1.
Pre-Islamic Arabia
–
Pre-Islamic Arabia refers to the Arabian Peninsula prior to the rise of Islam in the 630s. Pre-Islamic religion in Arabia consisted of indigenous beliefs, Ancient Arabian Christianity, Nestorian Christianity. In the latter stages of the era, Christianity gained converts with some unorthodox sects, such as the gnostics. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian Peninsula has been sparse but fruitful, the most recent detailed study of pre-Islamic Arabia is Arabs and Empires Before Islam, published by Oxford University Press in 2015. This book collects a range of ancient texts and inscriptions for the history of the region during this time period. Ubaid period - could have originated in Eastern Arabia, umm an-Nar Culture Sabr culture Magan is attested as the name of a trading partner of the Sumerians. It is often assumed to have located in Oman. The Aadids established themselves in South Arabia, settling to the east of the Qahtan tribe and they established the Kingdom of ʿĀd around the 10th century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The ʿĀd nation were known to the Greeks and Egyptians, claudius Ptolemys Geographos refers to the place by a Hellenized version of the inhabitants of the capital Ubar. The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Eastern Arabia were mainly Aramaic speakers, in pre-Islamic times, the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of Christianized Arabs, Aramean Christians, Persian-speaking Zoroastrians and Jewish agriculturalists. Nestorian Christianity was the dominant religion in pre-Islamic Eastern Arabia, Zoroastrianism was also present, the Zoroastrians of Eastern Arabia were known as Majoos in pre-Islamic times. The sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia, including Bahrani Arabic, were influenced by Akkadian, Aramaic, the Dilmun civilization was an important trading centre which at the height of its power controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. The Sumerians regarded Dilmun as holy land, Dilmun is regarded as one of the oldest ancient civilizations in the Middle East. The Sumerians described Dilmun as a garden in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sumerian tale of the paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story. Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the end of fourth millennium BCE, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk. The adjective Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official, Dilmun was an important trading center from the late fourth millennium to 1800 BCE. At the height of Dilmuns power, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes, Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium
2.
Muhammad in Medina
–
The period of Muhammad in Medina started with the Hijra in 622 and ended with the conquest of Mecca in December 629. A delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the important clans of Medina. There was fighting in Yathrib mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620, the delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves. Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all of his followers had left Mecca, being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate him. He fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town, by 622, Muhammad had emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis. Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca, Muhammad also adopted some features of the Jewish worship and customs such as fasting on the Yom Kippur day. According to Alford Welch, the Jewish practice of having three daily prayer rituals appears to have been a factor in the introduction of the Islamic midday prayer. The first group of converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina. This was, according to Ibn Ishaq, influenced by the conversion to Islam of Sad ibn Muadh, Muslims, like Jews, were at that time praying towards Jerusalem. In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews political loyalty in return for religious, the Jewish clans however kept aloof from Islam though in the course of time there were a few converts from them. After his migration to Medina, Muhammads attitude towards Christians and Jews changed, the Quran at this time states that it will relate to the Children of Israel most of that about which they differ. Muhammad delivered Quranic verses permitting the Muslims, those who have been expelled from their homes, in March 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for the Meccans at Badr, aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims. Meanwhile, a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, the force did not return home upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The battle of Badr began in March 624, though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom, only fourteen Muslims died. They had also succeeded in killing many of the Meccan leaders, Muhammad himself did not fight, directing the battle from a nearby hut alongside Abu Bakr. In the weeks following the battle, Meccans visited Medina in order to ransom captives from Badr, many of these had belonged to wealthy families, and were likely ransomed for a considerable sum
3.
Rashidun Caliphate
–
The Rashidun Caliphate was the Islamic caliphate in the earliest period of Islam, comprising the first five caliphs—the Rightly Guided or Rashidun caliphs. It was founded after Muhammads death in 632 CE, after Muhammads death in 632 CE, the Medinan Ansar debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammads household was busy with his burial. Umar and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar, Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalīfatu Rasūli l-Lāh successor of the Messenger of God, or caliph, and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had claimed that although they pledged allegiance to Muhammad and accepted Islam, as a caliph, Abu Bakr was not a monarch and never claimed such a title, nor did any of his three successors. Rather, their election and leadership were based upon merit, as for the fifth Caliph, ‘Alis son Al-Hasan, as a son of Fatimah, he was a grandson of Muhammad. Furthermore, according to other hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawood and Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, towards the end times, Abu Bakr, the oldest companion of Muhammad, was caliph for only 2 years before he died. When Muhammad died, Abu Bakr and Umar, his two companions, were in the Saqifah meeting to select his successor while the family of Muhammad was busy with his funeral, controversy among the Muslims emerged about whom to name as Caliph. There was disagreement between the Meccan followers of Muhammad who had emigrated with him in 622 and the Medinans who had become followers, the Ansar, considering themselves being the hosts and loyal companions of Muhammad, nominated Sad bin Ubadah as their candidate for the Caliphate. In the end, however, Muhammads closest friend, Abu Bakr, was named the khalifa or Successor of Muhammad, a new circumstance had formed a new, untried political formation, the caliphate. Troubles emerged soon after Muhammads death, threatening the unity and stability of the new community, Apostasy spread to every tribe in the Arabian Peninsula with the exception of the people in Mecca and Medina, the Banu Thaqif in Taif and the Bani Abdul Qais of Oman. In some cases, entire tribes apostatised, others merely withheld zakat, the alms tax, without formally challenging Islam. Many tribal leaders made claims to prophethood, some made it during the lifetime of Muhammad, the news of his death reached Medina shortly after the death of Muhammad. The apostasy of al-Yamama was led by another supposed prophet, Musaylimah, many tribes claimed that they had submitted to Muhammad and that with Muhammads death, their allegiance was ended. Caliph Abu Bakr insisted that they had not just submitted to a leader, the result of this situation was the Ridda wars. Abu Bakr planned his strategy accordingly and he divided the Muslim army into several corps. The strongest corps, and the force of the Muslims, was the corps of Khalid ibn al-Walid. This corps was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces, other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to bring the less dangerous apostate tribes to submission. After a series of successful campaigns Khalid ibn Walid defeated Musaylimah in the Battle of Yamama, the Campaign on the Apostasy was fought and completed during the eleventh year of the Hijri
4.
History of Saudi Arabia
–
The history of Saudi Arabia in its current form as a state began with its foundation in 1932 by Abdulaziz Al Saud, although the human history of the region extends as far as 20,000 years ago. The region has had a global impact twice in history, In the 7th century it became the cradle of Islam. From the mid-20th century the discovery of vast oil deposits propelled it into a key economic, for much of the regions history a patchwork of tribal rulers controlled most of the area. The Al Saud emerged as minor tribal rulers in Najd in central Arabia, from the mid-18th century, imbued with the religious zeal of the Wahhabi Islamic movement, they became aggressively expansionist. Over the following 150 years, the extent of the Al Saud territory fluctuated, however, between 1902 and 1927, the Al Saud leader, Abdulaziz, carried out a series of wars of conquest which resulted in his establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. From 1932 until his death in 1953, Abdulaziz ruled Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy, thereafter six of his sons in succession have reigned over the kingdom, Saud, the immediate successor of Abdulaziz, faced opposition from most in the royal family and was eventually deposed. Until his murder by a nephew in 1975, Faisal presided over a period of growth, Saudi Arabias role in the 1973 oil crisis and, the subsequent rise in the price of oil, dramatically increased the countrys political significance and wealth. Khalid, Faisals successor, reigned during the first major signs of dissent, Fahd became king in 1982 - during his reign Saudi Arabia became the largest oil producer in the world. However, internal tensions increased when the country allied itself with the United States, in the early 2000s, the Islamicist opposition to the regime carried out a series of terrorist attacks. He instituted a number of reforms to modernize many of the countrys institutions and, to some extent. Salman became king in 2015 There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 63,000 years ago, the earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas. Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina in 622. From there, he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam, following Muhammads death in 632, Abu Bakr became leader of the Muslims as the first Caliph. After putting down a rebellion by the Arab tribes, Abu Bakr attacked the Byzantine Empire, on his death in 634, he was succeeded by Umar as caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The period of these first four caliphs is known as the Rashidun or rightly guided Caliphate, under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their Umayyad successors, the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the Byzantine army and destroyed the Persian Empire, the political focus of the Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories. Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world, muawiyah I, the first Umayyad caliph, took an interest in his native Mecca, erecting buildings and digging wells. Under his Marwanids successors, Mecca became the abode of poets, even then, Medina eclipsed Mecca in importance for much of the Umayyad period, as it was home to the new Muslim aristocracy
5.
Sharifate of Mecca
–
The Sharifate of Mecca Arabic, شرافة مكة Sharāfa Makka) or Emirate of Mecca was a state, non-sovereign for much of its existence, ruled by the Sharifs of Mecca. A sharif is a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali, Muhammads grandson, in Western sources, the prince of Mecca was known as Grand Sherif, but Arabs have always used the appellation Emir. The Sharifate existed from about 968 to 1925, from 1201, the descendants of the Sharifian patriarch Qutada ruled over Mecca, Medina and the Hejaz in unbroken succession until 1925. Originally, the sharifs of the Hejaz had generally avoided involvement in public life and this situation changed in the second half of the 10th century, with the rise of the Qaramita sect. The Qaramita directed tribal raids towards Iraq, Syria and much of Arabia, in 930, Qaramita raiders attacked Mecca, and stole the holy Black Stone from the Kaaba, gravely embarrassing the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Abu al-Misk Kafur, an Abbasid vassal and ruler of Egypt, persuaded the Qaramita to end their raids and return the Black Stone to Mecca in return for an annual tribute. As a measure to enhance the safety of the pilgrims he chose one of the sharifs of Hejaz, Jaafar al-Musawi, when the Ismaili Shia Fatimids conquered Egypt in 973, they began to appoint the sharifs of Mecca from the descendants of Jaafar al-Musawi. In 1012, the Emir of Mecca Abdul-Futuh declared himself caliph, the first Sulayhid ruler conquered the whole of Yemen in 1062, and proceeded northwards to occupy the Hejaz. For a time, they appointed the Emirs of Mecca, as Sunni power began to revive after 1058, the Meccan emirs maintained an ambiguous position between the Fatimids and the Seljuks of Isfahan. After Saladin overthrew the Fatimids in 1171, the Ayyubids aspired to establishing their sovereignty over Mecca and their constant involvement in dynastic disputes, however, led to a period free of external interferences in the Hejaz. In 1200 circa, a sharif by the name of Qatada ibn Idris seized power and was recognised as Emir by the Ayyubid sultan and he became the first of a dynasty that held the emirate until it was abolished in 1925. The Mamluks succeeded in taking over the Hejaz, and made it a province of their empire after 1350. Jeddah became a base of the Mamluks for their operations in the Red Sea, by playing off members of the sharifian house against one another, the Mamluks managed to achieve a high degree of control over the Hejaz. During the Ottoman period the Emirate was not hereditary, and owed its succession to direct nomination by the Ottoman Porte, a dual system of government existed over the Hejaz for much of this period. Ruling authority was shared between the Emir, a member of the ashraf or descendentants of prophet Muhammad, and the Ottoman wāli or governor and this system continued until the Arab Revolt of 1916. Apart from the Emirs of Mecca, Ottoman administration in the Hejaz was first at the hands of the Governor of Egypt, the Eyalet of Jeddah was later transformed into the Hejaz Vilayet, with a governor in Mecca. Mecca, Medina and Jeddah were its largest cities, most of the population of these cities consisted of non-Arab Muslims, including Bukharis, Javanese, Indians, Afghans, and Central Asians. The Hejaz region was formerly under the Mamluk Sultanate until its defeat, in the same year, Sharif Barakat of Mecca acknowledged the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph
6.
