kill her.
The king had a capricious nature, but he was very fond of women. The king got married and divorced 30 times!!! Yes, he had several wives at once, but never when there were more than four at once, because the Koran forbids having more wives. They say that there were very few divorces, more often his wives died. Among the king's wives were Syrians, Moroccans and Palestinians. Abdullah was a father of many children - 15 sons and 20 daughters .
And the youngest son badr was born when his father the king was already 79 years old!!!
Moreover, all the children of the king are well-to-do people and occupy large government positions.
His second son Prince Mutaib is the commander of the National Guard.
Another son, Prince Mishaal, has been the governor of the province of Makkah since 2013.
Prince Khaled al-Faisal is Minister of Education. His son Prince Abdulaziz has been Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2011.
Another son, Prince Faisal, is the head Red Crescent Saudi Arabia.
His eldest son, Prince Khaled was Deputy Commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard until 1992.
His daughter is a princess Adil married to Faisal bin Abdullah, who was appointed Minister of Education in 2009. She is one of the few Saudi princesses who is a prominent advocate for women's rights in government..
His other daughter, the princess Alia, is chair of the social service program.
His youngest daughter, Princess Sahab was born in 1993 and married to fifth son of the King of Bahrain Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in 2011.
The king himself was also not a poor man, only in 2013 his personal fortune amounted to 18 billion US dollars!!!
About his well-being and the wealth of the country of Saudi Arabia, these pictures of the king's plane made inside the royal airliner clearly speak.
Well, let's move from the topic of a personal royal plane to the public metro of Riyadh, in my opinion it is no worse!
King Abdullah personally financed the construction of a metro station in the capital Riyadh with his money from gold!!! ABOUTthe total area of the station will be over 20 thousand sq. meters, and it will be located in one of the fashionable districts of the capital of Saudi Arabia. It will be located on a new metro line, which will be built in the coming years. The station will be made of marble with inserts of gold plates, which will serve as its ornament.
Well, speaking of the capital city Riyadh, or city Jeddah - These are quite modern cities with a developed urban infrastructure. You will hardly meet pedestrians on the street, because there people only travel by car. Modern hotels are equipped with everything and everyone. Another thing is that a number of rules stipulated by the Koran and Sharia are strictly observed.
Saudi Arabia has always been considered a hotbed of global Islamic terrorism. This is where Osama bin Laden came out. Of the 19 terrorists who attacked New York on September 11, 2001, 14 were also Saudis. However King Abdullah openly promoted himself as a fighter against Islamic terrorism. The king emphasized that he, as the custodian of two Islamic shrines, confirms that terrorism is contrary to the Koran.He proposed to create a world anti-terrorist center in Saudi Arabia, in particular in Riyadh.. He was ready to finance it, ready to train special people to fight terrorism.Moreover, he caught and eliminated several leaders of such Islamist organizations in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah also fought against drugs, for finding them a person was immediately threatened with the death penalty.
In general, the USSR became the first country to recognize the independence of Saudi Arabia. At one time, from Stalin to Gorbachev, relations were spoiled and Saudi Arabia fell under the influence of the United States, but now relations have been established, but relations with the United States have worsened, the current deceased king removed American military bases from the territory of his country.
Saudi Arabia has the biggest influence in the Arab world and the king who died today has repeatedly spoken out in favor of improving relations with Israel.
In May 2013, King Abdullah was already on the verge of death. The 88-year-old king had kidney and lung failure, he was connected to an artificial respiration device, he survived clinical death, but got out of this state and returned to the leadership of the country.
December 31, 2014, the king was hospitalized with pneumonia. The disease escalated on January 20, 2015. On the night of January 23, the king's heart stopped beating, and on the same day, guided by
Islamic tradition (to be buried on the day of death before sunset), the king was buried.
King Abdullah has many orders and the highest awards of states
Saudi Arabia, Argentina, England, South Africa, Austria, Kazakhstan, Poland, Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Lebanon.
In Saudi Arabia, a university was named after him during his lifetime. The king was a lover of camel racing and organized his equestrian club in the country.
