King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz - Report Example

KING FAISAL BIN ABDULAZIZ King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz This paper reviews the life of King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz and theperiod which he was the king of Saudi Arabia. The first part of the book is the introduction which introduces King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz as one of the greatest kings that Saudi Arabia had ever had. The introduction part also reveals his achievements which include: modernization; improvement of the education system; good international relations; and properly balanced nation budget. At the background information the paper tells more about his root; childhood life; and pre-kingship experience. Discussion which is the paper’s main body discusses King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz’s way of leadership and the most important decisions that he made during his kingship. This part of the paper also discusses the various outcomes of the decisions that King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz made while he was the king of Saudi Arabia. It is also in this paper that the various challenges and shortcomings of his leadership are discussed. The final part of the paper is the conclusion. The paper concludes that King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz’s regime was full of many challenges, but was still one of the most memorable regimes in Saudi Arabia. Introduction Leadership is a phenomenon that has been studied and reviewed severally by scholars. Different perspectives have however been brought forth. The performance of leaders varies depending on their traits and the leadership styles the adopt. However, it is possible for leaders to adopt a similar style, but lead differently due to their characteristics and perceptions. It is for this reason that King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz has been seen differently due his perception of leadership. He was the Saudi Arabian King for the period between 1964 and 1975. Just as many other kings, his role was great. As a king, Faisal Bin Abdulaziz is remembered for having played a very important role in the revival of the country’s finances. He instrumentally influenced a number of issues that have remained relevant to date, as a result, biographers and scholars document him as one of the most popular Kings of Saudi Arabia ever. In fact, his period of kingship is the most popular among the people of Saudi Arabia. This is because he was able to successfully stabilize the Kingdom’s bureaucracy, bringing an end to a system that had proved to be highly ineffective and giving hope to the kingdom. One of the most significant contributions of King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz is introducing reforms and policies of modernization to the kingdom. King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz was also popular for his foreign policy with themes such as pan-Islamism, pro-Palestinian nationalism, and anti-Communism. These themes were able to enhance the kingdom’s foreign relations. Background information Faisal Bin Abdulaziz was born in the year 1906. He was the King Abdulaziz’s fourth son and lost his mother at the tender age of six months. Despite growing up without his mother Faisal Bin Abdulaziz was brought up in a religious environment. He received legal education from his paternal grandmother whose name was Sheikh Latif Al-Sheikh Abdul. He also acquired administrative and social education from his paternal father. As one of the eldest sons of his father, Faisal had often been trusted with a number of responsibilities. When he was sent with about six thousand fighter to Asir he was able to achieve full control of the place in the same year. He was also the person who was in charge when an army of Saudi loyalists had a significant victory in the Hejaz. At some point he and his brother, Price Mohammed were put in charge of Ikhwan. In the year 1926 he was appointed as the viceroy of Hejaz. Discussion Right after being crowned as the king of Saudi Arabia, Faisal made it clear to the people of Saudi Arabia that he was not some majesty but a servant to them. This was seen in the speech he gave on the day that he was given the throne. In the speech he begged the people of Saudi Arabia to see him as a brother and servant. The speech showed the level to which Saudi Arabia had gotten themselves a humble leader. All his predecessors had used royalty tittles "His Royal Highness" which was required by the Saudi civil service. However, as the king Faisal made it clear that he was not comfortable being referred to in such a big tittle. King Faisal was quotes saying that "I beg of you, brothers, to look upon me as both brother and servant.’Majesty is reserved to God alone and the throne is the throne of the Heavens and Earth." To him he thought that not human being had the right of being referred to as majesty. At the beginning or his reign as a King Faisal faced opposition from the people of Saudi Arabia. The main reason behind this kind of opposition was the reforms that he introduced in the kingdom. For instance, he was the one who introduced girl schools and televisions to the kingdom. Members of Saudi and the royal family opposed such reforms because they considered them to be in contrast to the Islam religion. As for the girl schools there was opposition because the opposing party believed that there was nothing like gender equality. Prior to his reign only boys were taken to schools. Girls were expected to stay in their homes and learn how to take care of the household chores from the women. Therefore, when Faisal first introduced girl school many people were of the opinion that he was going against the rules of the Islamic religion. Often people would ask who would perform the household if girls were to go to school and perform the same duties that men did. At the beginning of his reign, King Faisal considered financial restoration to be one of his greatest goals. It is notable that during his Regime King Faisal devoted much of his efforts to financial, economic, agricultural and industrial advancements. The agricultural projects initiated by King Faisal include the Sands Project in Al Ahsa and Irrigation and Drainage Project. Both projects were in the eastern part of the kingdom. The other agricultural projects initiated by King Faisal include: Haradh Agricultural Project, the Aforestation Project, the Abha Dam Project in the South, the Agricultural Credit Bank, and the Animal Resources Project (Sabri, 2001). During his leadership there was a significant increase in the total area of land that was under agriculture. His leadership also encouraged the increase in search for alternative sources of water. King Faisal also established the General Corporation for Petroleum and Minerals which was entrusted with the