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Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud

Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud


- Saud
- Faisal
- Khaled
- Fahd
- Sultan
- Nayef
- Salman
- Ahmed
- Abdullah
- Talal
- Mohammed
- `Abd al-Rahman
- Turki and many, many, many others `Abd al-`Azīz Āl Sa`ūd (c. 1880 - November 9, 1953) (Arabic: عبدالعزيز آل سعود) was the first monarch of Saudi Arabia. He is also known by several abbreviated forms of this name, including simply Ibn Sa`ūd. He was born in Riyadh into the House of Sa'ūd (commonly transliterated Saud), which had historically maintained dominion over the interior highlands of Arabia known as the Najd. Ibn Saud died in Taif.

Loss and reclamation of power

Ibn Sa'ūd was born in Riyadh, Arabia, the son of Abd al-Rahman bin Faysal bin Turki Al Saud and Sara bint Ahmad al-Kabir Sudayri. In 1890, at the age of ten, Saud followed his family into exile in Kuwait following the conquest of the family's lands by the Rashidi. He spent the remainder of his childhood in Kuwait as a "penniless exile". In 1901, at the age of 22, Ibn Sa'ūd succeeded his father, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, as the leader of the Sa'ūd dynasty with the title Sultan of Nejd. He then set out to reconquer his family lands from Ibn Rashid in what is now called Saudi Arabia. In 1902, together with a party of relatives and servants, he recaptured Riyadh with only twenty men by assassinating the Rashidi governor of the city. Ibn Sa'ūd was considered a "magnetic" leader, and many former supporters of the House of Saud once again rallied to its support following the capture of Riyadh. In the two years following his dramatic capture of Riyadh, Ibn Sa'ūd recaptured almost half of Nejd from the Rashidi. In 1904, however, Ibn Rashid appealed to the Ottoman Empire for assistance in defeating the House of Sa'ūd. The Ottomans sent troops to Arabia, setting Ibn Sa'ūd on the defensive. The armies of the House of Saud suffered a major defeat on June 15, 1904, but his forces soon regrouped and returned to the offensive as the Turkish troops left the country due to supply problems. Ibn Sa'ūd finally consolidated control over the Nejd in 1912 with the help of an organized and well-trained army. In that year he founded the Ikhwan, a militant religious organisation which was to assist in his later conquests. More broadly, he revived his dynasty's traditional alliance with the Wahhabism. During World War I the British government attempted to cultivate favor with Ibn Sa'ūd, but generally favored his rival Sherif Hussein ibn Ali, leader of Hejaz, whom the Sa'ūds were almost constantly at war with. Despite this, the British entered into a treaty in December 1915 which made the lands of the House of Sa'ūd a British protectorate. In exchange, Ibn Sa'ūd pledged to again make war against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans. Ibn Sa'ūd did not, however, immediately make war against Ibn Rashid, despite a steady supply of weapons and cash (£5,000 Sterling per month) from the British. He argued with the British that the payment he received was insufficient to adequately wage war against an enemy as powerful as Ibn Rashid. In 1920, however, the House of Sa'ūd finally marched again against the Rashidi, extinguishing their dominion in 1922. The defeat of the Rashidis doubled the territory of the House of Sa'ūd, and British subsidies continued until 1924. In 1925 the Sa'ūds captured the holy city of Mecca from Sherif Hussein ibn Ali ending 700 years of Hashemite tutelage of the Islamic holy places. On 10 January 1926 Ibn Saud was proclaimed King of the Hejaz in the Great Mosque at Mecca. In 1927, following the defeat of Husayn, the British government recognized the power of the Saud family, led by Ibn Saud, over much of what is today Saudi Arabia. The Treaty of Jedda was signed on May 20. At this point he changed his title from Sultan of Nejd to King of Nejd. Initially the two parts of his dominians (Nejd in the east and Hejaz in the west) were administered generally. From 1927 to 1932 Ibn Saud continued to consolidate power throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In March 1929 he defeated elements of the Ikhwan, which had disobeyed his orders to cease raiding and had invaded Iraq against his wishes, at the Battle of Sibilla. In 1932, having conquered most of the Peninsula, Saud renamed the area from the lands of Nejd and Hejaz to Saudi Arabia. He then proclaimed himself King of Saudi Arabia, with the support of the British government.

