The Imam in Mecca, 1924–28

Abstract

In telling the story of Ibn Saud we can remain a while longer in the company of Amin Rihani, since he had the priceless opportunity to observe and talk with Ibn Saud over a six-week period after the Ujair conference. He travelled in the Sultan’s retinue riding across the desert to Riyadh, observing and making notes. What makes the observations of Rihani worthy of remark is that he resisted the temptation to be carried away by unadulterated admiration. To him Ibn Saud was a truly great man, who would have been, had he been born in Europe, a monarch of great historical stature, but he can at the same time note that Ibn Saud was capable of being a bore when he allowed his words to carry him away.¹

In 1925 I heard the late Dr. Hogarth, a keen and wise observer of Arabian problems, declare that nothing would surprise him less than to find, within five years or so, the Wahhabis deposed from the Hejaz and the Sharifian family again in authority there.

K. Williams, Ibn Saud, 1933, p. 7

The holy land is ruled today by a house nurtured in rapine and robbery, raids and aggression and bloodshed.

King Abdullah of Jordan, Memoirs, 1954 on the Al Saud

Beware, o Ikhwan! Encroach not upon the rights of others. If you do your value and that of the dust are the same. … We took you by the sword and we shall keep you within your bounds by the sword, if God wills.

Ibn Saud, quoted by A. Rihani, Ibn Saud, 1928, p. 214