Islamic leaders, their biographies and accomplishments. Saul Silas Fathi

by both political upheaval and social uprisings. The situation deteriorated further as his successor, Abd al-Aziz ibn Mitaab, ruthlessly suppressed the uprising. Despite the volatile situation at home, the new Rashidi ruler – supported by the Ottomans – launched an unprovoked attack on Kuwait, which was still then a British protectorate, in 1900. But thanks to the British, the Rashidi ruler’s attempt to annex Kuwait failed miserably. Indeed, Ibn Mitaab’s attack on Kuwait backfired in a spectacular fashion, as Shaykh al-Mubarak al-Saba, the ruler of Kuwait, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Faisal, the father of Ibn Saud, now united to fight and drive out the Rashidis from Arabia. Leading a ten thousand strong force, the two men attacked the Rashidi forces with great success. During this period the twenty-two year old Ibn Saud spearheaded the attack on Riyadh, his native city.

      In the ensuing battle, the city’s governor was slain by Abdullah ibn Jelawi, Ibn Said’s cousin, and they inflicted a crushing defeat on their enemy. The fall of Riyadh marked the beginning of the end for the Rashidis, as the House of Saud swiftly reasserted its authority across the country under the able stewardship of Ibn Saud and his father. Thereafter, Ibn Saud urged the local clerics and the people of Riyadh to pledge allegiance to his father, Abd al-Rahman ibn Faisal, as their new sovereign; the people responded to his call and pledged their allegiance to him. Later, Ibn Saud’s popularity and standing with the masses prompted his father to abdicate in favor of his son, who accordingly became the King.

      With Riyadh now firmly in his grip, Ibn Saud was eager to extend his rule across the rest of Arabia, but he knew that would not be an easy task given that the Rashidis were in full control in Najd. Thus, over the next five decades, he married more than a dozen times, fathering around forty sons and fifty daughters. He knew that forming alliances through multiple marriages not only helped to extend his family ties, it also strengthened his political powerbase. In 1912, he established a special fighting force which came to be known as the Ikhwan (the ‘Brotherhood’). The members of this force were loyal supporters of the House of Saud and strict adherents of Islam as interpreted by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

      With the support of the Ikhwan troops, Ibn Saud first conquered the wealthy region of Hasa (situated on the coast of the Persian Gulf) and then went on to smash the Rashidis of Najd in 1921. Five years later, he ousted the Hashimites from the Hijaz, thus extending his rule and authority over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina which brought him much-needed revenue for his fledgling administration from the visiting pilgrims. Not keen on pursuing endless military conquests, Ibn Saud swiftly disbanded the Ikhwan and focused his full attention on improving the economic fortunes of his new kingdom. He established a Council of Ministers to oversee the affairs of the State, and appointed close members of his family to key positions within the Government. Thus his two eldest sons, Saud and Faisal, were offered high-ranking Government posts in the province of Najd and Hijaz. During this period he also enforce the Shari’ah (Islamic law) across the State and in due course this became the supreme law of the land.

      Then,in 1930, Ibn Saud established a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and appointed his second son, Faisal, as Foreign Minister and he played a key role in establishing diplomatic relations with some of the world’s leading powers, including the United States of America. Two years later, the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was officially announced. This was followed, in the mid-1930s, by the discovery of the world’s largest oil reserves beneath the barren deserts of Arabia. By the 1940s, Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic relations with the powerful industrial Western nations (especially the United States) was formalized. The special US-Saudi relationship was formalized by Ibn Saud and President Roosevelt during their meeting onboard the US naval ship USS Quincy in 1945. Thanks to the new petrodollars, the once backward and poverty-stricken desert kingdom suddenly became one of the world’s most prosperous countries.

      Ibn Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, eventually died at the age of seventy-three and was buried in his native Riyadh. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud, who ruled the kingdom for eleven years before abdicating in favor of his younger brother, Faisal. Like his father, Faisal was a wise and able ruler, but he was assassinated in 1975. Khalid, Ibn Saud’s fourth son, then ascended the Saudi throne and ruled for seven years until his death in 1982. He was succeeded by Fahd who ruled the kingdom until his death in 2005. Abdullah, his half-brother, then succeeded him as King.