Ottoman Arabia
–
The Ottoman era in the history of Arabia lasted from 1517 to 1918. Ottoman degree of control over these lands varied over the four centuries with the strength or weakness of the Empires central authority. In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast to the Empire, the main reason was to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. As early as 1578, the Sharifs of Mecca launched forays into the desert to punish the Najdi tribes who mounted raids on oases and tribes in the Hejaz. The first Saudi state was established in 1744 in the area around Riyadh, rapidly expanded, when Ibn Abd al-Wahab abandoned the position of imam in 1773, the spread of Saudi control over the whole southern and central Najd was completed. In the late 1780s, the northern Najd was added to the Saudi emirate, in 1792, Al-Hasa fell to the Saudis. The Saudi emirate gained control of Taif in 1802, and of Medina in 1804, the first Saudi state was destroyed by 1818 by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha. A much smaller second Saudi state, located mainly in Nejd, was established in 1824, throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud contested control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia with another Arabian ruling family, the Al Rashid. By 1891, the Al Rashid were victorious and the Al Saud were driven into exile in Kuwait, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have a suzerainty over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence, in 1902, Ibn Saud took control of Riyadh in Nejd and brought the Al Saud back to Nejd. Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan, a tribal army inspired by Wahhabism and led by Sultan ibn Bijad and Faisal Al-Dawish, with the aid of the Ikhwan, Ibn Saud captured Hasa from the Ottomans in 1913. In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, although the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918 failed in its objective, the Allied victory in World War I resulted in the end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia. The distance from the center of the empire in Istanbul, as well as the length, regional administration of Mecca and Medina was left in the hands of the Sharifs, or the stewards of Mecca since the Abbasid caliphate. The Sharifs maintained a level of autonomy under the rule of the Sultan, however in order to balance the local influences. The central Ottoman government controlled caravan routes to Mecca, and was obligated to protect pilgrims along these routes and this included providing supplies such as food and water for the journey. Additionally, this included providing subsidies to the desert Bedouin tribes whose limited resources were used by pilgrims along the routes from Damascus. The Ottoman Empire, as custodian of Mecca and Medina, was supposed to provide passage for all pilgrims travelling to the Holy Cities. However, political alliances and conflicts shaped the routes that were opened or closed, particularly in the case of the Safavid Empire, the Ottomans closed the shortest route from Basra that would have allowed Shi’i pilgrims to cross the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Peninsula
7.
Emirate of Diriyah
–
The Emirate of Diriyah was the first Saudi state. In 1744, both Muhammed bin Abd Al Wahhab and Muhammad bin Saud took an oath to achieve their goal. Furthermore, Sauds forces brought the highlands of Asir under their suzerainty, while Muhammed bin Abd Al Wahhab wrote letters to people, after many military campaigns, Saud died in 1765, leaving the leadership to his son, Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad. Sauds forces went so far as to command of the Shia holy city of Karbala in 1801. Here they destroyed grave markers of saints and monuments and killed over 5000 civilians, Muhammed bin Abd Al Wahhab died in 1792. In 1803, eleven year after Wahhabs death, the son of Abdul Aziz Bin Muhammad, Saud bin Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Saud, taif was the first city to be captured, and later the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This was seen as a challenge to the authority of the Ottoman Empire. The task of weakening the grip of the House of Saud was given to the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha. This initiated the Ottoman–Wahhabi War, in which Muhammad Ali sent his troops to the Hejaz region by sea and his son, Ibrahim Pasha, then led Ottoman forces into the heart of Nejd, capturing town after town. Sauds successor, his son Abdullah bin Saud, was unable to prevent the recapture of the region, finally, Ibrahim reached the Saudi capital at Diriyah and placed it under siege for several months until it surrendered in the winter of 1818. Ibrahim then shipped off many members of the clans of Al Saud and Muhammed Ibn Abd Al Wahhab to Egypt, before he left he ordered a systematic destruction of Diriyah, whose ruins have remained untouched ever since. Muhammad bin Saud 1726–1744, 1744–1765 Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad 1765–1803 Saud bin Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Saud 1803–1814 Abdullah bin Saud 1814–1818, ottoman–Saudi War Second Saudi State Saudi Arabia List of Sunni Muslim dynasties Facey, William, Hawkins, Philip. Dirʻīyyah and the first Saudi state
8.
Emirate of Nejd
–
The Emirate of Nejd was the second Saudi state, existing between 1824 and 1891 in Nejd, the regions of Riyadh and Hail of what is now Saudi Arabia. The second Saudi period was marked by territorial expansion and less religious zeal, although the Saudi leaders continued to be called Imam. Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammads reconquest of Riyadh from Egyptian forces in 1824 is generally regarded as the beginning of the Second Saudi State. He made his capital in Riyadh and was able to enlist the services of many relatives who had escaped captivity in Egypt, Turki was assassinated in 1834 by Mishari ibn Abdul-Rahman, a distant cousin. Mishari was soon besieged in Riyadh and later executed by Faisal, Faisal, however, faced a re-invasion of Najd by the Egyptians four years later. The local population was unwilling to resist, and Faisal was defeated, in 1840, however, external conflicts forced the Egyptians to withdraw all their presence in the Arabian Peninsula, leaving Khalid with little support. Seen by most locals as nothing more than an Egyptian governor, Khalid was toppled soon afterwards by Abdullah ibn Thuniyyan, upon Faisals death in 1865, Abdullah assumed rule in Riyadh but was soon challenged by his brother, Saud. The two brothers fought a civil war, in which they traded rule in Riyadh several times. A vassal of the Saudis, Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Rashid of Hail took the opportunity to intervene in the conflict, gradually, Ibn Rashid extended his authority over most of Najd, including the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Ibn Rashid finally expelled the last Saudi leader, Abdul-Rahman bin Faisal, from Najd after the Battle of Mulayda in 1891
9.
Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
–
In 1932 the two kingdoms were unified as Saudi Arabia. On 8 January 1926, Ibn Saud, the Sultan of Nejd, was crowned King of the Hejaz in the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, and he elevated Nejd to the status of a kingdom on 29 January 1927. At the Treaty of Jeddah on 20 May 1927, Ibn Sauds realm was recognised by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for the next five years, Ibn Saud administered the two parts of his dual kingdom as separate units. On 23 September 1932, the main Saudi dominions of Al-Hasa, Qatif, Nejd, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd could pursue its expansionist policy by British arms supplies because of its close relations with the United Kingdom. Under Ibn Saud, the Hejaz withdrew from the League of Nations, in 1926, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd was recognised by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, followed by the United States of America in 1931. Statoids - Regions of Saudi Arabia World Statesmen - Saudi Arabia
10.
Unification of Saudi Arabia
–
In 1902, Ibn Saud recaptured Riyadh, the Al Saud dynastys former capital. He went on to subdue the rest of Nejd, Al-Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Asir, the resultant polity was named the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz from 1927 until it was further consolidated with Al-Hasa and Qatif into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Following the Diriyah agreement between Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Saud, the Al Saud clan founded the First Saudi State, the ideology born of this period was later dubbed Wahhabism. Originating in the Nejd region of central Arabia, the First Saudi State conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula, the task of destroying the Saudis was given to the powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who sent troops to the Hejaz region and recaptured Mecca. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, meanwhile led Ottoman forces into the heart of Nejd, on reaching the Saudi capital at Diriyah, Ibrahim placed it under siege for several months until it surrendered in the winter of 1818. He then sent many members of the clans of Al Saud and Ibn Abdul Wahhab to Egypt, the last Saudi imam, Abdullah bin Saud, was later executed in Constantinople. Compared to the First Saudi State, the second Saudi period was marked by territorial expansion. It was also marked by instability, which the Al Rashid clan of Jebel Shammar were able to exploit, the Saudi leader, Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal, sought refuge in Ottoman Iraq in 1893. In 1901, Abdul Rahman bin Faisals son, the future Ibn Saud, asked the Emir of Kuwait for men, already involved in several wars with the Rashidis, the Emir agreed to the request, giving Ibn Saud horses and arms. Although the exact number of men waxed and waned during the subsequent journey, in January 1902, Ibn Saud and his men reached Riyadh. The warfare period of battles ended with Saudi takeover of the Al-Qassim Region, after decisive victory in Qasim on April 13,1906. In 1913, Ibn Saud, with support from the Ikhwan, conquered al-Hasa from an Ottoman garrison, conquered Al-Hasa and integrated al-Hasa]] and Qatif into the Emirate. The Kuwait-Najd War occurred because Ibn Saud wanted to annex Kuwait, Ibn Saud insisted that Kuwaits territory belonged to him. The sharpened conflict between Kuwait and Najd led to the death of hundreds of Kuwaitis, the war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919–1920. Following Kuwait–Najd War, Ibn Saud imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait for 14 years from 1923 until 1937. The goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwaits territory as possible, at the Uqair conference in 1922, the boundaries of Kuwait and Najd were set. Kuwait had no representative at the Uqair conference, Ibn Saud persuaded Sir Percy Cox to give him two-thirds of Kuwaits territory. More than half of Kuwait was lost due to Uqair, after the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raiding
11.
