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Saudi Arabia
THE SETTING OF SAUDI ARABIA
The title, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, uses the word kingdom,
which is not an Islamic term. However, given the significance
of religion in Saudi Arabia, it is clear that Saudis believe that
ultimate authority rests with God (Allah). The Saudi ruler is
Allah's secular representative and bases political legitimacy
on his religious credentials (see The King , ch. 4).
Saudi refers to the Al Saud family, the royal house
of Saudi Arabia, whose eponym is Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Mughrin.
Saud himself was not a significant figure, but his son, Muhammad
ibn Saud (literally, Muhammad, the son of Saud), conquered most
of the Arabian Peninsula in the early eighteenth century. In almost
two centuries since then, Muhammad ibn Saud's family has grown
tremendously and, in 1992, the ruling house of Saudi Arabia had
more than 4,000 male members.
Finally, Arabia--or the Arabian Peninsula--refers to
a geographic region whose name is related to the language of the
majority of its inhabitants. Before the era of the Muslim conquests
in the mid-seventh century, some Arabic-speaking peoples also
lived in Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and Christian Arab buffer
states were established north of the peninsula between the Sassanid
and Byzantine empires. As a result of the Muslim conquests, however,
people of the peninsula spread out over the wider region that
today is known as the "Arab world" and the Arabic language became
the region's dominant language.
The desert is the most prominent feature of the Arabian Peninsula.
Although vast, arid tracts dominate Saudi Arabia, the country
also includes long stretches of arid coastline along the Persian
Gulf and the Red Sea and several major oases in the Eastern Province.
Accordingly, the Saudi environment is not uniform, and the differences
between coastal and desert life have played their part in Arabian
history. Those living on the water have had more contact with
other peoples and thus have developed more cosmopolitan outlooks
than those living in the interior.
Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
It shares the Persian Gulf and Red Sea coasts with the Persian
Gulf states, Yemen, Jordan, and Iraq, so there are cultural and
historical overlaps with its neighbors. Many of these countries
rely on the authority of a single family--whether the ruler calls
himself a king, as in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, or an amir, as
in the gulf states. Tribal loyalties also play an important role
in these countries, and large portions of their populations have
only recently stopped living as nomads.
Several important factors, however, distinguish Saudi Arabia
from its neighbors. Unlike other states in the area, Saudi Arabia
has never been under the direct control of a European power. Moreover,
the Wahhabi movement that began in Saudi Arabia has had a greater
impact on Saudi history than on any other country. Although the
religious fervor of Wahhabism affected populations of such neighboring
states as present-day Qatar, only in Saudi Arabia was it an essential
element in the formation of the modern state.
Data as of December 1992
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