On January 23, 2015, the world's oldest current monarch in the world, King of Saudi Arabia, who ruled since 2005, Abdullah ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, died of a lung infection in Riyadh on January 23, 2015.
The king's approximate age was 91, he had three dozen wives and more than forty children.
One State
The very name of this largest state on the Arabian Peninsula comes from the ruling dynasty in the country. The ancestors of the Saudis have been known since the 15th century, and from the middle of the 18th they began to fight for the creation of a single state. In this struggle, they relied on various currents of Islam, including Wahhabism. The Saudis, in order to achieve victory, entered into agreements with foreign states, including with Great Britain and the United States, as was already the case in the 20th century.
Before Saudi Arabia acquired the current state and political structure, there were two unsuccessful attempts to form the kingdom of the Saudis: in 1744 under the leadership of Mohammad ibn Saud and in 1818, when he became the ruler of the Arabian landsTurki ibn Adallah ibn Muhammad ibn Saud, and later his son Faisal. But by the end of the 19th century, the Saudis were expelled from Riyadh to Kuwait by representatives of another powerful family, the Rashidi.
Founder of the royal dynasty
At the beginning of the new - the twentieth - century, among the Saudis, who wanted to create a single Arabian state under their rule, a young man appeared, whom weapons and military sciences attracted more than religious treatises or the subtleties of Eastern philosophy. His name was Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdu-Rahman ibn Faisal Al Saud, or simply Ibn Saud, the first king of Saudi Arabia.
Starting from one of the provinces - Najd - relying on the teachings of "pure" Islam, making the basis of his army the Bedouins, whom he taught to settle down, relying on English support at the right time, using the technical and scientific achievements of the new century - radio, cars, aviation, telephone communications - in 1932 Abdul Aziz became the head of the mighty Islamic state he founded. Since then, representatives of the same family have been at the head of Saudi Arabia in turn: Ibn Saud and his six sons.
Center of the Islamic World
Among the magnificent epithets that are awarded to the autocratic ruler of the Saudi Kingdom, there is one of the most significant names in the Muslim world - "Keeper of the two shrines." The King of Saudi Arabia owns the two main cities for devout Muslims - Mecca and Medina, which are the main shrines of Islam.
It is towards Mecca that they turn their eyes whenMuslim daily prayers. In the center of Mecca is the Main, Protected, Great Mosque - Al-Haram, in the courtyard of which is the Kaaba - the "sacred house" - a cubic building with a Black stone built into one of its corners, which was sent by Allah to the prophet Adam, and which the prophet touched Mohammed. These shrines are the main goal that the pilgrim on the Hajj aspires to.
Medina is the city where the second most important mosque for Muslims is located - Masjid al-Nabawi - the Mosque of the Prophet, under the green dome of which is the burial place of Mohammed.
The King of Saudi Arabia, among other things, is a person who is responsible for the safety of Muslim shrines, for the life and safety of huge masses of people - those who perform the Hajj.
Son of the eighth wife
The founder of Saudi Arabia - Abdulaziz ibn Saud - was a true eastern ruler: numerous wives, of which there were several dozen, bore him 45 sons-heirs. The eighth wife of Ibn Saud was Fahda bint Aziz Ashura, whom he took as his wife after the Saudis killed her first husband - the worst enemy of Abdul Aziz - the ruler of one of the Arabian emirates named Saud Rashidi. It was she who was born King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died in January 2015 and left a noticeable mark on the history of the monarchy.
When in 1982 Abdullah was to be declared crown prince by right of precedence, his half-brother Fahd, who ascended the throne, thought for a long time: all the Al Sauds who took the throne were bornone, beloved wife of Ibn Saud - Khusa from the Sudeiri clan. Yet Abdullah, who is of a different family on his mother - Shamar - became king, and he became the de facto ruler long before the official coronation (2005): he became prime minister in 1995, when Fahd retired, becoming disabled after a stroke.
If I were a Sultan…
Life in an Islamic state at all levels looks unusual for a European. It is hard to imagine a European leader who has been married 30 times like King Abdullah.
Saudi Arabia is a country that lives according to Sharia law, and a man cannot have more than 4 wives in his house, this is how the family life of the king of Saudis was organized. Abdullah is a father of many children, in total he had about four dozen children, of which 15 sons.
Abdallah's childhood passed among the Bedouins, which influenced the monarch's hobbies - until recently he spent a lot of time in Morocco, where he was engaged in falconry, and his stable of racehorses was known throughout the world.
