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The First Saudi State was established in the
year 1744 (1157 A.H.) when Sheikh Muhammad ibn
Abd al Wahhab settled in Diriyah and Prince Muhammad ibn Saud (of Diriyah) agreed
to support and espouse Wahhab's cause, with a view of cleansing the
Islamic faith from what is considered to be distortions of Islamic
practice (see Wahhabism).
House of
Saud
The House of
Saud and its allies rose to become the dominant state in
Arabia, first subduing Nejd, then extending their influence over
the eastern coast from Kuwait
down to the borders of Oman. The
Saudis also brought the highlands of 'Asir under their suzerainty, and their
Wahhabi forces conducted raids on the frontiers of Iraq and Syria,
culminating in the sacking of the Shi'a holy city of Karbala in 1801.
In 1802 Saudi forces brought the region of Hejaz under their control, capturing the two holy
cities of Mecca and Medina. This was a massive blow
to the prestige of the Ottoman Empire, which had exercised
sovereignty over the holy cities since 1517, and the lethargic Ottomans were finally moved to
action. The task of destroying the Wahhabis was given by the
Ottomans to their powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali
Pasha. This started the Ottoman-Saudi
war, in which Muhammad Ali sent his troops to the Hejaz by sea
and recaptured it. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, then led Ottoman forces
into the heart of Nejd, capturing town after town, and allowing his
troops to pillage recalcitrant villages mercilessly in events that
are remembered in Nejd to this day. 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 Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab to Egypt and the Ottoman capital,
Istanbul,and ordered the systematic destruction of Diriyah, whose
ruins have remained virtually untouched ever since. The last Saudi
Imam, Abdullah bin Saud was later executed in the
Ottoman
capital, and his severed head was thrown into the waters of the
Bosphorus. Thus, what
later became known as the First Saudi State came to an end, but
both the Wahhabi movement and the Al Saud clan lived
on to found a Second Saudi State that lasted until
1891, and later a third state, Saudi Arabia, which continues to the
present day.
Rulers of the first Saudi
state
Notes
- ^
"Imam" in this context means the political leader of an Islamic
community, not the leader of the congregational prayer.
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References
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