Oil and the rule of Ibn Saud

Battle of Sibilla on board a ship returning from the Yalta Conference in 1945.]] Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938, and Ibn Saud through his advisor St. John Philby granted substantial authority over Saudi oil fields to American oil companies. In the early days of the oil boom most oil revenues received by the government of Saudi Arabia were immediately directed to the coffers of the royal family. As the income from oil grew, however, Ibn Saud began to spend some revenues on improving the lives of his subjects. Saud forced many nomadic tribes to settle down and abandon "petty wars" and vendettas. He also began to fight crime in Saudi Arabia, particularly crime against pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Foreign wars

Ibn Saud positioned Saudi Arabia as neutral in World War II, but was generally considered to favor the Allies. In 1948 Saud participated in the Arab-Israeli war. The contribution of Saudi Arabia was generally considered token.

Family and succession

The number of children that Ibn Saud fathered are unknown, and estimates range from about 50 to over 200. They include: (names of Kings in bold) #By Wadhba bint Muhammad al-Hazzam ##Turki (1900-1919) ## Saud (January 12, 1902 - February 23, 1969); reigned 1953-1964 #By Tarfah bint Abdullah al-Shaykh Abdul-Wahab ##Khaled (born 1903, died in infancy) ##Faisal (April 1904 - March 25, 1975); reigned 1964-1975 #By Jauhara bint Musa'd Al Saud ##Muhammad (1910-1985) ## Khaled (1913 - June 13, 1982); reigned 1975-1982 ##Jauhara ##Anud (born 1917) #By Bazza ##Nasser (born 1919) ##Bandar (born 1923) ##Fawwaz (born 1934) #By Jauhara bint Sa'ad al-Sudairy ##Sa'd (1920 - 1990s) ##Musa'id (born 1923) ##Abdalmohsen (1925-1985) #By Hussah bint Ahmad al-Sudairy ##Sa'ad (born 1914, died 1919) (Ibn Saud married Hassa al-Sudairy twice. Fahd and his younger full siblings were the children of his second marriage to her. These are known as the "Sudairi Seven") ## Fahd (1923 - August 1, 2005); reigned 1982-2005 ##Sultan (born January 5, 1928); current crown prince ##Abdul-Rahman (born 1931) ##Turki (born 1932) ##Nayef (born 1934) ##Salman (born 1936) ##Ahmed (born 1940) #By Shahida ##Mansur (1922 - May 2, 1951) ##Mishal (born 1926) ##Qumasha (born 1927) ##Mit'ab (born 1931) #By Fahda bint Asi al-Shuraim ## Abdullah (born August 1924); current king, since 2005 ##Nuf ##Sita #By Haya bint Sa'ad al-Sudairy (1913 - April 18, 2003) ##Nura (died 1930) ##Badr (born 1933) ##Hassa ##Abdalillah (born 1935) ##Abdalmajid (born 1940) ##Mashael #By Munaiyir ##Talal (born 1931) ##Badr (1931-1932) ##Mishari(1932 - May 23, 2000) ##Nawwaf (born 1933) #By Mudhi ##Majed (October 19, 1938 - April 12, 2003) ##Sattam (born January 21, 1941) #By Nouf bint al-Shalan ##Thamir (1937 - June 27, 1959) ##Mamduh (born 1940) ##Mashhur (born 1942) #By Saida al-Yamaniyah ##Hidhlul (born 1941) #By Baraka al-Yamaniyah ##Muqren (born September 15, 1945) #By Futayma ##Hamud (born 1947) #By ?? ##Fahd (1905-1919) ##Sara (1916 - June 2000) ##Shaikha (born 1922) ##Talal (1930-1931) ##Abdalsalam (1941) ##Jiluwi (1942-1944) All of these carry the surname "bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud" for men and "bint Abdul Aziz Al Saud" for women. Ibn Saud is the father of all the Kings of Saudi Arabia that have succeeded him. King Saud succeeded his father as regent of Saudi Arabia in 1953, three months after being appointed Prime Minister by his father. In 1964 King Saud was deposed by the Saudi Council of Ministers and succeeded by King Faisal, another of Ibn Saud's sons. Faisal was followed by three further sons, Khalid, Fahd and Abdullah. According to the Saudi Basic Law of 1992, the King of Saudi Arabia must be a son or grandson of Ibn Saud. Ibn Saud Ibn Saud Category:Saudi royal family Category:Saudi Arabian politicians Abdul Aziz ibn Saud Ibn Saud ms:’Abd al ’Aziz Al Sa’ud ja:アブドゥルアズィーズ・イブン＝サウード