Modern history of Saudi Arabia
–
The Modern history of Saudi Arabia begins with the unification of Saudi Arabia in a single kingdom in 1932. Abdul Azizs military and political successes were not mirrored economically until vast reserves of oil were discovered in 1938 in the Al-Hasa region along the Persian Gulf coast. Prior to the discovery of oil, the source of income for the government depended on the pilgrimage to Mecca. In the 1930s, Abdul Aziz granted a concession to the Standard Oil Company of California to drill for oil in his kingdom. Oil wells were constructed in Dhahran in the late 1930s, and by 1939, during and after World War II, production of Saudi oil expanded, with much of the oil being sold to the Allies. Aramco built a pipeline to Bahrain to help increase oil flow in 1945. Between 1939 and 1953, oil revenues from Saudi Arabia increased from $7 million to over $200 million, only sons of Abdul Aziz have, to date, ascended the Saudi throne. The number of children that he fathered is unknown, but it is believed that he had 22 wives and 37 sons, in 1933, he chose his eldest surviving son Saud as his immediate successor. King Saud succeeded to the throne on his fathers death in 1953, Oil provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and a great deal of political leverage in the international community. The sudden wealth from increased production was a mixed blessing, cultural life rapidly developed, primarily in the Hejaz, which was the center for newspapers and radio, but the large influx of foreigners increased the pre-existing propensity for xenophobia. At the same time, the government became increasingly wasteful and lavish, despite the new wealth, extravagant spending led to governmental deficits and foreign borrowing in the 1950s. However, by the early 1960s an intense rivalry between the King and his half-brother, Faisal of Saudi Arabia emerged, fueled by doubts in the family over Sauds competence. As a consequence, Saud was deposed in favor of Faisal in 1964, the mid-1960s saw external pressures generated by Saudi-Egyptian differences over Yemen. When civil war broke out in 1962 between Yemeni royalists and republicans, Egyptian forces entered Yemen to support the new republican government, tensions subsided only after 1967, when Egypt withdrew its troops from Yemen. Saudi forces did not participate in the Six-Day War of June 1967, but the government later provided annual subsidies to Egypt, Jordan, during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia participated in the Arab oil boycott of the United States and Netherlands. A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Saudi Arabia had joined other member countries in moderate oil price increases beginning in 1971, after the 1973 war, the price of oil rose substantially, dramatically increasing Saudi Arabias wealth and political influence. Faisal was assassinated in 1975 by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid, King Khalid succeeded his half-brother King Faisa. It was feared the Al Saud that the countrys Shiite minority in the Eastern Province – might rebel under the influence of their Iranian co-religionists, in fact several anti-government riots took place in the region in 1979 and 1980
12.
Saudi Arabia
–
Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba and it is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four regions, Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud and he united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been a monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners. The states official language is Arabic, petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the worlds largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the second largest oil reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocracy, has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power, in addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. Following the unification of the Hejaz and Nejd kingdoms, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud. Although this is translated as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in English it literally means the Saudi Arab kingdom. Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago
13.
Islam
–
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
14.
Mecca
–
Mecca or Makkah is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also capital of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km inland from Jeddah in a valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although more than triple this number every year during the hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, by majority description Islams holiest site, Mecca was long ruled by Muhammads descendants, the sharifs, acting either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger polities. It was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, during this expansion, Mecca has lost some historical structures and archaeological sites, such as the Ajyad Fortress. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj, as a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Muslim world, despite the fact that non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city. The Saudi government adopted Makkah as the spelling in the 1980s. The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah or Makkatu l-Mukarramah, which means Mecca the Honored, the ancient or early name for the site of Mecca is Bakkah. An Arabic language word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure, the form Bakkah is used for the name Mecca in the Quran in 3,96, while the form Mecca is used in 48,24. In South Arabic, the language in use in the portion of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. Other references to Mecca in the Quran call it Umm al-Qurā, another name of Mecca is Tihamah. Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah, yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, wrote that Fārān was an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah, Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, a municipal council of fourteen locally elected members headed by a mayor appointed by the Saudi government. As of May 2015, the mayor of the city was Dr. Osama bin Fadhel Al-Bar, Mecca is the capital of the Makkah Region, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The provincial governor was prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from 2000 until his death in 2007, on 16 May 2007, prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud was appointed as the new governor. The early history of Mecca is still disputed, as there are no unambiguous references to it in ancient literature prior to the rise of Islam. The Roman Empire took control of part of the Hejaz in 106 AD, ruling cities such as Hegra, even though detailed descriptions were established of Western Arabia by Rome, such as by Procopius, there are no references of a pilgrimage and trading outpost such as Mecca. The first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, claims have been made this could be a reference to the Kaaba in Mecca
15.
Medina
–
Medina, also transliterated as Madīnah, is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also the capital of the Al Madinah Region. The city contains al-Masjid an-Nabawi, which is the place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It served as the base of Islam in its first century where the early Muslim community developed. Medina is home to the three oldest mosques, namely the Quba Mosque, al-Masjid an-Nabawi, and Masjid al-Qiblatayn, Muslims believe that the chronologically final surahs of the Quran were revealed to Muhammad in Medina, and are called Medinan surahs in contrast to the earlier Meccan surahs. Similar to Mecca, non-Muslims are forbidden from entering the core of Medina or the city centre by the national government. The Arabic word al-Madīnah simply means the city, before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib. The word Yathrib has been recorded in Surat al-Ahzab of the Quran, an alternative name is al-Madīnah an-Nabawīyah or al-Madīna-tu an-Nabī. As of 2010, the city of Medina has a population of 1,183,205, in addition to its Arab inhabitants, during the pre-Islamic era Yathrib was inhabited by Jewish tribes. Later the citys name was changed to al-Madīna-tu n-Nabī or al-Madīnatu l-Munawwarah, Medina is celebrated for containing al-Masjid an-Nabawi and also as the city which gave refuge to him and his followers, and so ranks as the second holiest city of Islam, after Mecca. Muhammad was buried in Medina, under the Green Dome, as were the first two Rashidun caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, who were buried next to him in what used to be Muhammads house. Medina is 210 miles north of Mecca and about 120 miles from the Red Sea coast and it is situated in the most fertile part of all the Hejaz territory, the streams of the vicinity tending to converge in this locality. An immense plain extends to the south, in every direction the view is bounded by hills and mountains. The historic city formed an oval, surrounded by a wall,30 to 40 feet high, dating from the 12th century CE. Of its four gates, the Bab-al-Salam, or Egyptian gate, was remarkable for its beauty, beyond the walls of the city, west and south were suburbs consisting of low houses, yards, gardens and plantations. These suburbs also had walls and gates, almost all of the historic city has been demolished in the Saudi era. The rebuilt city is centred on the vastly expanded al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the graves of Fatimah and Hasan, across from the mosque at Jannat al-Baqi, and Abu Bakr, and of Umar, the second caliph, are also here. The mosque dates back to the time of Muhammad, but has been twice reconstructed, because of the Saudi governments religious policy and concern that historic sites could become the focus for idolatry, much of Medinas Islamic physical heritage has been altered. Medinas importance as a religious site derives from the presence of al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the mosque was expanded by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I
16.
Muslim world
–
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, comprising all those who adhere to the religion of Islam, or to societies where Islam is practiced. In a modern sense, these terms refer to countries where Islam is widespread. In the modern era, most of the Muslim world came under influence or colonial domination of European powers. The nation states emerged in the post-colonial era have adopted a variety of political and economic models. As of 2015, over 1.7 billion or about 23. 4% of the population are Muslims including the 4. 4% who live as minorities. Muslim history involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion, the history of Islam began in Arabia with the Islamic prophet Muhammads first recitations of the Quran in the 7th century in the month of Ramadan. However, Islam under the Rashidun Caliphate grew rapidly, a century after the death of last Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Islamic empire extended from Spain in the west to Indus in the east. The Islamic Golden Age coincided with the Middle Ages in the Muslim world, starting with the rise of Islam and establishment of the first Islamic state in 622. The end of the age is given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr, that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine. Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of glaze was prevalent in Islamic art. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters, the first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of fritware, originating from 9th century Iraq, other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat, Damascus and Tabriz. The original concept is derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype Hezār Afsān that relied on particular Indian elements and it reached its final form by the 14th century, the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. All Arabian fantasy tales tend to be called Arabian Nights stories when translated into English, regardless of whether they appear in The Book of One Thousand and this work has been very influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. Imitations were written, especially in France, various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba. A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance is Layla and Majnun and it is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layla and Majnun to an extent
17.
Hajj
–
It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, and Sawm. The Hajj is the largest annual gathering of people in the world, the state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istitaah, and a Muslim who fulfills this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, the word Hajj means to intend a journey, which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th of Dhu al-Hijjah, because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian year, the Gregorian date of Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth and abstain from certain actions. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, Pilgrims can also go to Mecca to perform the rituals at other times of the year. This is sometimes called the lesser pilgrimage, or Umrah, the present pattern of Hajj was established by Muhammad. However, according to the Quran, elements of Hajj trace back to the time of Abraham, according to Islamic tradition, Abraham was ordered by God to leave his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael alone in the desert of ancient Mecca. In search of water, Hagar desperately ran seven times between the two hills of Safa and Marwah but found none, returning in despair to Ishmael, she saw the baby scratching the ground with his leg and a water fountain sprang forth underneath his foot. Later, Abraham was commanded to build the Kaaba and to people to perform pilgrimage there. The Quran refers to incidents in verses 2, 124-127 and 22. It is said that the archangel Gabriel brought the Black Stone from Heaven to be attached to the Kaaba, in pre-Islamic Arabia, a time known as jahiliyyah, the Kaaba became surrounded by pagan idols. In 630 CE, Muhammad led his followers from Medina to Mecca, cleansed the Kaaba by destroying all the pagan idols, in 632 CE, Muhammad performed his only and last pilgrimage with a large number of followers, and instructed them on the rites of Hajj. It was from this point that Hajj became one of the five pillars of Islam. During the medieval times, pilgrims would gather in big cities of Syria, Egypt and this was done in order to protect the caravan from Bedouin robbers or natural hazards, and to ensure that the pilgrims were supplied with the necessary provisions. Muslim travelers like Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta have recorded detailed accounts of Hajj-travels of medieval time, the caravans followed well-established routes called in Arabic darb al-hajj, lit. Pilgrimage road, which usually followed ancient routes such as the Kings Highway, the date of Hajj is determined by the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar year. Every year, the events of Hajj take place in a period, starting on 8 and ending on 12 Dhu al-Hijjah
18.
