King Abdul Aziz - Essay Example

King Abdul Aziz During the era of terrorism and destruction all around the world, an extraordinary man came forth in the world as a flag carrier of peace. Due to his persistent and untiring efforts to bring about peace and harmony in the world deserves recognition and praise. Undaunted and un-afraid of the squabbling that had going on between the Muslims and the Christians, this brave man went on to inspire his fellow Muslims and even the people of other religions that harmony and settlement of issues with dialogue is the best way to solve them and to understand each other’s views much easily. This person was the founder of the present day Saudi Arabia, named as King Abdul Aziz Ibn Al Saud. King Abdul Aziz was born in the city of Riyadh, to the family of King Abdul Rehman. He was brought up under the strict and inflexible vision of his father. His father was so concerned about the teaching of Islam to his son a group of contemporary religious scholars came to teach him the fundamentals of Islam. With the passage of time, he started to show his great array of amazing talents and qualities, which included courage, horsemanship, leadership qualities and perceptiveness. He showed his interest in the situation and atmosphere around him, and also the historical events of great significance. When King Abdul Aziz was barely 12 years old, he traveled to the country of Kuwait along with his father in the year 1891. He spent a long duration of 10 years, and it was there where he acquired great abilities such as that of leadership and statesmanship. So, as a result of the qualities and understanding that he had gathered from his elders and teachers, he resolved to restore the rule of his forefathers, no matter what problems come in the way. A start of new era could be witnessed as King Abdul Aziz left Kuwait and went to his hometown Riyadh, leading an army of 60 soldiers. In the future, this small force of army consequently turned out to be the one that overpowered the big force by the will of Allah. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman in true words wrote the history and fate of the Saudia Arabia. He used to the powers that no one could think of, as the powers that King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman used were not worldly materials. These powers included the unifying and awakening of the religious faith among his fellow Muslims, deft, comprehensive politics, and the best of all a courageous and inspiring character for everyone to look at, at the time of sorrow and despair. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman brought back and restored the rule of his forefathers from a situation that was virtually considered to be completely destroyed and a situation of political extinction in the country. He did this be re-introducing the real image of Islam and inspiring the people by the teachings of the Great Religion. He started to build to Saudi state and he did that in three major stages. These stages include the recapturing of Najd in 1905, invading over the Shammar clan at Hail in the year 1921, and finally the conquering of Hijaz fours year later in 1924. During the era of birth of King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman, the area of Central Arabia had been victimized to the issues of complete political disaster and disintegration, and the King Al Saud was forced to fight for his rule with the governers of the land of Havil, known as the al-Rashids. That fight and long lasting conflicts between the two ruling groups led King Al-Saud to evacuate and move his family from the city of Riyadh in the year 1891. The capture of the city of Najd by the Rashids was of quite pain and grief for King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman along with his parents equally. Najd had great significance in the history of Saudi state as it had been the capital of the earlier as well as the second Saudi state. And thus its capture by the al-Rashids was really a matter of concern for King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman and his father and this inspired him work for the restatement of his patrimony, and to recover the rule of his forefathers in the Central Arabia. So for this purpose, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman acted in the way same as that of the leaderd of various tribes had acted for various centuries. So King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman went from Kuwait in the year 1901, with the determination to re-establish their rule in all the areas that had been conquered from their rule and moreover to protect the sancity of the cities of Makkah and Madina. In the early period of 1901, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman became the member of a raid that was led by Sheikh Mubarak from Kuwait to into the territory of Rashids and he took the advantage of the opportunity to recapture the city of Riyadh. He inundated the main building and captured the city under his control for period of approximately two and a half months before diminishing. After this, he immediately started to plan further steps necessary for an offensive attack on the al-Rashids. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman took the benefit of the opportunity that a major number of men of al-Rashid’s were utilized in the counter attack against the army of Kuwait, and so he led a daring army in the year 1902. During the initial stages he was just along with 40 soldiers, which also included his family members. He gained quite a number of followers as he made his way towards the conquering of his areas, and this at the eve of 5th Shawwal, the King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman was accompanied by 63 men. He traveled at nights and away from the main caravan to avoid any kind of detection, at last he reached the city which was protected by a large hostile force, and he recaptured the city with just 40 men in the year 1902. He was warmly welcomed in the recaptured city of Riyadh, where later that day he led a prayer in the mosque. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd al-Rehman was totally aware of the importance of the capture on Riyadh, so he started repairing and strengthening the city walls. He later then, with the passage of time strengthened his army more and more and recaptures the whole are of his fathers once again. With the Saudi rule, re-established with the same ancient capital, he went on to make the country the present day Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. List of References Burdett, Anita L. P. King Abdul Aziz: Diplomacy and Statecraft, 1902-1953. Slough: Archive Editions, 1998. Print. Farsy, Fouad. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz. Guernsey, Channel Islands: Knight Communications, 2001. Print. His Majesty King Abdul Aziz Project for the Extension and Construction of Haram Sharif: Documents, Data, Statements and Engineering Drawings of the Project Issued During the Reign of His Majesty King Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz. Riyadh: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Finance and National Economy, 1980. Print. ?Abd, al-?Azi?z. King Abdul Aziz: Political Correspondence 1904-1953. Slough: Archive Editions, 1997. Print. Al-Harithi, Sa?id K. A.-O. King Abdul Aziz: An International Perspective. Riyadh: al-Qimam Multimedia, 2004. Print. Read More