responsibility of searching for minerals all over the kingdom. At the time when Faisal was taking over as a king, the kingdom’s finances were messed up with the budget not being balanced. One of the notable things that King did with regard to managing the kingdom’s finances is reducing the royal family’s expenditure. With this he was aiming at nurturing a culture of careful expenditure. To do so he had to lead by example and he did it perfectly. He was able to increase the kingdom’s involvement in industrial activities. Given the fact that the kingdom highly depended on oil, mining King Faisal was able to increase the quantity of oil mined in the country. Sales of the mined oil were enhanced by the international relations policy that he had put in place. One thing that Saudi Arabia will always be grateful for is the level of modernization that was brought about by King Faisal’s Regime. When he took over as the king he gave an executive order that all the princes of Saudi Arabia had to School their children within the kingdom. This was after realizing that the princes were sending their children abroad to get education. This was strategically aimed at making sure that people developed trust of the Kingdom’s education system. If people see that the children of the princes of Saudi Arabia were taking their children to the local schools, then even the upper class families will have no problem taking their children to the local schools. There were also a number of other improvements in the kingdom’s education system during King Faisal’s regime. Many people have the opinion that King Faisal was able to expand both general and higher education in Saudi Arabia. There was a notable increase in the number of students that were accorded university and postgraduate scholarships in the kingdom. Students at all level who had financial problem were offered financial assistance. Apart from financial assistance the government also made sure that learning materials such as books were availed in all the schools in the kingdom. King Faisal was also responsible for the introduction of the system of administrative regions that is currently used in the Saudi Arabia. This is believed to have formed the foundation for the modern welfare system used in Saudi Arabia. It was also during his leadership that a provincial System and a municipal system were introduced in Saudi Arabia. These improvements were influential in changing that manner in which administration took place in the kingdom. There was more accountability due to the devolution of responsibilities. There was also inclusion of all the parts of the kingdom in administration through these systems. To King Faisal this made it easier in ruling the kingdom since some of the responsibilities were given to the leaders who were in charge of the provinces and the municipalities. A formal disciplinary system was also introduced to deal with the people who did not adhere to the rules and regulation. This helped in enhancing stability and reducing crime rates in the kingdom. The course of bringing modernization to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not an easy path for King Faisal. Given that the citizens of the kingdom were Muslims, many of his modernization initiatives were highly opposed. The interesting thing is that he faced opposition even from member of his own extended family. An example of a modernization program that was highly opposed was the live television broadcast that was introduced in the year 1965. Only one year after the establishment of live television broadcasting in the kingdom headquarters of Saudi television was attacked by one of King Faisal’s nephews who happened to be the brother to his eventual assassin (Hariri-Rifai & Hariri-Rifai, 1990). During this incident the nephew was killed by security officers. It is believed that this incident must have played a very big role in King Faisal’s assassination. However, this incident did not stop King Faisal from pursuing modernization. King Faisal made sure that as much as he pursued modernization his policies were always made in accordance to the Muslim doctrine. One thing that is notable during the reign of King Faisal was that he encouraged religious inclusiveness in Saudi Arabia. Most analysts have the opinion that King Faisal had the pluralist. This was seen is that manner in which he favored inclusive reforms. However, due to the nature of the kingdom he had to be very cautious in accommodating inclusive reforms. Another way through which his push for inclusion could be seen his continuous attempt to introduce a broad political representation in the kingdom. Through policies such as national integration policy King Faisal was able to take into consideration the fact that the kingdom had both cultural and religious diversity. The sad thing is that the national integration policy only enjoyed temporal success which was from 1965 to 1975. Unfortunately for King Faisal he was not able to kick discrimination out of the kingdom. During his reign there was discrimination on the basis of tribe, gender, and sect. This form of discrimination persists in Saudi Arabia until today. The Ulema played a very important role in King Faisal’s rise to the kingdom’s prime throne. However, their authority and role highly declined after Faisal became king. Despite having relations to the Al as Shaykh family through his mother, his approval of the pan-Islamic movement when he was fighting against pan-Arabism, Faisal still opted to reduce the influence of Ulema. King Faisal made sure that most radical clerics were not in the society’s powerful religious posts. This was in the aim of making sure that extremist cleric did not gain dominion over major religious institutions in the kingdom. A good example of such an institution is the Council of Senior Ulema, which was the highest religious body in the kingdom. He also prevented them from holding senior positions such as the Grand Mufti. Grand Mufti is a politically elected official who was charged with the responsibility of the maintenance of the entire system of Islamic law. The Ulema highly opposed King Faisal’s modernization endeavors. King Faisal was not particularly good at taking criticisms from his critics. Whenever he saw that someone holding some powerful post criticizing his policies he would make sure that the critiques are silenced by making them less powerful. A good example of such a critique is Shaykh bin Baz. The royal family was highly scrutinized by many groups that were out to look for any proof of misinterpretation of the Muslim doctrine during King Faisal’s regime. Shaykh bin Baz was the rector of the Al Medina College of theology and had constantly criticized King Faisal’s policies. Since Kong Faisal could not stand his criticism he made sure that Shaykh bin Baz lost his post as the rector of the Al Medina College of theology. Unfortunately for King Faisal, some of Shaykh bin