House of Saud
–
The House of Saud is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. The family has thousands of members, the most influential member of the Royal family is the King of Saudi Arabia, currently King Salman. The succession to the Saudi Arabian throne was designed to pass from one son of the first king, Ibn Saud, to another. The next in line, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef is also from the ruling House of Saud, while the monarchy is hereditary now, future Saudi kings will be chosen by a committee of Saudi princes, in line with a 2006 royal decree. The family is estimated to comprise 15,000 members, but the majority of the power, House of Saud is a translation of Al Saud. The latter is an Arabic dynastic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin, the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. Today, the surname Al Saud is carried by any descendant of Muhammad bin Saud or his three brothers Farhan, Thunayyan, and Mishari. Al Sauds other family branches like Saud al-Kabir, the Al Jiluwi, the Al Thunayan, the Al Mishari, members of the cadet branches hold high and influential positions in government though they are not in line of succession to Saudi throne. Many cadet members intermarry within the Al Saud to reestablish their lineage, the earliest recorded ancestor of the Al Saud was Mani ibn Rabiah Al-Muraydi who settled in Diriyah in 1446–1447 with his clan, the Mrudah. Although the Mrudah are believed to be descended from the Rabiah tribal confederation, Mani was invited by a relative named Ibn Dir. Ibn Dir was the ruler of a set of villages and estates that make up modern-day Riyadh, manis clan had been on a sojourn in east Arabia, near al-Qatif, from an unknown point in time. Ibn Dir handed Mani two estates called al-Mulaybeed and Ghusayba, Mani and his family settled and renamed the region al-Diriyah, after their benefactor Ibn Dir. The Mrudah became rulers of al-Diriyah, which prospered along the banks of Wadi Hanifa, as the clan grew larger, power struggles ensued, with one branch leaving for nearby Dhruma, while another branch left for the town of az-Zubayr in southern Iraq. The Al Migrin became the family among the Mrudah in Diriyah. The name of the clan comes from Sheikh Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin who died in 1725, the First Saudi State was founded in 1744. This period was marked by conquest of neighboring areas and by religious zeal, at its height, the First Saudi State included most of the territory of modern-day Saudi Arabia, and raids by Al Sauds allies and followers reached into Yemen, Oman, Syria, and Iraq. Islamic Scholars, particularly Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and his descendants, are believed to have played a significant role in Saudi rule during this period, the Saudis and their allies referred to themselves during this period as the Muwahhidun or Ahl al-Tawhid. Later they were referred to as the Wahhabis, a group of particularly strict Sunni, leadership of the Al Saud during the time of their first state passed from father to son without incident
19.
Najd
–
Najd or Nejd is the geographical central region of Saudi Arabia in which twenty-eight percent of Saudis live. Najd consists of the regions of Riyadh, al-Qassim, and Hail, Najdis were sometimes referred to in the past as the dominant minority in Saudi Arabia. Unlike Hejaz, Najd is very remote and had largely avoided falling under foreign control, in pre-Islamic times the region of Nejd was settled by many tribes like the Kindites, Tayy and many others. Led by Usma bin Luai the Tayy invaded the mountains of Aja and these mountains are now known as Jabal Shammar. The Tayy became nomadic camel herders and horse breeders in northern Najd for centuries, in the 5th century CE, the tribes of North Arabia became a major threat to the trade line between Yemen and Syria. The Ḥimyarites decided to establish a state that controlled Central. The Kindites gained strength and numbers to play that role, and their first capital was Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil, today known as Qaryat al-Fāw. In the 5th and 6th centuries CE the Kindites made the first real concerted effort to all the tribes of Central Arabia through alliances. Al-Ḥārith ibn Amr, the most famous of their kings, finally succeeded in capturing the Lakhmid capital of al-Ḥirah in southern modern day Iraq, later however in about 529, al-Mundhir recaptured the city and put King Ḥārith and about fifty members of his family to death. In 525 CE, the Aksumites invaded Ḥimyar, and this Kindites, had an effect with the Kindites who lost the support of the Ḥimyarites. Within three years the Kindite kingdom had split into four groups, Asad, Taghlib, Qays and Kinānah and these small principalities were then overthrown in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the Adnānī tribes of Najd and Ḥijāz. In 540 CE, the Lakhmids destroyed all the Kindite settlements in Nejd, the Kindites and most of the Arab tribes switched their alliances to the Lakhmids. During the Islamic Prophet Muhammads era, Muhammad carried out expeditions in the area. The first was the Nejd Caravan Raid against the Quraysh, which place in 624. The Meccans led by Safwan ibn Umayyah, who lived on trade, after Muhammad received intelligence about the Caravans route, Muhammad ordered Zayd ibn Haritha to go after the Caravan, and they successfully raided it and captured 100,000 dirhams worth of booty. The Invasion of Nejd, happened in Rabi‘ Ath-Thani or Jumada Al-Ula,4 A. H i. e. in October,625 AD, Muhammad led his fighters to Nejd to scare off some tribes he believed had suspicious intentions. Some scholars say the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa took place in Nejd as part of this invasion, the most authentic opinion according to Saifur Rahman al Mubararakpuri, however, is that Dhat Ar-Riqa‘ campaign took place after the fall of Khaibar. This is supported by the fact that Abu Hurairah and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari witnessed the battle, Abu Hurairah embraced Islam only some days before Khaibar, and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari came back from Abyssinia and joined Muhammad at Khaibar
20.
Saud of Saudi Arabia
–
Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1964. After a period of tension in Saudi Arabia, he was forced from the throne. Prince Saud was born on 15 January 1902 in Kuwait City, the second son of Ibn Saud, he was born in the home of his grandfather Amir Abdul Rahman. They lived in Sikkat Inazza where the family was staying after their exile from Riyadh, when his father conquered Riyadh in 1902, Saud followed him with his mother and brothers. Prince Saud had one brother, Turki I. and a sister. Their mother was King Abdulazizs second wife Wadhah bint Muhammad bin Hussein Al-Orair, at the age of five years old, he studied under Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Mufaireej. He accompanied his father on his expeditions and, participated in several campaigns during the unification of the Arabian Peninsula. These qualities rendered him admiration from his friends and enemies alike and he also advised him to incline towards and respect of Muslim scholars and keep their company and listen to their advice. The young Saud had then pledged to his father that he would abide by his words. Sauds first political mission was at the age of thirteen, he led a delegation to Qatar, the 1st battle he fought was at on 1915, followed b Yatab battle in the same year, then Trubah battle in 1919. In 1925 he stopped the Almahmal crisis in Makkah, in 1929 he fought to stop the Ikhwan Revolt at Al Sebella. On 11 May 1933, he was appointed Crown Prince by his father, in 1934, King Abdulaziz sent two military expeditions, one of them was led by Crown Prince Saud who regained Najran and advanced secretly through the rugged mountains in the north west part of Yemen. Following the end of the war with Yemen, King Abdulaziz decided to encourage Saud to travel abroad, when a crisis erupted between the neighbouring Persian Gulf States of Bahrain and Qatar, Saud also visited the former during December 1937 in order to help sort out their differences. This was followed by visits to the until the eve of the Second World War. In 1947, Saud visited the United States and met with President Harry S, the Hajj of 1369 AH /1950 AD witnessed the establishment of the Makkah college that was later to be expanded and renamed Umm al-Qura University. The traditional Consultative Council in Makkah, the Majlis-ash-Shura or Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia was expanded on 17 November 1952, earlier, on 19 October 1953, King Abdulaziz had also appointed Crown Prince Saud as a Prime Minister for the first Saudi Cabinet. Before that, he appointed him as a Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, during this period, the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, including the Air Force, were modernised on a large scale with American assistance. On 10 June 1953, Saud with the approval of his father laid the foundation stone for the expansion
21.
Faisal of Saudi Arabia
–
Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the finances and implementing a policy of modernization. His main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian nationalism and he successfully stabilized the kingdoms bureaucracy, and his reign had significant popularity among Saudis. In 1975 he was assassinated by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid, Faisal bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh on 14 April 1906. He is the son of Saudi Arabias former king, King Abdulaziz. His mother was Tarfa bint Abdullah bin Abdullatif Al Sheikh, whom Abdulaziz had married in 1902 after capturing Riyadh and she was from the family of the Al ash-Sheikh, descendants of Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab. Faisals maternal grandfather, Abdullah bin Abdullatif, was one of Abdulazizs principal religious teachers and advisers, Faisal had only one full sister, Nurah. She was married to her cousin, Khalid bin Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, Faisal, like most of his generation, was raised in an atmosphere in which courage was extremely valued and reinforced. He was motivated by his mother to develop the values of tribal leadership, in 1919 the British government invited King Abdulaziz to visit London. He could not go, but sent 14-year-old Prince Faisal, making him the first ever Saudi royal to visit England and his visit lasted for five months, and he met with the British officials. During the same period, he also visited France, again being the first Saudi royal to pay a visit there. As one of King Abdulazizs eldest sons, Prince Faisal was given numerous responsibilities to consolidate control over Arabia, after the capture of Hail and initial control over Asir in 1922, he was sent to these provinces with nearly six thousand fighters. He achieved complete control over Asir at the end of the year, in 1925 Prince Faisal, in command of an army of Saudi loyalists, won a decisive victory in the Hejaz. He and Prince Mohammad were given the responsibility for the Ikhwan, Prince Faisal was appointed viceroy of Hejaz in 1926. He often consulted with local leaders during his tenure, in 1930 Prince Faisal became minister of foreign affairs, a position he continued to hold even as king. Prince Faisal visited Europe several times in this period, including Poland in 1932, upon the accession of Prince Faisals elder brother, King Saud, to the throne in 1953, Prince Faisal was appointed Crown Prince. King Saud embarked on a lavish and ill-considered spending program that included the construction of a royal residence on the outskirts of the capital. He also faced pressure from neighboring Egypt, where Gamal Abdel Nasser had overthrown the monarchy in 1952, Nasser was able to cultivate a group of dissident princes led by Prince Talal, who defected to Egypt
22.
