Brief History: 1258-1922

Saudi Arabia remained the "spiritual focus of Islam" because it was mandatory for Muslims to perform their ritual here, or Haj pilgrimage. The city was without an efficient political or administrative system during the beginning of the Islamic period. "When the Caliphate was powerful, it controlled the Hijaz and ensured the safety of pilgrims in Mecca." Eventually the Hijaz fell and Sharifs of Mecca rose to power around 1201. During this time of change there was an area of modern day Saudi Arabia that was undisturbed by outsiders, it was known as The Najd. Natives to this land were the Bedouin tribes. Their land came to be "the home of the Wahhabi Islamic sect and the house of Saud that was to create modern Saudi Arabia." The Saud family gained establishment and settled around 1500. The tribes native to The Najd remained seperate from Islamic life. Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was responsible for the creation of "Wahhabis", after studying in foreign countries he came back and preached against Shia and "local paganism", he put emphasis on Muslim monotheism. In 1744 the head of the Saud family and Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab "swore a traditional Muslim oath promising to work together to establish a state based on Islamic principles." After Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's death in 1765, the Saud family enforced Wahhabism in Najd, Karbala, Iraq, Hijaz, Mecca, and Medina. The Saud family and the Wahhabis settled in Riyadh where they made this their capital in the year 1824. The formation of modern Saudi Arabia began in 1902 when Abdul Aziz ibn Saud regained power in the Najd and Riyadh, he was recognized by the Ottoman's as the Wahhabi imam. Aziz's major advance occurred during WWI, he captured the Jebel Shammer in the year 1921, then Mecca in 1924, and then Medina in 1925, by 1932 he renamed his kingdom Saudi Arabia.