Basic of We alth
To anyone who sees today the capital of the SA - Riyadh - or at least photos showing the inside of the plane of the king of Saudi Arabia, it will be difficult to imagine that at the time of its formation in 1932, Saudi Arabia belonged to the poorest countries in the world. In the late 1930s, colossal reserves of oil and gas were discovered on the Arabian Peninsula. The development and development of fields were given to American oil companies, which at first took a lot ofpart of the profit. Gradually, control over oil production passed to the state, that is, the royal family, and petrodollars became the basis of the we alth of the Saudi kingdom.
The Saudis play a major role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which controls about two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. The influence of the Saudi monarchs on the formation of prices for hydrocarbons determines their importance in world politics. It has changed throughout the 20th century, but has steadily increased.
Reformer King
It is impossible to imagine the possibility of drastic changes in foreign policy and the internal structure of a country where an autocratic monarch is in power, where you can pay with your head for criticizing government decisions, where there is no legislative body: laws are royal decrees. All the more curious is the glory of the king-reformer, which was awarded to King Abdullah. Saudi Arabia experienced some relaxation under him - both in the severity of Eastern etiquette, and in the traditional Islamic harsh attitude towards women.
One of the first decrees of the 6th king of the Saudis canceled the ceremony of kissing the royal hand, replacing it with a more democratic handshake. The most important decision for Abdullah was the prohibition of members of the royal family from using state treasury funds for personal needs.
The real revolution was the establishment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology near the city of Jeddah, where girls and boys are allowed to study together. No less sensational was the appointment of a woman to a public post: Nora bint (bandage is an analogy for a male bin - “son”)Abdullah bin Musaid Al-Faiz became Deputy Minister for Girls' Affairs. The admission of women to certain types of municipal elections has made the image of the Saudi king even more attractive to supporters of democratic reforms. The allocation of funds for study abroad significant funds has made the CA even more open to the world.
The daughter of King Abdullah - Princess Adilla - has become the face of a conservative system of government. The Minister of Education's wife, a beautiful, self-confident woman, is seen by many as a symbol of renewal, although there is no talk of a radical revision of the female role in Islam.
Traditions are unshakable
After all, the main thing for the ruling family in the kingdom is the sanctity and immutability of traditions based on the observance of Sharia norms.
Corporal punishment of women for "improper behavior" or frivolity in dress, amputation of a hand for theft, severe punishment for divination as "witchcraft", etc. is a common practice in the life of Saudi society.
The ostentatious luxury surrounding the royal throne of the Saudis belongs to such traditions. From a technical point of view, the personal plane of the King of Saudi Arabia is the most reliable aircraft of the late 20th century, but the interior decoration looks like a fairy-tale palace of the Sultan from the fairy tales of the Thousand and One Nights.
And this applies to the numerous villas, yachts and cars owned by the royal family.
One of the we althiest monarchs
It is almost impossible to accurately calculate the personal fortune of a monarch, especially in a country as closed to foreigners as Saudi Arabia. Figures from 30 to 65 billion dollars are called. In any case, this is not a poor person, even if you take into account the number of members of the royal family. There is someone to spend petrodollars there - the wives of the king of Saudi Arabia make up an impressive harem, although formally the Koran forbids having more than four. We have to actively use the institution of divorce, which in the East is devoid of unnecessary formalism.
Family matters
Today's world is a continuous exchange of information at many different levels. At the end of 2013, an interview appeared in British newspapers, which was made by the daughter of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Princess Sahara. It claimed that she and her three sisters had been under house arrest for 13 years by their father.
Newspapers and news portals published stories about the mores of the royal harems. The mother of the Sahara, the ex-wife of the king of Saudi Arabia, was also involved in them. The photo of Al-Anud Daham Al-Bakhit Al-Faiz, who at the age of 15 became the wife of Abdullah, and ten years later was deprived of her daughters and expelled after a divorce, added drama.
This scandal forced to pay special attention to the problem of discrimination against women in the Muslim world. Articles about the terrible inequality between men and women in Saudi society flooded the print andelectronic media. Photographs of the king of Saudi Arabia's plane, a symbol of the medieval style of government based on unbridled luxury, were especially popular.
But it turned out not to be so simple, the world is still multifaceted. Another wave came up. Activists of Islamic organizations, among whom there were many women, with no less passion accused journalists and politicians of trying to impose their morality on a society that they do not honor with self-sufficiency. The protest against the aggressive imposition of Western lifestyles seemed just as sincere and justified.
The king is dead, long live the king
Today on the throne in Riyadh, Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is the seventh king of Saudi Arabia. The photos of the new ruler do not differ much in the eyes of a European from those taken during the life of King Abdullah.
The history of the Saudi state continues.