1973 oil crisis
–
The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo occurred in response to United States support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War, by the end of the embargo in March 1974, the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally, US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or shock, with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and it was later called the first oil shock, followed by the 1979 oil crisis, termed the second oil shock. The embargo was a response to American involvement in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, six days after Egypt and Syria launched a surprise military campaign against Israel, the US supplied Israel with arms. In response to this, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil embargo against Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the crisis had a major impact on international relations and created a rift within NATO. Some European nations and Japan sought to disassociate themselves from United States foreign policy in the Middle East to avoid being targeted by the boycott, Arab oil producers linked any future policy changes to peace between the belligerents. To address this, the Nixon Administration began multilateral negotiations with the combatants and they arranged for Israel to pull back from the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. By January 18,1974, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had negotiated an Israeli troop withdrawal from parts of the Sinai Peninsula, the promise of a negotiated settlement between Israel and Syria was enough to convince Arab oil producers to lift the embargo in March 1974. The embargo occurred at a time of rising petroleum consumption by industrialized countries and coincided with an increase in oil imports by the worlds largest oil consumer. In the aftermath, targeted countries initiated a variety of policies to contain their future dependency. The 1973 oil price shock, with the accompanying 1973–74 stock market crash, was regarded as the first discrete event since the Great Depression to have a persistent effect on the US economy, the embargos success demonstrated Saudi Arabias diplomatic and economic power. It was the largest oil exporter and a politically and religiously conservative kingdom, in 1970, US oil production started to decline, exacerbating the embargos impact. Following this, Nixon named James E. Akins as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia to audit US production capacity, the confidential results were alarming—no spare capacity was available and production could only decrease. The oil embargo had little effect on supply, according to Akins. OPEC was organized to resist pressure by the Seven Sisters to reduce oil prices, at first, OPEC operated as an informal bargaining unit for resource-rich third-world countries. OPEC confined its activities to gaining a share of the profits generated by oil companies. In the early 1970s it began to exert economic and political strength, on August 15,1971, the United States unilaterally pulled out of the Bretton Woods Accord. The US abandoned the Gold Exchange Standard whereby the value of the dollar had been pegged to the price of gold and all other currencies were pegged to the dollar, shortly thereafter, Britain followed, floating the pound sterling
23.
Khalid of Saudi Arabia
–
Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1982. His reign saw both huge developments in the due to increase in oil revenues and significant events in the Middle East. Khalid was born in Riyadh on 13 February 1913 and he was the fifth son of King Abdulaziz. His mother, Al Jawhara bint Musaed Al Jiluwi, was from the important Al Jiluwi clan whose members intermarried with Al Sauds, Khalid had one full-brother, Prince Muhammad. His full sister, Al Anoud, married to the sons of Saad bin Abdul Rahman and she first married Saud bin Saad. After Saud died, she married Fahd bin Saad, aged 14, Khalid bin Abdulaziz was sent by King Abdulaziz as his representative to the desert tribes to hear their concerns and problems. In 1932, Prince Khalid was named as viceroy of the Hejaz, replacing Prince Faisal in the post, Prince Khalids term as viceroy of Hejaz lasted until 1934. Prince Khalid joined the Saudi army led by his older brother Prince Faisal, after the war, Prince Khalid served as the chairman of the Saudi delegation at the Taif Conference with Yemen in 1934. This was a move that led to the Taif Treaty later that year. Then he was named minister in 1934 and was the Saudi representative at the peace negotiations. In 1939, he participated in the St. James Conference on Palestine in London as an assistant to Prince Faisal, Prince Khalids preparation for ruling a modern state started through his visits with Prince Faisal on foreign missions, representing Saudi Arabia at the United Nations. Prince Khalid served as advisor of him, Prince Khalid became an international figure as a result of his visits and service as Saudi representative. He was more liberal in informing the press about the rationale behind foreign policy decisions, in September 1943, Prince Faisal and Prince Khalid were invited to the United States, and then-Vice President Harry Truman organized a dinner for them at the White House. They also met the US President Franklin Roosevelt and they stayed at the official government guest house, Blair House, during their visit and visited the West Coast by a special train that was officially provided by the US government. A foreign diplomat described Prince Khalid during this period as probably nicest man in Saudi Arabia, in 1962, Prince Khalid was appointed deputy prime minister, indicating his prominence in the line of succession. The group was led by Prince Mohammed, Prince Khalid and Prince Abdullah, Khalid bin Abdulaziz was named Crown Prince in 1965 to succeed King Faisal after Khalids older full-brother Prince Muhammad declined a place in the succession. Prince Khalid was also appointed first deputy premier and his main task was to govern all organisational and executive powers of the Council of Ministers. He also dealt with the affairs of the Governorate of Mecca on behalf of King Faisal, Crown Prince Khalid was not active in daily issues, but acted as a representative during King Faisals absences in meetings or ceremonies
24.
Grand Mosque seizure
–
The Grand Mosque seizure occurred during November and December 1979 when extremist insurgents calling for the overthrow of the House of Saud took over Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The insurgents declared that the Mahdi had arrived in the form of one of their leaders – Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani –, for nearly two weeks, Saudi Special Forces assisted by Pakistani and French commandos fought pitched battles to reclaim the compound. The siege ended two weeks after the takeover began and the mosque was cleared, following the attack, the Saudi state implemented a stricter enforcement of Islamic code. The seizure was led by Juhayman al-Otaybi, a member of a family in Najd. He declared his brother-in-law Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani to be the Mahdi, or redeemer, who arrives on earth several years before Judgement Day. The date of the attack,20 November 1979, was the first day of the year 1400 according to the Islamic calendar, al-Otaybi was from one of the foremost families of Najd. His grandfather had ridden with Ibn Saud in the decades of the century. He was a preacher, a corporal in the Saudi National Guard. Juhayman had turned against al-Baaz, and began advocating a return to the ways of Islam, among other things. He proclaimed that the ruling Al-Saud dynasty had lost its legitimacy because it was corrupt, al-Otaybi and Qahtani had met while being imprisoned together for sedition, when al-Otaybi claimed to have a vision sent by God telling him that Qahtani was the Mahdi. Their declared goal was to institute a theocracy in preparation for the imminent apocalypse and they differed from the original Ikhwan and other earlier Wahhabi purists in that they were millenarians, they rejected the monarchy and they condemned the Wahhabi ulama. Many of their followers were drawn from students at the Islamic University in Medina. The followers preached their radical message in different mosques in Saudi Arabia without being arrested, the government was reluctant to confront religious extremists. Even after the seizure of the Grand Mosque, a level of forbearance by ulama for the rebels remained. When the government asked for a fatwa allowing armed force in the Grand Mosque, the scholars did not declare al-Otaibi and his followers non-Muslims, despite their violation of the sanctity of the Grand Mosque, but only termed them al-jamaah al-musallahah. The senior scholars also insisted that security forces attack them. Because of donations from followers, the group was well-armed and trained. Some members, like al-Otaybi, were military officials of the National Guard
25.
Fahd of Saudi Arabia
–
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, was King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005. One of 45 sons of Saudi founder Ibn Saud, and the fourth of his six sons who have ruled the Kingdom, Fahd ascended to the throne on the death of his half-brother, King Khalid, on 13 June 1982. Fahd was appointed Crown Prince when Khalid succeeded his half-brother King Faisal, Fahd was viewed as the de facto Prime Minister during King Khalids reign in part due to the latters ill health. Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, after which he was unable to continue performing his full official duties. His half-brother, Abdullah, the countrys Crown Prince, served as de facto regent of the kingdom, King Fahd is credited for having introduced the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia in 1992. Fahd bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh in 1921 and he is the eighth son of Ibn Saud. His mother was Hassa Al Sudairi and he was the eldest member of the Sudairi Seven, Fahds education took place at the Princes School in Riyadh, a school established by Ibn Saud specifically for the education of members of the House of Saud. He received education for four years as a result of his mothers urging, while at the Princes School, Fahd studied under tutors including Sheikh Abdul-Ghani Khayat. He then went on to education at the Religious Knowledge Institute in Mecca. Prince Fahd was made a member of the advisory board at his mothers urging. In 1945, Prince Fahd traveled on his first state visit to San Francisco for the signing of the UN charter, on this trip he served under his brother, Prince Faisal, who was at the time Saudi Arabias foreign minister. In 1953, Fahd led his first official visit, attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the House of Saud. On 24 December 1953, Prince Fahd was appointed education minister, Prince Fahd led the Saudi delegation to the League of Arab States in 1959, signifying his increasing prominence in the House of Saud—and that he was being groomed for a more significant role. In 1962, Fahd was given the important post of interior minister, as interior minister he headed the Saudi delegation at a meeting of Arab Heads of State in Egypt in 1965. He was named deputy prime minister in 1967, which was created for the first time by King Faisal. After the death of King Faisal in 1975, Fahd was named first deputy prime minister, although Prince Fahd had two elder brothers, Prince Nasser and Prince Saad, who had prior claims to the throne, both were considered unsuitable candidates. By contrast, Prince Fahd had served as minister of education from 1954 to 1960, when King Khalid died on 13 June 1982, Fahd succeeded to the throne. He was the king of Saudi Arabia
26.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
27.
Gulf War
–
The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
28.
Terrorism
–
Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. It is classified as fourth-generation warfare and as a violent crime, in modern times, terrorism is considered a major threat to society and therefore illegal under anti-terrorism laws in most jurisdictions. It is also considered a war crime under the laws of war when used to target non-combatants, such as civilians, neutral military personnel, a broad array of political organizations have practiced terrorism to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political organizations, nationalist groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments, there is no universally agreed upon definition of the term, and many definitions exist. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, more than 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism, Terrorism comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French government during the 1793–1794 Reign of Terror. The French word terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terrere meaning to frighten, the Jacobins, coming to power in France in 1792, are said to have initiated the Reign of Terror. After the Jacobins lost power, the word terrorist became a term of abuse, although terrorism originally referred to acts committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a terrorist, Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group Peoples Retribution in 1869. It is a form of state-terrorism, the concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel. The definition of terrorism has proven controversial, various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism in their national legislation. Moreover, the community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term terrorism is politically and emotionally charged, in this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated, The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. The international community has adopted a series of conventions that define. U. S. Bruce Hoffman, a scholar, has noted, experts and other long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. Four years and a second later, Schmid was no closer to the goal of his quest. Walter Laqueur despaired of defining terrorism in both editions of his work on the subject, maintaining that it is neither possible to do so nor worthwhile to make the attempt. Hoffman believes it is possible to some key characteristics of terrorism. A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C, such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization
29.