Saud of Saudi Arabia

Saud bin Abdul Aziz (January 12, 1902 - February 23, 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to November 2, 1964. He was the eldest son of Ibn Saud, his mother being Wadhba bint Muhammad al-Hazzam. Before becoming king, he, along with his half-brother Faisal, was given great responsibilities in the establishment and running of the lands of Ibn Saud. Shortly after the formal establishment of Saudi Arabia, he was made a crown prince on May 11, 1933, bypassing his father's own brothers. When Ibn Saud died in 1953, Saud became king. During his reign he was responsible for the establishment of numerous governmental ministries, and also for the establishment of King Saud University (renamed to Riyadh University after Saud's abdication) in Riyadh. His reign was marked with dissatisfaction within his own family. Saud surpassed his father in the number of children he had. He had 45 sons and over 50 daughters. Saud was keen to give his own sons power, and placed them in high governmental positions. This annoyed his half-brothers, who thought that Saud's sons were too inexperienced, and began to fear that Saud would select his own son to succeed him. He was also known for his lavish spending squandering state funds for his own family, and on palaces, all at a time when Saudi Arabia was still struggling economically. Despite cordial relations with Egypt at the beginning of his reign in order to oppose the Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan, Saud would later grow weary of Egyptian influence in the Arab world, which led to numerous diplomatic blunders, such as a supposed plot to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser. Saud also began supporting royalist forces in the Yemeni Civil War, that saw Egypt supporting republican forces. These factors, coupled with an intense rivalry with his half-brother Faisal helped to bring about his downfall. He was often seen as a polar opposite of Faisal, where Faisal was outwardly religious and seen as economical, Saud was wasteful, and was reputed to be a drinker. He was deposed in 1964 by a family coup with the backing of the ulema. Althought Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud would have been next in line for succession, he instead supported his half-brother Faisal as the new king. Saud went into exile in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1966 Saud was invited to live in Egypt by president Nasser. Saud died in Athens, Greece in 1969. After his abdication, he was generally not mentioned in Saudi Arabia, with numerous institutions bearing his name being renamed, and his reign being given passing if any reference in official history books. Likewise, his sons were marginalized within the royal family. Saud of Saudi Arabia Saud of Saudi Arabia Saud ms:Saud ibn ’Abd al ’Aziz Al Sa’ud

Faisal of Saudi Arabia


- Khalid
- Turki
- Saud
- Muhammad
- Haifa Faisal bin Abdelaziz Al Saud (1903 or 1906—March 25, 1975) (Arabic: فيصل بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود) was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. Faisal was born in Riyadh, the third son of Ibn Saud. Faisal's mother was Tarfa bint Abdullah ibn Abd al-Latif al-Shaykh, who Ibn Saud married in 1902 after capturing Riyadh. Thus, Faisal was descended from Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab through his mother whose father was one of Ibn Saud's principal religious teachers. Being one of Ibn Saud's eldest sons, Faisal was delegated numerous responsibilities during Ibn Saud's quest to consolidate control over Arabia. In 1925, Faisal, in command of an army of Saudi loyalists, won a decisive victory in the Hijaz. In return, he was made the Governor of Hijaz the following year. After the new Saudi kingdom was formalized, Faisal received the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1932. After the United Nations partition of Palestine, Faisal called on his father to break relations with the United States, but he was overruled. When Saud's financial ineptness resulted in the bankruptcy of the nation, Faisal was appointed regent, assuming office on March 4, 1964. On November 2 of that year, he became king after his brother Saud abdicated his rule, and left for Greece. Faisal's rule saw oil production increase, which along with the rise in price of oil, gave the Saudi government riches not seen in the past. This allowed Faisal to introduce various reforms, including girls schools and television. Despite opposition from some Saudis to these reforms, Faisal sought to modernize while remain in the fold of Islam, as he would put it. Faisal's rule also saw an increased emphasis on Islamic identity in the political realm, which was in part due to the rising influence of socialist and pan-Arabic doctrines, popular in places like Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. He was devastated when Israel won the 1967 Six-Day War and he purportedly never smiled again. Although the aftermath gave Saudi Arabia increased importance in the Arab world. Apparently, King Faisal was an avid reader of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and financed their wide dissemination throughout the kingdom and the Arab world. He even gave Henry Kissinger a copy, during a state visit in 1974. In 1973, Faisal began a program intended to increase the military power of Saudi Arabia. On October 17, he withdrew Saudi oil from world markets, quadrupling the price. Faisal's action was the primary force behind the 1973 energy crisis. In 1974 he was named Time magazine's Man of the Year.

