Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia (ⁱ/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbiə/, ⁱ/ˌsaʊ-/), officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is an Arab state in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km² (830,000 sq mi), Saudi Arabia is geographically the second-largest state in the Arab world after Algeria. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen to the south. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid inhospitable desert or barren landforms.

The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd, and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud. He united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. The country has since been an absolute monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultra-conservative Wahhabism religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called "the predominant feature of Saudi culture", with its global spreading largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. The Kingdom has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners.

Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud

Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud (Arabic: محمد بن سلمان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎; born 31 August 1985 in Jeddah) is the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia, second deputy prime minister and the youngest minister of defense in the world. Mohammad is also chief of the House of Saud royal court, and chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs. He has been described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman.

Early life

Mohammad bin Salman was born on 31 August 1985 in Jeddah. He is the son of King Salman and his third spouse Fahda bint Falah bin Sultan Al Hithalayn, and he is their eldest son and is full brother of Turki bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group. Prince Mohammad holds a bachelor degree in law from King Saud University.

Career

After graduating college, Mohammad bin Salman spent several years in the private sector before becoming the personal aide of his father. He worked as a consultant for the Experts Commission, working for the Saudi Cabinet.

Salman of Saudi Arabia

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: سلمان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎‎, Salmān ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd, Hejazi Arabic (born 31 December 1935) is the King of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the head of the House of Saud.

He served as the Deputy Governor and then the Governor of Riyadh for 48 years from 1963 to 2011. He was appointed as Minister of Defence in 2011. He was also named the Crown Prince in 2012 following the death of his brother Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Salman was crowned as the new King of Saudi Arabia on 23 January 2015 following the death of his half brother, King Abdullah. Among the most notable events during his reign so far have been Saudi Arabia's military intervention in the Yemeni Civil War, the 2015 Mina stampede during the Hajj, and the execution of Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others opponents of the regime on 2 January 2016.

Early life

Salman was born on 31 December 1935, and is reported to be the 25th son of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud. Salman and his six brothers make up what is referred to as the Sudairi Seven. He was raised in the Murabba Palace.

Crown prince

A crown prince or crown princess is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess.

Description

The term is now borne as a title mainly in Asia, Scandinavia, and the Middle East; but it may also be used generically to refer to the person or position of the heir apparent in other kingdoms. However, heirs apparent to non-imperial and non-royal monarchies (i.e., wherein the hereditary sovereign holds a title below that of king/queen, e.g., grand duke or prince), crown prince is not used as a title, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for heir apparent.

In Europe, where primogeniture governs succession to all monarchies except those of the Papacy and Andorra, the eldest son (Spain) or eldest child (Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) of the current monarch fills the role of crown prince or princess, depending upon whether females of the dynasty enjoy personal succession rights. The eldest living child of a monarch is sometimes not the heir apparent or crown prince, because that position can be held by a descendant of a deceased older child who, by "right of representation", inherits the same place in the line of succession that would be held by the ancestor if he or she were still living (e.g., Carl Gustaf, Duke of Jämtland, was Crown Prince of Sweden from 1950 to 1973, as the senior grandson by male primogeniture of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, although the former Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland, was Gustaf VI Adolf's eldest living son, and Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland, his eldest living dynastic son during those years).

Muhammad bin Nayef

Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: محمد بن نايف بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎; born 30 August 1959) is the Crown Prince, First Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia. He is also the chairman of the new Council for Political and Security Affairs. On 29 April 2015, bin Nayef was appointed heir presumptive by King Salman. As Crown Prince, he is first in line to the throne of Saudi Arabia. He is a member of the House of Saud and a nephew of King Salman. If he ascends to the throne, as a grandson of King Abdulaziz he will be the first king of the third generation in Saudi Arabia.

Early life and education

Prince Muhammad was born in Jeddah on 30 August 1959. He is the second eldest son and one of ten children of Prince Nayef.Prince Saud is his elder brother and Prince Fahd is his younger brother. Their mother is Al Jawhara bint Abdulaziz bin Musaed Al Jiluwi who is a member of the Al Jiluwi branch of the House of Saud.

Muhammad bin Nayef studied in the United States. He took courses at Lewis & Clark College but did not receive a degree. He attended the FBI's security courses from 1985 to 1988, and was trained at Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism units from 1992 to 1994.