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
–
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from 2005 to his death in 2015. He ascended to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, Abdullah, like Fahd, was one of the many sons of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. Abdullah held important political posts throughout most of his adult life, in 1961 he became mayor of Mecca, his first public office. The following year, he was appointed commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and he also served as deputy defense minister and was named crown prince when Fahd took the throne in 1982. After King Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, Abdullah became the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia until ascending the throne a decade later. During his reign he maintained relations with United States and United Kingdom. He also gave women the right to vote for municipal councils, furthermore, Abdullah maintained the status quo when there were waves of protest in the kingdom during the Arab Spring. In November 2013, a BBC report claimed that, due to the relations it had with Pakistan. The King outlived two of his crown princes, conservative Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was named heir to the throne on the death of Sultan bin Abdulaziz in October 2011, but Nayef himself died in June 2012. Abdullah then named 76-year-old defense minister, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, according to various reports, Abdullah married up to 30 times, and had more than 35 children. The king had a fortune estimated at US$18 billion, making him the third wealthiest head of state in the world. He died on 23 January 2015, at the age of 90, Abdullah is said to have been born on 1 August 1924 in Riyadh. However, some state that this date is incorrect. He was the son of King Abdulaziz. His mother, Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim, was a member of the Al Rashid dynasty and she was descended from the powerful Shammar tribe – and was the daughter of former tribe chief, Asi Shuraim. She died when Abdullah was six years old, madawi Al-Rasheed argues that his maternal roots and his earlier experience of a speech impediment led to delay in his rise to higher status among the other sons of King Abdulaziz. In 1963, Abdullah was made commander of Saudi National Guard and this post allowed him to secure his position in the House of Saud. SANG, which had based on the Ikhwan, became a modern armed force under his command
30.
Salman of Saudi Arabia
–
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is King of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and head of the House of Saud. He served as the Deputy Governor and then the Governor of Riyadh for 48 years from 1963 to 2011 and he was then appointed as Minister of Defence. He was also named the Crown Prince in 2012 following the death of his brother Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Salman was crowned as the new King of Saudi Arabia on 23 January 2015 following the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah. Salman was born on 31 December 1935, and is reported to be the 25th son of Ibn Saud, Salman and his six brothers make up what is referred to as the Sudairi Seven. He was raised in the Murabba Palace, Salman received his early education at the Princes School in the capital city of Riyadh, a school established by Ibn Saud specifically to provide education for his children. He studied religion and modern science, Salman was first appointed as deputy governor of Riyadh Province in 1954 when he was 19 years old and held the post until 1955. He was appointed governor of Riyadh Province on 4 February 1963 and his tenure lasted for forty-eight years from 1963 to 2011. As governor, he contributed to the development of Riyadh from a town into a major urban metropolis. He served as an important liaison to attract tourism, capital projects and he favored political and economic relationships with the West. During his governorship, Salman recruited advisors from King Saud University, during Salmans five decades as Riyadh governor, he became adept at managing the delicate balance of clerical, tribal, and princely interests that determine Saudi policy. In January 2011, he ordered the arrest of Riyadh beggars who try to take advantage of the generosity of people, all foreign beggars were deported and Saudi beggars were placed in a rehabilitation program by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Salman also undertook several tours during his reign. In 1974, he visited Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar to strengthen Saudi Arabias relationship with the nations, during his visit to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991, he inaugurated a gallery. In 1996, he was received in the Élysée Palace in Paris by the then-French president Jacques Chirac, the same year he toured Bosnia and Herzegovina to give donations to the Muslim citizens of the country. Being a part of an Asian tour in 1998, Salman visited Pakistan, Japan, Brunei, under Salman, Riyadh became one of the richest cities in the Middle East and an important place for trade and commerce. There were also infrastructural advances including schools, universities and sports stadiums, about the province, he said Every village or town in the Riyadh Region is dear to me, and holds a special place in my heart. I witnessed every step taken by the city of Riyadh, Prince Salman was also named as a member of the National Security Council on the same day. It is speculated that his placement in the line of succession occurred due to his qualities
31.
Arabian Peninsula
–
The Arabian Peninsula, simplified Arabia is a peninsula of Western Asia situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian plate. From a geological perspective, it is considered a subcontinent of Asia and it is the largest peninsula in the world, at 3,237,500 km2. The Arabian Peninsula consists of the countries Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Middle East and the Arab world due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Before the modern era, it was divided into four regions, Hejaz, Najd, Southern Arabia. Hejaz and Najd make up most of Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia consists of Yemen and some parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Eastern Arabia consists of the coastal strip of the Persian Gulf. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges, harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria. The peninsulas constituent countries are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula. Six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council, however, this is a disputed term. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the live in Saudi Arabia. The peninsula contains the worlds largest reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a peninsula in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, though historically lightly populated, political Arabia is noted for a high population growth rate - as the result of both very strong inflows of migrant labor as well as sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be young and heavily skewed gender ratio dominated by males. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry, the four smallest states, which have their entire coastlines on the Persian Gulf, exhibit the worlds most extreme population growth, roughly tripling every 20 years. In 2014, the population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936. Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Arabia Haplogroup J is the most abundant component in the Arabian peninsula and its two main subclades, show opposite latitudinal gradients in the Middle East
32.
Archaeology
–
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
33.
Dilmun
–
Dilmun, or Telmun, was an ancient Semitic-speaking country mentioned throughout the history of Mesopotamia from the 3rd millennium BC onwards. It is regarded as one of the oldest civilizations in the Middle East, based on textual evidence, it is located in the Persian Gulf on a trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation, close to the sea and to artesian springs. Dilmun was an important trading centre, at the height of its power, it controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. According to some theories, the Sumerians regarded Dilmun as a sacred place. Dilmun was mentioned by the Mesopotamians as a partner, a source of copper. The scholarly consensus is that Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and this area is certainly what is meant by references to Dilmun among the lands conquered by King Sargon of Akkad and his descendants. It is often stated that the Sumerians described Dilmun as a garden paradise in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sumerian tale of the paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story. However, that is modern speculation since the home of Utnapishtim is never indicated as Dilmun. Dilmun was an important trading center from the fourth millennium to 800 BC. At the height of its power, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes, Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium. Dilmuns commercial power began to decline between 1000 BC and 800 BC because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf, in 600 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later the Persian Empire, ruled Dilmun. The Dilmun civilization is mentioned first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna. The adjective Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official, one of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash found in a door-socket, The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands. Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II recovered from Nippur, during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon and these letters were from a provincial official, Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur. The names referred to are Akkadian and these letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun, there are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun. One of the sites discovered in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked northeast Arabia
34.
Thamud
–
The Thamūd is the name of an ancient civilization in the Hejaz known from the 1st millennium BC to near the time of Muhammad. The Thamud civilization was located in the north of the peninsula, although they are thought to have originated in Southern Arabia, Arabic tradition has them moving north to settle on the slopes of Mount Athlab near Madain Saleh. Numerous Thamudic rock writings and pictures have found on Mount Ath-lab. The oldest known reference to Thamud is a 715 BC inscription of the Assyrian king Sargon II and they were living here much earlier, well before Abraham when we compare the family tree of Prophets, as their Ancestors were Iram and Ars. They are referred to as ‘Tamudaei’ in the writings of Aristo of Chios, Ptolemy, like the ʿĀd, the Qur’an mentions the Thamud in Surah Al-Araf in the context of several prophets who warned their people of coming judgment. The verses advise Thamud to take warning from the destruction of ʿĀd, to the Thamud people their brother Salih. Worship Allah, you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord and this is the she-camel of God sent to you as a Sign. So leave her to eat within Gods land, and do not touch her with harm, and remember when He made you successors after ʿAd and settled you in the land, and you take for yourselves palaces from its plains and carve from the mountains, homes. Then remember the favors of God and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption. ”This verse suggests some kind of relationship between ʿĀd and Thamud, and ʿĀd may even have been a part of Thamuds history and culture. Just as Nuhs people were seen as the ancestors of ʿĀd, the ʿĀad were a people living in southern Arabia. Some remains of the Thamud were found in the region where the ʿĀd had lived, especially around the region where capital city of the Hadramites, the descendants of ʿĀd, stood. ”So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home fallen prone. In Surah Al-Qamar it says “Indeed, we sent upon them one shriek and this can be illustrated by what happened among the nations. When the royal authority of ʿĀd was wiped out, their brethren and they were succeeded, in turn, by their brethren, the Amalekites. The Amalekites were succeeded by their brethren, the Himyar, the Himyar were succeeded by their brethren, the Tubbas, who belonged to the Himyar. They, likewise, were succeeded, by the Adhwa.130 Then, the Yemen, al-Bahrayn, ‘Oman, and the Jazirah have long been in Arab possession, but for thousands of years, the rule of these areas has belonged to different nations in succession. They also founded cities and towns and promoted the development of sedentary culture, among such nations were the ‘Ad and the Thamud, the Amalekites and the Himyar after them, the Tubba‘s, and the other South Arabian rulers. There was a period of royal authority and sedentary culture
35.
Hejaz
–
The Hejaz, also Al-Hijaz, is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. The region is so called as it separates the land of the Najd in the east from the land of Tihamah in the west and it is also known as the Western Province. It is bordered on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by Jordan, on the east by the Najd and its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. As the site of Islams holiest places, the Hejaz has significance in the Arab, historically, the Hejaz has always seen itself as separate from the rest of Saudi Arabia. The Hejaz is the most populated region in Saudi Arabia,35 % of all Saudis live in Hejaz, hejazi Arabic is the most widely spoken dialect in the region. Saudi Hejazis are of diverse origins. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula, people of Hejaz have the most strongly articulated identity of any regional grouping in Saudi Arabia. Their place of origin alienates them from the Saudi state, which invokes different narratives of the history of the Arabian Peninsula, thus, Hejazis experienced tensions with people of Najd. One or possibly two megalithic dolmen have been found in Al-Hijaz, the Hejaz includes both the Mahd adh-Dhahab and a water source, now dried out, that used to flow 600 miles north east to the Persian Gulf via the Wadi Al-Rummah and Wadi Al-Batin system. Archaeological research led by of Boston University and the University of Qassim indicates that the system was active in 8000 BCE. The northern part of the Hejaz was part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, Saudi Arabias first World Heritage Site that was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is that of Al-Hjir. The name Al-Hijr occurs in the Qur’an, and the site is known for having structures carved into rocks, construction of the structures is credited to the people of Thamud. Despite their rather Polytheistic nature, a member of folk was a Monotheistic preacher called Salih. After the disappearance of Thamud from Mada’in Saleh, it came under the influence of people, such as the Nabataeans. Later, it would lie in a used by Muslim Pilgrims going to Mecca. According to Islamic sources, the civilization of Mecca started after Ibrahim brought his son Isma‘il and wife Hajar here and it was during such an occasion that Muhammad met some Medinans who would allow him to migrate to Medina, to escape persecution by his opponents in Mecca. Given that he had followers and enemies here, a number of battles or expeditions were carried out in this area. They involved both Meccan companions, such as Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib, Ubaydah ibn al-Harith and Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, the Hijaz fell under Muhammads influence as he emerged victorious over his opponents, and was thus a part of his empire
36.
