TE Lawrence on the rise of Ibn Saud

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• published: 30 Dec 2015
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Excerpt from Scott Anderson's book Lawrence in Arabia: Abdul Aziz ibn Saud embraced a form of fundamentalist Islam know as Wahhabism. Ibn Saud had expanded his reach from a small string of oasis villages in the Riyadh region to cover a vast expanse of northeastern Arabia. In 1916 TE Lawrence argued in "The politics of Mecca" that Ibn Saud and the Wahhabists posed as Islamic reformists "with all the narrow minded bigotry of the puritan" and ibn Saud and his Wahhabists were hardly representative of Islam. He warned in the politics of Mecca that the Wahhabist sect was composed of marginal medievalists, "and if it prevailed, we would have in place of the tolerant, rather comfortable Islam of Mecca and Damascus, the fanaticism of Nejd...intensified and swollen by success." In 1923, ibn Saud and the Wahhabists would conquer much of the Arabian Peninsula and, to honor his clan, give it the name Saudi Arabia. For the next ninety years, the vast and profligate Saudi royal family would survive by essentially buying off the doctrinaire Wahhabists who had brought them to power, financially subsidizing their activities so long as their disciples directed their jihadist efforts abroad. The most famous product of this arrangement was to be a man named Osama bin Laden. *** Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of "Wahhabism," an austere form of Islam, arrives in the central Arabian state of Najd in 1744 preaching a return to "pure" Islam. He seeks protection from the local emir, Muhammad ibn Saud, head of the Al Saud tribal family, and they cut a deal. The Al Saud will endorse al-Wahhab's austere form of Islam and in return, the Al Saud will get political legitimacy and regular tithes from al-Wahhab's followers. The religious-political alliance that al-Wahhab and Saud forge endures to this day in Saudi Arabia. By the 19th century, the Al Saud has spread its influence across the Arabian Peninsula, stretching from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf and including the Two Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. But in 1818, forces of the Ottoman Empire sack the capital, Riyadh, and execute many of the religious and political leaders. Over the next eighty years the Al Saud attempt to reestablish their rule on the Arabian Peninsula without success. With the Ikhwan by his side, Abd al-Aziz captures province after province of the vast desert. He captures Mecca in 1924 and Medina in 1925, becoming the ruler of the Two Holy Cities of Islam. But the Ikhwan want to spread Wahhabism beyond Arabia and when Abd al-Aziz tries to restrain them, they rebel. To survive, Abd al-Aziz realizes he has to destroy the Ikhwan. But how can he, a defender of Islam, justify going to war against his Muslim warriors? Abd al-Aziz seeks the approval of the ulama, the religious authorities, regarded as the moral guardians of the realm. With the ulama's endorsement, he crushes the Ikhwan. Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud declares himself king and gives his name to the country: Saudi Arabia. To keep his new kingdom united, he marries a daughter from every tribe as well as from the influential clerical families -- more than twenty wives, although never more than four at one time, in accordance with the Quran. These unions produce 45 legitimate sons and an unknown number of daughters (daughters are not counted). Abd al-Aziz then begins consolidating power away from the brothers and cousins who helped him conquer the peninsula in favor of his own sons. Every Saudi king since has been a son of Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud. The Cairo branch in the British government with TE Lawrence backed Faisal and Hussein The Sharif of Mecca. The Indian branch of the British government backed Ibn Saud and the Wahhabists. The French and British with Sykes Picot undermined Faisal and Hussein and Ibn Saud took advantage in Arabia and the Wahhabi state was born in Saudi Arabia. It was only 100 years ago that two plans were in competition with each other for the fate of the Middle East. If the Sherif of Mecca King Hussein along with his son Prince Faisal would of prevailed over the Sykes Picot plan you would have had an Arab super state that included Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel to name a few. What might have been? A utopia probably not but a much better situation than the previous 100 years one could imagine? Scott Anderson's book:http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/201116/lawrence-in-arabia-by-scott-anderson/ House of Saud:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/cron/