Assassination

Man of the Year On March 25, 1975, Faisal was shot and killed by his brother's son Faisal bin Musad. It has been speculated that he wanted to avenge his elder brother Khalid, who died in a clash with security forces in 1965. Although there have been some conspiracy theories, an investigation found that Prince Faisal bin Musad supposedly acted alone. Prince Musad was with a Kuwaiti delegation who were waiting to meet the king. King Faisal had bent forward to greet him, but the Prince was reported to have pulled out a pistol and shot King Faisal three times in the face. Prince Faisal Ibn Musad was captured directly after the attack and declared officially insane. He was later found guilty of regicide and in June 1975 he was beheaded in the public square in Riyadh. Faisal was succeeded by his half-brother Khalid.

Family

Faisal's sons have held and continue to hold important positions in Saudi government. Prince Khalid is the Governor of Asir Province in south-western Saudi Arabia. Another son, Turki ibn Faisal al-Saud served as head of Saudi intellegence and in numerous diplomatic posts. Saud ibn Faisal al-Saud is the minister of foreign affairs. A grandson Amr ibn Muhammad al-Faisal is a well-known columnist in the Arab World.

Other

The city of Lyallpur in Pakistan was renamed Faisalabad in 1979 in his honor. The Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan is named after him as well. The Main Highway in Karachi was renamed Shahrah-e-Faisal; a residential area close to Karachi Airport was renamed Shah Faisal Colony. Faisal of Saudi Arabia Faisal of Saudi Arabia Faisal of Saudi Arabia Faisal ms:Faisal ibn ’Abd al ’Aziz Al Sa’ud ja:ファイサル (サウジアラビア王)

Khalid of Saudi Arabia

Khalid bin Abdul Aziz (Arabic: خالد بن عبد العزيز ; b. 1912–June 13, 1982) was King of Saudi Arabia from the assassination of King Faisal in 1975 until his own death in 1982. Khalid was named Crown Prince in 1965, after his older brother (and only full brother) Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz declined a place in the succession. He was not very interested in politics and gave effective control of the country to his brother Crown Prince Fahd. Khalid's preparation for ruling a modern state included his accompanying Faisal on foreign missions and representing Saudi Arabia at the United Nations. He was more liberal in terms of informing the press of the rationale behind foreign policy decisions. The king's first diplomatic coup was the conclusion in April 1975 of a demarcation agreement concerning the Al Buraymi Oasis, where the frontiers of Abu Dhabi, Oman, and Saudi Arabia meet. Claims and counterclaims over this frontier had exacerbated relations among them for years. The conclusion of negotiations under Khalid added to his stature as a statesman. In a reorganisation of the Council of Ministers in 1975, Khalid named Crown Prince Fahd deputy prime minister. In 1976 the strains of office began to tell on Khalid, forcing him to return to the United States for successful open-heart surgery in Cleveland, Ohio. Khalid asked President Carter to sell advanced fighter planes to Saudi Arabia to assist in countering communist aggression in the area. The first delivery of the sixty F-15s under the agreement approved by Carter arrived in the kingdom in 1982. Some foreign observers thought traditionalism was no longer a strong force in Saudi Arabia. This idea was disproved when at least 500 dissidents invaded and seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca on November 20, 1979. He decided to bring in foreign labour to help with the country's development. A relatively easygoing but pious man, like many members of the House of Saud he died of a heart attack. He had purchased a Boeing 747 with an operating room should he be stricken while on his travels. He was succeeded by Fahd. Notable achievements included the institution of the second "Five-Year Plan" in Saudi history, which aimed to build up Saudi infrastructure and health care. He also called numerous summits and inaugurated the Gulf Co-operation Council in 1981. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Khalid Military City were both named after him. Khalid of Saudi Arabia Khalid of Saudi Arabia Khalid ms:Khalid ibn ’Abd al ’Aziz Al Sa’ud

