Fahd of Saudi Arabia

Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud ({{lang-ar|فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود}}, b.1923 – August 1, 2005) was the king and prime minister of Saudi Arabia and leader of the House of Saud. One of thirty-seven sons of Saudi founder Ibn Saud, and the fourth of his five sons who have ruled the Kingdom (Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd, and Abdullah), Fahd ascended to the throne on the death of his half-brother, King Khalid, on June 13, 1982.

Reign

On March 25, 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by his nephew and King Khalid assumed power. Fahd, as next in the line of succession, became Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. Especially in the later years of King Khalid's reign, Fahd was viewed as the de facto prime minister. When King Khalid passed away on June 13, 1982 Fahd succeeded to the throne. He adopted the title "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in 1986, replacing "His Majesty", to signify an Islamic rather than secular authority.

Related Topics:
March 25 - 1975 - King Faisal - King Khalid - Crown Prince - June 13 - 1982 - Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

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As King, Fahd controlled the largest petroleum reserves in the world with an estimated personal fortune of £32 billion, seven palaces in Saudi Arabia, a chateau on the French Riviera, a private Boeing 747 and two liner-sized yachts. His residence in Marbella, on the Costa del Sol, is a faithful replica of the U.S. White House.

Related Topics:
Petroleum - Chateau - French Riviera - Boeing 747 - Yacht - Marbella - Costa del Sol - U.S. - White House

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Foreign policy

King Fahd's foreign policies included support on for the War on Terror which he described would crush the terrorists "with an iron fist". He has been a supporter of the United Nations. He supports foreign aid and has given 5.5% of Saudia Arabia's national income through various funds especially the Saudi Fund for Development and the Opec Development Fund. He has also given aid to the needy such as the Bosnian Muslims in the recent Balkan Wars. King Fahd had also been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and an opponent of the State of Israel. http://www.kingfahdbinabdulaziz.com/main/l500.htm

Related Topics:
War on Terror - Saudi Fund for Development - Opec Development Fund - State of Israel

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Fundamentalism, Iran, and Islamic education

The Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 radically transformed the political landscape in the Middle East, as the hereditary monarchy of the Shah of Iran was deposed in favor of a religious autocracy based on Shari'a. In the same year, dissidents seized the Holy Mosque in Mecca, and accused the Saudi royal family of being insufficiently Islamic to rule the Kingdom. Fearing that the Saudi nation and the royal family could be at risk, and seeking to counter the ascendant Shi'ite fundamentalist movement, after ascending the throne in 1982 Fahd spent considerable sums supporting Saddam Hussein's Iraq in its war with Iran.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/255097.stm He also changed his royal title to "custodian of the two holy mosques", and took steps to support the conservative Saudi religious establishment, including spending millions of dollars on religious education, further distancing himself from his inconvenient past.http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050801/ap_on_re_mi_ea/obit_fahd

Related Topics:
Iran - 1979 - Shah of Iran - Shari'a - Mecca - Shi'ite - 1982 - Iraq - "custodian of the two holy mosques"

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Gulf War, 1990

After Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, placing the Middle East's largest Army on the border of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd agreed to host coalition troops, led by the United States, in his Kingdom, and later to allow American troops to be based there. This decision brought him considerable criticism from Islamic hard-liners who objected to the presence of non-Islamic troops on Saudi land, and is a casus belli against the Saudi royal family prominently cited by Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

Related Topics:
Iraq - Saddam Hussein - Kuwait - United States - Casus belli - Osama bin Laden - Al-Qaeda

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Reform and industrialization

Rule after the 1995 stroke

King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995 and became noticeably frail, and decided to delegate the running of the Kingdom to Crown Prince Abdullah. After his stroke King Fahd was mostly inactive, though he still attended meetings and received selected visitors. In November 2003 he pledged to "strike with an iron fist" at terrorists after deadly bombings. However, it is Crown Prince Abdullah who took official trips; when King Fahd travelled it was for vacations, and he was sometimes absent from Saudi Arabia for months at a time. When his oldest son and International Olympic Committee member Prince Faisal bin Fahd died in 1999, the King was in Spain and did not return for the funeral. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/international/01cnd-fahd.html?ex=1123732800&en=691cd3456fd4afea&ei=5070&8bl

Related Topics:
1995 - November 2003 - Deadly bombings - International Olympic Committee - Faisal bin Fahd - Spain

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