Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Once a person, sitting with his wife in Riyadh, saw a picture of an African child. He told his wife that when he was five, his mother passed away. He had many stepmothers and brothers but he was brought up like an orphan. He also told her he was so weak and couldn’t walk properly. He was no one but the third king of KSA (Shah Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud).

In the early 20^th century, in East of Saudi Arabia at Dammam people searched water daily, dug land but a black liquid come out every time. They were not aware that this black water will change their lives and they will be the leading economy soon.

Saudi land was an independent area. When Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W came, he united the tribes here, followed by khalifa- e- Rashideen. Later, this land emerged as the capital of Islam. After them, the Ummayyad caliphate came, and then Abbasi’s and then sultan Sallahhuddin Ayubi made government here. In the 15^th century, Ottoman Empire conquered this area. The ottomans ruled this area for nearly 600 years. When Ottoman Empire ended, this land got independence but there was no ruler. In 1925, Abdul Aziz Ibn- e- Saud attacked Hejaz (The western area of Saudi Arabia) and conquered it followed by the rest of Arabia. He united these areas and in 1932, he declared himself as the first king of Saudi Arabia. The British helped him to a larger extent. They gave them weapons, money and helped them in every field.

When oil was to be found, this permission was granted to America, not Britain. In 1937 East Saudi Arabia in Dammam, Americans were called to explore oil. They allowed them even to sell the oil. This strengthened US-KSA Relations. Abdul Aziz made many agreements to strengthen his kingdom. He made an agreement with Wahabi scholars. He gave all the religious authority to him. Abdul Aziz married 22 girls belonging to different tribes. In 1953, the founder of KSA died and Saud bin Abdul Aziz became king. He especially focused on the relationship with the U.S. like his father. At the end of the second world war, the king went to America and met the president. Saud was not blessed with the greater abilities of the ruling. 

Prince Faisal (his brother) was a great ruler. Once the Saudi treasure became empty, Faisal saved his country economically, and in 1964 king Saud was exiled and Faisal became the new king. When he became king, Saudia was economically shrinking and the kingdom was facing 450 million U.S dollars. In a few years, the debt was cleared and he started development projects for his country. He opened schools and colleges for girls, and in 1965 he inaugurated Saudi Television.

After only one year some people with the help of a prince attacked the Saudi television office which was inaugurated one year before. The police fired to stop them but due to firing and that hustle and bustle, the Prince died. Prince’s family asked King Faisal that police killed him and we want his execution in front of the public. Shah Faisal replied;

 “The Policeman only followed the law and that prince has abrogated law, I am responsible for this, if you want any execution kill me”.

Shah Faisal passed an order against slavery, almost 2,000 slaves became free. His foreign policy was amazing, he visited Pakistan in 1974 when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was invited to an Islamic summit. Now the time came which changed Saudi Arabia economically. Oil was used as a weapon during the Arab- Israel war led by Anwar Sadat in 1973 Shah Faisal decided not to supply oil to western countries. Shah Faisal said;

“The Holy Masjid Al- Aqsa is calling for you, crying for your help, my brothers.”

When petrol was again supplied to all western countries, the prices rise to a larger extent and this boosted the Saudi economy. Saudi Arabia became financially strong and Shah Faisal emerged as a hero in front of the world. The Time Magazine (the most popular magazine of that time) mentions Shah Faisal as a man of the year. His second wife Iffat always stood with him. Iffat insisted on girl’s education.

Faisal considered everyone equal in front of the law. When he heard that his brother (Prince Fahad) is in Europe spending money like a rich. He called him in Riyadh, when he came Faisal was in a meeting and Prince Fahad had waited for an hour.

On 25^th March 1975, Shah Faisal was hearing Public, a prince was also present there whose brother was killed during an attack on Saudi television. Shah Faisal hugged the prince and that prince fired a gun on Faisal which ended his era. The order of canceling oil deals with the U.S lead him to death.

After him, Prince Khalid became King. He was called the man of the deserts and he has no interest in politics and government affairs. He came to Pakistan many times for hunting. All the political affairs were under his brother Prince Fahad. In his era, Saudi Arabia was developed by leaps and bounds.

On 20^th November 1979, Juhamen Al Utabi along with 500 terrorists captured Masjid Al Haram. Shah Khalid called Ulema and after two weeks Ulema advised Khalid to clean Masjid from these terrorists. Shah Khalid called SSG Commandos from Pakistan and with the help of Saudi forces, they drove these terrorists out from the Masjid. This incident changed the Saudi king because the terrorists said ‘Al Saud is not able to rule on Arabia’. 1979 also changed Iran’s history and the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan.

 Shah Khalid died in 1982, his stepbrother Shah Fahad become King. Shah Fahad spent billions to spread his sect. the religious police were introduced. Saddam Hussain attacked Iran and the world was supporting Iraq including Saudi Arabia but the Iranian revolution cannot rollback. In 1990, Saddam attacked Kuwait and Shah Fahad gave permission to Americans to make Arm Barracks here. Osama bin Laden emerged against this decision and Fahad made a deal of 90 Billion Dollars with the U.S. Osama bin Laden was made responsible for the 9/11 attack and he was in Saudi Arabia. 

Shah Abdullah became king after him in 2005. Shah Abdullah made educational, religious, and law reforms slowly. A wave of terrorism entered Saudi land and Abdullah tries his best to demolish this terrorism.

In 2015, Shah Salman became King. From starting his son Muhammad Bin Salman was always included in his decisions and his son is known as MBS to the world. He can give any order regarding foreign and home policy. Some people said, that the policies of MBS are as same as Shah Faisal. MBS is focusing on reforms, especially for women. He has given Saudi vision 2030 and he wants the Saudi economy to progress in other fields like tourism, etc. Saudi oil company ARAMCO has the largest oil fields nearby. MBS has announced to sell 5 % of its share at least 1 % and the income generated from this will be invested in the economy. But Saudi Arabia has a consensus over Iran.

In my opinion, now the time has come to be united because the wealth of petroleum reserves has made Arabia the golden economy. Arabia has to play a major role along with Pakistan to unite all 58 Muslim states for Palestine, Kashmir, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon. If all Islamic countries make decisions collectively for the 1.9 billion Muslims residing in these countries, I hope that there will be no power stopping them to rule over the world because they have the key of petroleum to stop or start the world.