Kindah
–
Kindah is the name of a tribal kingdom by the Kindah tribe, the tribes existence dates back to the second century BCE. Their first capital was Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil, today known as Qaryat al-Fāw, the Kindites were polytheistic until the 6th century CE, with evidence of rituals dedicated to the idols Athtar and Kāhil found in their ancient capital in south-central Arabia. Ancient South Arabian inscriptions mention a tribe settling in Najd called kdt, who had a king called rbˁt from ḏw ṯwr-m and they played a major role in the Himyarite-Ḥaḑramite war. Following the Himyarite victory, a branch of Kindah established themselves in the Marib region, the first Classical author to mention Kindah was the Byzantine ambassador Nonnosos, who was sent by the Emperor Justinian I to the area in the middle of the 6th century. He refers to the people in Greek as Khindynoi, and mentions that they and he calls the king of Kindah Kaïsos, the nephew of Arethas. When some of the Kindites returned to Yemen in the 4th century CE, the Ḥimyarites were at the height of their power, having annexed Ḥaḑramawt, the last rival South Arabian kingdom. The Kindites had historic feuds with the tribes of the southern Wadi. From this point on, some Arab historians consider Kindah to have part of the Ḥimyarite tribal federation. In the 5th century CE, the tribes of North Arabia became a threat to the trade line between Yemen and Syria. The Ḥimyarites decided to establish a state that controlled Central. The Kindites gained strength and numbers to play that role, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE the Kindites made the fist real concerted effort to unite all the tribes of Central Arabia through alliances, and focused on wars with the Lakhmids. Al-Ḥārith ibn Amr, the most famous of their kings, finally succeeded in capturing the Lakhmid capital of al-Ḥirah in southern modern day Iraq, later however in about 529, al-Mundhir recaptured the city and put King Ḥārith and about fifty members of the royal family to death. In 525 CE, the Aksumites invaded Ḥimyar, and this Kindites, had an effect with the Kindites who lost the support of the Ḥimyarites. Within three years the Kindite kingdom had split into four groups, Asad, Taghlib, Qays and Kinānah and these small principalities were then overthrown in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the Adnānī tribes of Najd and Ḥijāz. Among the most famous Kindites is Imru al-Qays, who was not only a son of one of the last Kindite kings, but also the most prominent pre-Islamic Arab poet. It was during Al-Qais time, in 540 CE, that the Lakhmids destroyed all the Kindite settlements in Nejd, the Kindites and most of the Arab tribes switched their alliances to the Lakhmids. The Kindites converted to Judaism following the conversion of the kings in the late 5th century CE. However, Kindite Judaism was weakened by the rise of the Christian Aksumites in Yemen around 525 CE, today, most people of Kindite ancestry live in Yemen, Oman, Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates
37.
History of Islam
–
The history of Islam concerns the political, economic, social, and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization. Despite concerns about reliability of sources, most historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca. A century later, the Islamic empire extended from Iberia in the west to the Indus river in the east, polities such as those ruled by the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, and Mamluks were among the most influential powers in the world. The Islamic civilization gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable astronomers, mathematicians, during the 19th and early 20th centuries most parts of the Muslim world fell under influence or direct control of European Great Powers. Their efforts to win independence and build modern nation states over the course of the last two centuries continue to reverberate to the present day, the following timeline can serve as a rough visual guide to the most important polities in the Islamic world prior to the First World War. It covers major historical centers of power and culture, including Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Levant, Egypt, Maghreb, al-Andalus, Transoxania, Hindustan, dates are approximate, consult particular articles for details. The study of the earliest periods in Islamic history is difficult by a lack of sources. For example, the most important historiographical source for the origins of Islam is the work of al-Tabari, while al-Tabari was an excellent historian by the standards of his time and place, use of his work as a source is problematic for two reasons. For one, his style of historical writing permitted liberal use of mythical, legendary, stereotyped, distorted, Second, al-Tabaris descriptions of the beginning of Islam post-date the events by a large amount of time, al-Tabari having died in 923 CE. Differing views about how to deal with the sources has led to the development of four different approaches to the history of early Islam. All four methods have some level of support today, the descriptive method uses the outlines of Islamic traditions, while being adjusted for the stories of miracles and faith-centred claims within those sources. Edward Gibbon and Gustav Weil represent some of the first historians following the descriptive method, on the source critical method, a comparison of all the sources is sought in order to identify which informants to the sources are weak and thereby distinguish spurious material. The work of William Montgomery Watt and that of Wilferd Madelung are two source critical examples, on the tradition critical method, the sources are believed to be based on oral traditions with unclear origins and transmission history, and so are treated very cautiously. Ignaz Goldziher was the pioneer of the critical method. The skeptical method doubts nearly all of the material in the traditional sources, an early example of the skeptical method was the work of John Wansbrough. Nowadays, the popularity of the different methods employed varies on the scope of the works under consideration, for overview treatments of the history of early Islam, the descriptive approach is more popular. For scholars who look at the beginnings of Islam in depth, after the 8th century CE, the quality of sources improves. For the time prior to the beginning of Islam—in the 6th century CE—sources are superior as well, Islam arose within the context of Late Antiquity
38.
Muhammad
–
Muhammad is the prophet of Islam. From a secular historical perspective he was a religious, political, from an Islamic perspective, he was Gods Messenger sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is viewed as the prophet of God in all branches of Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, born approximately 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad gained few early followers, and met hostility from some Meccan tribes, to escape persecution, Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, in Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts, the attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill, before his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. The revelations, which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the Word of God and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammads teachings and practices, found in the Hadith and sira literature, are upheld by Muslims. The name Muhammad means praiseworthy and appears four times in the Quran, Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address, thus he is referred to as the enwrapped in Quran 73,1 and the shrouded in Quran 74,1. In Sura Al-Ahzab 33,40 God singles out Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets, the Quran also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad more praiseworthy. The name Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, begins with the kunya Abū, the Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, the Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammads chronological biography, most Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context. An important source may be found in the works by writers of the 2nd. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which additional information about Muhammads life. The earliest surviving written sira is Ibn Ishaqs Life of Gods Messenger written c.767 CE, although the work was lost, this sira was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early history source is the history of Muhammads campaigns by al-Waqidi, many scholars accept the earliest biographies as accurate, though their accuracy is unascertainable
39.
Hegira
–
The Hegira or Hijrah is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him to Medina, in the year 622. In June 622, after being warned of a plot to him, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib,320 km north of Mecca. Yathrib was soon renamed Madīnat an-Nabī, but an-Nabī was soon dropped, so its name is Medina, the Hijrah is also often identified erroneously with the start of the Islamic calendar, which was set to Julian 16 July 622. Muhammad himself did not join this emigration, in that year, his followers fled Meccas leading tribe, the Quraysh, who sent emissaries to Ethiopia to bring them back to the Arabian Peninsula. However, the Negus refused to send them back, in Mecca, at the pilgrimage season of 620, Muhammad met six men of the Banu Khazraj from Medina, propounded to them the doctrines of Islam, and recited portions of the Quran. Impressed by this, the six embraced Islam, and at the Pilgrimage of 621 and this is known as the First Pledge of al-Aqaba. At their request, Muhammad sent with them Mus‘ab ibn Umair to teach them the instructions of Islam, biographers have recorded the considerable success of Musab ibn Umair in preaching the message of Islam and bringing people under the umbrella of Islam in Medina. They invited him to come to Medina as an arbitrator to reconcile among the hostile tribes and this is known as the second pledge at al-Aqabah, and was a politico-religious success that paved the way for his and his followers immigration to Medina. Following the pledges, Muhammad encouraged his followers to migrate to Medina, during the early seventh century, Medina was inhabited by two types of population, Jewish and pagan Arabs. The Jews there had three principal clans – Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza, the Arab pagans had two tribes – the Banu Aws and Khazraj. At that time, the Jews there had the hand with their large settlement. Traditional rules for maintaining law and order became dysfunctional, and, without a man with considerable authority over things. As the pagan Arabs of Medina lived in proximity to the Jews, they had gained some knowledge about their scriptures. According to Muslims tradition, after receiving divine direction to depart Mecca, Muhammad began taking preparation, on the night of his departure, Muhammads house was besieged by men of the Quraysh who planned to kill him in the morning. Soon, Muhammad joined Abu Bakr, left the city, next morning, the besiegers were frustrated to find Ali on Muhammads bed. Fooled and thwarted by Muhammads plan, they rummaged the city in search for him, and some of them reached the threshold of the cave. When the Quraysh came to know of Muhammads escape, they announced heavy reward for bringing Muhammad back to them, unable to resist this temptation, pursuers scattered in all directions. After staying for three days, Muhammad and Abu Bakr resumed their journey and were pursued by Suraqa bin Malik, but each time he neared Muhammads party, his horse stumbled and he finally abandoned his desire of capturing Muhammad
40.