Baz’s former students had already been radicalized by his teachings. Before King Faisal’sregime slavery was a very common thing in the Saudi Arabia kingdom. It was not until he announced its abolition in the year 1962 that slavery eventually became illegal in the kingdom. Records have it that the abolition led to the freedom of more than 1500 slaves. The freedom of these slaves came at the cost of the government as they paid $2,000 for every slave that was set free. Most people believe that the meeting between King Faisal and President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States of America in the year 1945 and that between King Faisal and John F. Kennedy in the year 1962 is what led to the eventual abolition of slavery in the kingdom (Smith&Abū, 2013). This is another thing that added to the intensity of criticism of King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia. In many publications, it has come out clear that King Faisal highly respected tradition. Nevertheless, during his tenure, he was noted as a far-sighted innovator initiating numerous and vast economic as well as social development plans. This is a factor that many kings who have been in power have lacked. Unlike other kings, he focused mostly on the development of foreign policy, resulting dedication benefits that Arabic and Islamic worlds necessitated. King Faisal’s father had begun good relations with the United States of America. When Faisal became king, he decided that he would maintain that good relationship that the kingdom had already developed by the United States of America. Faisal had relied on the United States for arms and training of forces. The relationship between Faisal and the United States of America was even made better by the fact that King Faisal had supported anti-communism. King Faisal made sure that the kingdom did not have any political ties to the Soviet Union and any other country that was in support of communism. According to King Faisal, communism and Islam were completely incompatible. To him, communism was more of a depiction of the Zionism doctrine. Apart from the United States of America, King Faisal developed close ties with other western democracies such as the United Kingdom. King Faisal had strong support for monarchism and movements that stood for conservatism in the Arab world. He also promoted pan-Islamism with the main aim of making sure that the influence of Arab nationalism and socialism was countered in the Arab nations. He advocated for the formation of the Muslim World League and travelled to a number of Muslim countries hoping that he would be able to convince the leaders (Muslim World League. 1980). This led to a propaganda media tangle between him and the then Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Gamal Abdel Nasser was a staunch pan-Arabist. In the year 1969 King Faisal organized a conference in Rabat, Morocco. The conference was a response to the Al Aqsa Mosque, which had occurred on the same year. The attack is believed to have been engineered by the Israelites. The conference was attended by 25 leaders from Muslim nations. The leaders present during the conference resolved to demanding that Israel let go of a territory that they had conquered in the year 1967 (Cordesman, 2003). As a result of the conference there was also the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. All the leaders present during the conference pledged their support for Palestine. After the death of Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, King Faisal decided to develop a new good relationship with the president who succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser. The new president’s name was Anwar Sadat. Fortunately for King Faisal Anwar Sadat, was planning to break Egypt’s ties to the Soviet Union. Anwar Sadat was responsible for the launching of the Arab-Israeli War. During this war King Faisal withdrew Saudi Arabian oil from the world market. This was done to protest western nations’ support for Israel during the war. This withdrawal led to a significant increase in global oil prices and was also causing the main factor of the energy crisis that took place in 1973. This action earned King Faisal respects from Arabs all over the world. This even earned the award, Time Magazine’s “man of the year”. However, this action led to the reduction of subsidies and aides from the western nations after the war was over. However, after the boycott there was a significant increase in global oil prices, thus earning the kingdom allot of revenue. King Faisal was assassinated in the year 1975. The person responsible for his murder was his own nephew, the brother to the one who had previously been murdered by government security officers while attempting to attack that national television broadcasting officers. Some say that his assassination was a form of revenge for the death of his nephew. However, other analysts claim that his murder was engineered by the western country as a result of his oil boycott. This is supported by the fact that the nephew who had killed him had just return to Saudi Arabia from the United States of America. Conclusion This paper comprehensively detailed the activities of King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz. It is evident that King Faisal’s regime is one of the most remembered in Saudi Arabia. As shown through this paper there are many developments that had come to Saudi Arabia because of his leadership. However, his regime did not come without challenges. One of the main challenges was opposition and criticism from the conservative members of the society some of them being from his own family. There were a number of attempted coups during his regime. The main sources of his criticism and opposition were his policies which some people viewed as contradictive to the Muslim doctrine. Other challenges included the withdrawal of subsidies and aids by western countries after withdrawing Saudi Arabian oil from the global market as a retaliation to their support for Israel during the Arab-Israel war. Despite all these challenges, King Faisal was able to improve the country’s finances and education system. References Cordesman, A. H. (2003). Saudi Arabia enters the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Hariri-Rifai, W., & Hariri-Rifai, M. (1990). The heritage of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Washington, D.C: GDG Publications. Muslim World League. (1980). The Muslim World League journal. Makkah al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia: Press and Publications Dept., Muslim World League. Sabri, S. (2001). The house of Saud in commerce: A study of royal entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. New Delhi: I.S. Publications. Smith, L., & Abū, A. A.-R. M. (2013). Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements, challenges and opportunities. Dordrecht: Springer. Read More