Table Of ContentIBN SAUD
The Desert Warrior Who Created
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
IBN SAUD
The Desert Warrior Who Created
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
MICHAEL DARLOW
and
BARBARA BRAY
SKYHORSE PUBLISHING
A Herman Graf Book
Copyright © 2010, 2012 by Michael Darlow and Barbara Bray
First published in the UK by Quartet Ltd.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
ISBN 978-1-61608-579-7
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
AUTHORS’ NOTE
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS AND SOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GLOSSARY
CAST LIST
1 Cast Out
January 1891
2 Fugitives in the Land of Their Fathers
From times immemorial to 1891
3 Making of the Man
1891–January 15th 1902
4 Shaikh Amid the Imperialists
1902–1910
5 Shakespear, the Ikhwan and the Coming War
1910–1914
6 Death of an Englishman
1914 –January 1915
7 War and Revolt
1915–1918
8 Unleashing the Ikhwan
1919–1923
9 ‘Calif Out’
1924–1926
10 Rebellion
1926–1929
11 Hard Times and the Coming of the Oil Men
1929–1934
12 New Ways, New Wars
1934–1939
13 War and Meetings of Great Men
1939–1945
14 Riches and the Dying of the Light
1945–1953
15 Legacy
1953 to the present
Saud to Fahd
9/11, King Abdullah and the Future
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Authors’ Note
Details of many of the key events in the life of Ibn Saud are still disputed. In
most instances where a dispute exists we have added an explanatory footnote
rather than explaining in the main body of the text.
Spelling, etc
To make life easier for the reader we have tried to be consistent about the
spellings and transliterations of Arab names, place names, words and
expressions. However, a difficulty remains in that there is no universally agreed
system of rendering Arabic names and words into English and writers in English
about Arabia seem to adopt different approaches. On top of this, commonly
accepted spellings and transliterations of common Arabic words and names seem
to vary at different times. For instance, the spelling of Ibn Saud varies depending
on who is writing his name and when. Similarly, common spellings for the name
of Ibn Saud’s father, Abd al-Rahman, include Abdur Rahman and Abdul
Rahman. We have adopted Abd al-Rahman because we are assured by native
Arabic speakers that it approximates most closely to his name as spoken in
Arabic and is the spelling most acceptable among Arabs. A further complication
arises from the use by Arabic speakers of familial and patronymic variations of
names. We have therefore tried to adopt a single spelling and form of name for
each person whenever they appear. However, there is a particular problem over
the name of Ibn Saud himself. Ibn Saud only came to be widely referred to by
that name after he had become the ruler of Najd. Prior to that various of his
forebears had been commonly referred to by the family name Ibn, bin or al Saud.
Before becoming ruler of Najd Ibn Saud was known as Abd al-Aziz, with or
without the addition of his family name. Most of his Arab contemporaries
continued to refer to him as Abd al-Aziz throughout his life. However, in the
West once he had become the ruler of Najd he came to be widely and best
known as Ibn Saud or bin Saud. So to avoid confusion we refer to him by the
name Abd al-Aziz until the time when he became ruler of Najd and thereafter by
the name Ibn Saud, the name by which he is now best known, especially in the
West. We have clearly indicated in the text the point at which this change in the
way he is referred to occurs.
An additional complication arises from the fact that a lot of different people
bore the same name – for instance Faisal, Faysal or Feisal. In order to make it
easier for the reader to distinguish between them we have wherever possible
used accepted different spellings for each character – so the Saudi Faisal is spelt
with an ‘a’ whereas the Hashemite Feisal is spelt with an ‘e’, and so on. For ease
of reading we have also included a ‘Cast List’, giving the names of all the
principal characters (with spellings as they appear in the text), together with a
brief description of who each one is.
We have also provided a brief Glossary of the common Arabic and Muslim
words that appear in the text.
Maps
Two detailed maps are included as end papers. One is political, and covers
Arabia and the region immediately surrounding it, and also shows the location of
the principal towns and cities in the story and of major international frontiers as
they were towards the end of Ibn Saud’s life. The other map shows the main
physical features of the Arabian Peninsula together with the grazing areas of the
main tribes that feature in the story. There are also smaller sketch maps at the
beginning of each chapter showing the places or features relevant to that chapter.
Photographic Credits and Sources
The authors and publishers have made all reasonable efforts to contact the
photographers and/or owners of all the pictures reproduced in this book, but in
the event of any omissions or errors wish to apologise to the photographers,
owners or copyright holders concerned. We are especially grateful to the
following for permission to reproduce the photographs listed below:
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY for the following photographs by Captain
Shakespear: Figs. 2, 5, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 27, for the following
photographs by Gerald de Gaury: Figs. 4, 13, 14, 28, 45, and for the following
by unidentified photographers: Figs. 18, 38 and 42.
ST ANTONY’S COLLEGE, OXFORD, MIDDLE EAST CENTRE for the following
photographs by Gertrude Bell: Figs. 24, 25, and 26, for the following
photographs by H. St. J. Philby: Figs. 29, 30, 31, 32 and 35, and for Figs: 3, 8
and 22 by Sir George Rendel.
THE PITT-RIVERS MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD for permission to reproduce
Wilfred Thesiger’s ‘Interior of The Empty Quarter’ (PRM 2004.130.12987.1) on
the front cover and for Fig. 48 (PRM 2004.130.17416.1).
GETTY IMAGES for the following photographs: Figs. 33 and 50.
We wish to thank the DICKSON FAMILY for permission to use the following
photographs by the late Harold and Dame Violet Dickson: Figs. 1, 9, 39 and 41.
We wish to thank the following photographers and artists for permission to
reproduce their work: NOWFAL MOHAMMAD for Fig. 7, LARS BJURSTÖM and the
members of the Saudi Caves project for permission to use Figs. 10 and 11, PETER
MIDDLETON for Fig. 51, KATE BROOKS for Fig. 53, BROAD ARROW for Fig. 55
(GNU Free Documentation License) and MANAL ALDOWAYAN for permission to
reproduce her works ‘I am a Petroleum Engineer’ and ‘The Choice’, Fig. 54.
A number of photographs reproduced in the book are either out of copyright, in
the public domain or we have been unable to trace a copyright owner or person
empowered to issue a reproduction licence. We list those photographs below and
the sources from which we have reproduced them. We acknowledge our
indebtedness to them all. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS in the United States for Fig.
43 and the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY Fig. 46, ARAMCO (Geo
Publishing Ltd) Fig. 44, RANDOM HOUSE Figs. 23 and 34, Constable & Co Ltd
Figs. 36 and 40, ITHACA PRESS Fig. 37, CAMBRIDGE FORECAST (wordpress.com)
Fig. 47, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG Fig. 49, SOLO SYNDICATION (The Daily Mail) Fig.
52, and FLICKR.COM (Creative Commons License) Fig. 6.
If the work of any photographer or copyright owner is featured in this book
for which clearance has not been obtained the authors and publishers would be
happy to pay the appropriate licence fee on establishment of such ownership.