Tribes of Arabia
–
The tribes of Arabia are the clans that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. Much of the lineage provided before Maad relies on biblical genealogy, the general consensus among 14th century Arabic genealogists is that Arabs are of three kinds, Perishing Arabs are ancient tribes of whose history little is known. They include ‘Aad, Thamud, Tasm, Jadis, Imlaq, Jadis and Tasm perished because of genocide. Aad and Thamud perished because of their decadence, as recorded in the Quran, archaeologists have recently uncovered inscriptions that contain references to Iram, which was a major city of the Aad. Imlaq is the form of Amaleeq and is probably synonymous to the biblical Amalek. According to tradition, Pure Arabs were from Yemen and were descendants of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan who may have either descended from Ishmael or from Eber. They were also called Qahtanite Arabs, according to tradition, Arabized Arabs originated from the progeny of Ishmael the first born son of the patriarch Abraham and the Jurhum tribe, also called ‘Adnani Arabs. According to modern historians, the distinction between Adnanites and Qahtanites lacks evidence and may have developed out of the later faction-fighting during the Umayyad period. Below is a partial list of the tribes of Arabia, The dwelling places and wanderings of the Arabian tribes, by Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, in German Arab tribes in Iraq Arabs of Khuzestan
41.
Spread of Islam
–
Trading played an important role in the spread of Islam in several parts of the world, notably southeast Asia. Islamic expansion in South and East Asia fostered cosmopolitan and eclectic Muslim cultures in the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. As of January 2011, there were 1.62 billion Muslims, with one out of five people in the world being Muslim, the Islamic religion is still the second most populous religion as of 2016. The expansion of the Arab Empire in the first centuries after Muhammads death soon established Muslim dynasties in North Africa, West Africa, to the Middle East, and Somalia. For the subjects of this new empire, formerly subjects of the greatly reduced Byzantine, the objective of the conquests was more than anything of a practical nature, as fertile land and water were scarce in the Arabian peninsula. A real Islamization therefore only came about in the subsequent centuries, Islam was introduced in Somalia in the 7th century when the Muslim Arabs fled from the persecution of the Pagan Quraysh tribe. When the Muslims defeated the Pagans, some returned to Arabia, the local Somalis adopted the Islamic faith well before the faith even took root in its place of origin. Conversion initially was neither required nor necessarily wished for, did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples, at the outset, they were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs. Only in subsequent centuries, with the development of the doctrine of Islam and with that the understanding of the Muslim ummah. The caliphs of the Arab dynasty established the first schools inside the empire which taught Arabic language, at the end of the Umayyad period, less than 10% of the people in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain were Muslim. Only on the Arabian peninsula was the proportion of Muslims among the higher than this. Expansion ceased and the disciplines of Islamic philosophy, theology, law and mysticism became more widespread. These initial conversions were of a flexible nature, the reasons why, by the end of the 10th century, a large part of the population had converted to Islam are diverse. According to British-Lebanese historian Albert Hourani, one of the reasons may be that Islam had become clearly defined. Muslims now lived within a system of ritual, doctrine. The status of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians was more precisely defined and they were regarded as the People of the Book, those who possessed a revealed scripture, or People of the Covenant, with whom compacts of protection had been made. In general they were not forced to convert, but they suffered from restrictions and they paid a special tax, they were not supposed to wear certain colors, they could not marry Muslim women. It should be pointed out that most of these laws were elaborations of basic laws concerning non-Muslims in the Quran, Albert Hourani points towards interwoven terms of political and economic benefits and of a sophisticated culture and religion as appealing to the masses
42.
Abu Bakr
–
Abū Bakr ‘Abdallāh bin Abī Quḥāfah aṣ-Ṣiddīq popularly known as Abu Bakr, was a senior companion and—through his daughter Aisha—the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Abu Bakr became the first openly declared Muslim outside Muhammads family, Abu Bakr served as a trusted advisor to Muhammad. During Muhammads lifetime, he was involved in campaigns and treaties. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632 to 634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammads death, as caliph, Abu Bakr succeeded to the political and administrative functions previously exercised by Muhammad. He was commonly known as The Truthful, Abu Bakrs reign lasted for 2 years,2 months and 14 days ending with his death after an illness. Abu Bakrs full name was Abd Allah ibn Uthman ibn Aamir ibn Amr ibn Kaab ibn Saad ibn Taym ibn Murrah ibn Kaab ibn Luai ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr al-Quraishi, the lineage of Abu Bakr joined that of Muhammad in the eighth degree in their common ancestor Murrah ibn Kab. The patrilineal lineage of Abu Bakr was, Abu Bakr, the son of Uthman Abu Quhafa, the son of Amar, the son of Umru, the son of Kaab, the son of Saad, the son of Taym, the son of Murrah. In Arabic, the name Abd Allah means servant of Allah, one of his early titles, preceding his conversion to Islam, was atiqe, the saved one. Muhammad later reaffirmed this title when he said that Abu Bakr is the atiqe and he was called Al-Siddiq by Muhammad after he believed him in the event of Isra and Miraj when other people didnt, and Ali confirmed that title several times. There is a dispute over his name being Abdullah,4, p.146 and many other narrations, narrates from Qasim Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr, I asked Ayesha the name of Abu Bakr. I said people are saying Ateeq and she said Abu Quhafa had three children, one was Ateeq, second Mu’taq and third, Otaiq. All three names are similar and derived from the same root, Imam Jafar al Sadiq famously narrated how the title Siddiq was given to Abu Bakr from Muhammad. Jafar was a descendant of Abu Bakr from his maternal side. Jafar al-Sadiq was also the successor of the Naqshbandi Sufi order believed to be originating from Abu Bakr himself, Imam Muhammad al Baqir, the father of Imam Jafar Sadiq, also called Abu Bakr with the title Siddiq. Much of the knowledge about Muhammad comes through Abu Bakrs daughter. After the death of Abu Bakr, her brother Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was raised by Ali, after Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was killed by the Umayyads, Aisha raised and taught her nephew al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. Aisha also taught another nephew Urwah ibn Zubayr and he then taught his son Hisham ibn Urwah, who was the main teacher of Malik ibn Anas whose views many Sunni follow. Qasims mother was of ‘Alis family and his daughter Farwah bint al-Qasim, therefore al-Qasim was the grandson of the first caliph Abu Bakr and the grandfather of Jafar al-Sadiq
43.
Caliphate
–
A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph
44.
Ridda wars
–
The Ridda wars, also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr against rebel Arabian tribes during 632 and 633 AD, just after Muhammad died. The rebels position was that they had submitted to Muhammad as the prophet of God, some rebels followed either Tulayha or Musaylima or Sajjah, all of whom claimed prophethood. Most of the tribes were defeated and reintegrated into the Caliphate, the peoples surrounding Mecca did not revolt. A detailed reconstruction of the events is complicated by the frequently contradictory, in about the middle of May 632, Muhammad, now ailing, ordered a large expedition to be prepared against the Byzantine empire in order to avenge the martyrs of battle of Mutah. 3000 Muslims were to join it, Usama ibn Zaid, a young man and son of Zayd ibn Harithah who was killed in the battle at Mutah, was appointed as commander of this force so he could avenge the death of his father. However, Muhammad died in June 632 and Abu Bakr was elected as the Caliph by a group called the Ansar. On the first day of his caliphate, Abu Bakr ordered the army of Usama to prepare for march, Abu Bakr was under great pressure regarding this expedition due to rising rebellion and apostasy across Arabia, but he was determined. Before his march, Usama sent Umar to Caliph Abu Bakr and is reported to have said, Go to the Caliph, all the leaders of the community are with me. If we go, none will be left to prevent the infidels from tearing Medina to pieces and he was moved to this decision at least partially by his desire to carry out the unfulfilled military plan of Muhammad. On June 26,632 the army of Usama broke camp, after leaving Medina, Usama had marched to Tabuk. Most of the tribes in this region opposed him fiercely but were defeated by Abu Bakrs army, Usama raided far and wide in the region of Northern Arabia, starting with the Quzaa, and then made his way to Dawmatu l-Jandal. As a direct result of his operations, several rebel tribes resubmitted to Madinian rule, the Quzaa remained rebellious and unrepentant, however Amr ibn al-As later attacked them and forced them to surrender again. Usama next marched to Mutah, attacked the Christian Arabs of the tribes of Banu Kalb and Ghassanids in a small battle. Then he returned to Medina, bringing him a large number of captives. The Islamic army remained out of Medina for 40 days, the concentrations of rebels nearest Madinah were located in two areas, Abraq,72 miles north-east of Madinah, and Dhu Qissa,24 miles east of Madinah. These concentrations consisted of the tribes of Banu Ghatafan, the Hawazin, Abu Bakr sent envoys to all the enemy tribes, calling upon them to remain loyal to Islam and continue to pay their Zakat. A week or two after the departure of the Islamic army under Usama, the rebel tribes surrounded Madinah, meanwhile, Tulayha, a self-proclaimed prophet, reinforced the rebels at Dhu Qissa. In the third week of July 632, the army moved from Dhu Qissa to Dhu Hussa
45.
Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
46.
Umar
–
Umar, also spelled Omar, was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. He was a senior Sahabi of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and he succeeded Abu Bakr as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert Islamic jurist known for his pious and just nature and he is sometimes referred to as Umar I by historians of Islam, since a later Umayyad caliph, Umar II, also bore that name. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded at a rate, ruling the Sasanian Empire and more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire. His attacks against the Sasanian Empire resulted in the conquest of Persia in less than two years, according to Jewish tradition, Umar set aside the Christian ban on Jews and allowed them into Jerusalem and to worship. Umar is revered in the Sunni tradition as a ruler and paragon of Islamic virtues. He is viewed adversely in Shia Islam, Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitration among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was Hantama bint Hisham and he is said to have belonged to a middle-class family. In his youth he used to tend to his fathers camels in the plains near Mecca and his merchant father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. Umar himself said, My father, Al-Khattab was a ruthless man and he used to make me work hard, if I didnt work he used to beat me and he used to work me to exhaustion. Despite literacy being uncommon in pre-Islamic Arabia, Umar learned to read, though not a poet himself, he developed a love for poetry and literature. According to the tradition of Quraish, while still in his years, Umar learned martial arts. He was tall, physically powerful and a renowned wrestler and he was also a gifted orator who succeeded his father as an arbitrator among the tribes. Umar became a merchant and made journeys to Rome and Persia. As a merchant he was unsuccessful, like others around him, Umar was fond of drinking in his pre-Islamic days. In 610 Muhammad started preaching the message of Islam, like many others in Mecca, Umar opposed Islam and he even threatened to kill Muhammad. He resolved to defend the traditional religion of Arabia. He was adamant and cruel in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in persecuting Muslims and he firmly believed in the unity of the Quraish and saw the new faith of Islam as a cause of division and discord
Saudi Arabia portal