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Abd al-Majid or Abdulmecit (1823-1861): Ottoman sultan (1839-1861), son and successor Mahmud II to the throne of the Ottoman Empire. The rebellion of Muhammad Ali was checked by the intervention (1840-41) of England, Russia, and Austria. Abd al-Majid was influenced by the British ambassador, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, who helped persuade the sultan to introduce Western reforms. Two decrees (1839, 1856) led to many changes but did not have permanent effect. Confident in British and French support, Abd al-Majid resisted (1853) the Russian claim to act as protector of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. This was a primary cause of the Crimean War. Turkey received no concrete gains at the Congress of Paris (1856; see Paris, Congress of). The sultan was succeeded by his brother, Abd al-Aziz. Ottoman sultan; modernizer of the army through “Tanzimat”.

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Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (646-705): After Muawiyah’s death in 680, his son, Yazid, ascended the Umayyad throne, but he failed to live up to his father’s expectations. His heavy-handed tactics backfired in a spectacular fashion after the grisly murder of Hussain at the plain of Karbala. After three years of political chaos and mismanagement, Yazid was succeeded by his twenty-one year old son, Muawiyah ibn Yazid, who, unlike his father, was a sickly but peace-loving young man who abdicated within months of his accession. This led to more political chaos and uncertainty, as there was no obvious candidate to succeed him. After much political infighting and wrangling, the veteran politician Marwan ibn Hakam, who served as governor of Medina for a long period, was sworn in as the fourth Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty.

      Thus Abdullah ibn Zubair, the son of the renowned Zubair ibn Awwam, assumed control of the entire Hijaz, while Mu’sab ibn Zubair proclaimed himself the administrator of Iraq on behalf of his brother. By contrast, Marwan ibn Hakam, the newly appointed Umayyad Caliph, found himself in charge of only southern Syria. He then proceeded to Egypt and brought this important country under Umayyad control. However, he was succeeded in 685 by his son, Abd al-Malik, who went on to become one of the Umayyad dynasty’s most successful rulers, along with Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.

      Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn Hakam was born in Medina during the early years of Caliph Uthman’s reign. His father, Marwan ibn Hakam, was an influential member of the Umayyah clan. When Caliph Uthman was brutally murdered by a group of insurgents in 656, Abd al-Malik was still in his early teens. When the supporters of Abdullah ibn Zubair drove out the Umayyads from Mecca and Medina, Abd al-Malik, who was in his mid-thirties at the time, moved with his entire family to Syria where he became his father’s chief political advisor after the latter’s ascension to the Umayyad throne in 684. A year later, he succeeded his father as the Umayyad Caliph in 685; he was in his early forties at the time.

      The Byzantines threatened to invade the Umayyad territories at the same time. In short, Abd al-Malik could not have ascended the Umayyad throne at a more dangerous and challenging time. After signing a peace treaty with the Byzantines and agreeing to pay them an annual tribute, he reorganized and expanded his armed forces in order to crush all political and military opposition against his rule in the Hijaz, Iraq and the neighboring territories. His failure to reassert his authority in Iraq prompted Abd al-Malik to change his political and military strategy, and he decided to consolidate his position in Syria and Egypt, and patiently wait to deal with his opponents at the right moment. For the next five years, he took no action against the rebels in Iraq.

      Now there were only two main contenders for the Caliphate, namely Abdullah in Mecca and Abd al-Malik in Damascus. Like Hussain ibn Ali, Abdullah rebelled against the Umayyads soon after the death of Muawiyah in 680, having flatly refused to acknowledge Yazid as Caliph. Although Hussain was brutally murdered by Yazid’s forces at Karbala, Abdullah continued his opposition against Yazid and his successors, and in so doing established his authority across Hijaz and parts of Iraq.

      Sensing Abdullah’s vulnerability, Abd al-Malik personally led a military expedition