Sultan bin Abdul Aziz


- Khalid
- Bandar
- Fahad
- Turki
- Saud
- Nayef
- Ahmed Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud () (born January 5, 1928 in Riyadh) is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and First Deputy Prime Minister. He received his early education in religion, modern culture and diplomacy along with his brothers at the royal court. Prince Sultan was appointed Governor of Riyadh in 1947. He became Minister of Agriculture in 1953 and Minister of Communications in 1955. It was during this period that he oversaw the construction of the Kingdom's rail link between Dammam and Riyadh, as well as the building of roads and other transport links. He has been the Minister of Defence and Aviation since 1962. In this role, Prince Sultan has presided over the development of Saudi Arabia's army, navy and airforce, providing the Kingdom with a modern, well-equipped and defence capability. In 1982 was named by his full brother King Fahd as Second Deputy Prime Minister, the position Fahd and King Abdullah each held immediately before becoming Crown Prince. On August 1st, 2005, he became the crown prince as a result of King Fahd's death despite being rumoured to "to get on very badly" with the new king. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4735505.stm] Prince Sultan is also the inspector general for the kingdom, and is Chairman of the Board of Saudi Arabia's national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines. His son, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, while another son, Prince Khalid bin Sultan, was a key Saudi general in the 1991 Gulf War. He is one of the Sudairi Seven, seven close-knit sons of King Abdul Aziz "ibn Saud" by Hassa bint Ahmad Sudairi. Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, the Interior Minister, and Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh, are among the others. Prince Sultan denied the United States use of Saudi bases to stage military strikes on Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, stating that his government "will not accept in [Saudi Arabia] even a single soldier who will attack Muslims or Arabs." On 15th August 2002, he was one of three Saudi princes sued for allegedly helping to finance the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001, the other two being Prince Turki bin Faisal and Prince Mohammed bin Faisal.

External links


- [http://www.saudinf.com/main/b472.htm Saudi Info website]
- [http://www.saudiairlines.com/aboutus/dgmessage.jsp Hagiography from Saudi Arabian Airlines]
- [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/32968774-4B27-4A5B-9C72-B0B382948A24.htm King Fahd's death, succession] Category:1928 births Category:Saudi Arabian politicians Category:Saudi royal family Category:Current heirs apparent

Nayef bin Abdul Aziz

Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz is one of the six surviving members of the Sudairi Seven, all sons of Ibn Saud and Hussa bint Ahmad Al Sudairi, making him one of the most powerful members of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud. Born in the city of Taif in 1934. Positions held include:
- Governor of Riyadh, 1953-1954
- Appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior 1970
- Minister of State for Internal Affairs, 1970 and President, Supreme Council for Information;
- Appointed Minister of the Interior since 1975. With the death of his brother King Fahd on August 1, 2005, Prince Nayef became technically the third most powerful man in Saudi Arabia. He is more active in the government than the nominally senior surviving member of the "Sudairi Seven," the elderly and ailing Crown Prince Sultan. The Ministry of the Interior oversees public security, coast guards, civil defence, fire stations, border police, special security and investigative functions, including criminal investigation and is responsible for controlling the clergy within the kingdom. Internal security has never been more important than it is today to the kingdom due to the fact that the country is a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. His monetary support for the Palestinians has been high-profile. Nayef is the supervisor general of the Saudi Committee for the Al Quds Intifada, which helps the families of suicide bombers. Prince Nayef, distributed $33 million to deserving Palestinians. Nayef appears to have made himself irremovable. He is in a position to remind his brothers, Crown Prince Sultan and King Abdullah, that regardless of who makes the public statements, it is he who maintains the stability of the kingdom, and his organization that, keeps the royal family in power. Nayef's influence is truly remarkable. It was Nayef, not Saud, who went to Iran for the groundbreaking meeting to renew relations with the revolutionary regime in April 2001. Similarly, it is the job of the information minister to control the content of all media in the Kingdom. Since 1995, the position has been held by Dr. Fouad bin Abdul Salaam bin Muhammad Al Farsi--but Prince Nayef heads the Supreme Council on Information. Following the revelation that a member of the royal family had indirectly funded a 9/11 hijacker, Prince Nayef has resurrected the view that the Jews were behind the attacks. An article in the English edition of the Saudi newsweekly Ain Al-Yaqeen of 29 November, 2002, states: Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said that he greatly suspected that these terrorist organizations have relation with foreign intelligence that worked against Arab and Muslims, topped by Israeli intelligence. They wanted to attack us at our bases and tenets, notably our religion and the Palestinian issue. Nayef took the decision to begin issuing women with identity cards in November 2001. The Directorate of Civil Status issued the first identity cards to women on 3 November, thus making it much easier for women to carry out transactions - financial, legal and social - and is therefore considered a highly significant move. Previously women were registered on their husband's or father's identity cards. Category:Saudi royal family Category:Saudi Arabian politicians

Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz

Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz (Arabic: احمد بن عبد العزيز ) is one of the Sudairi Seven, a son of Ibn Saud and Hussa bint Ahmad Al Sudairi. He serves as the Deputy Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia. Category: Saudi royal family Category:Saudi Arabian politicians

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia


- Mutaib bin Abdullah
- Khaled bin Abdullah
- Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah
- Faisal bin Abdullah
- Fahda bint Abdullah
- Nawaf bint Abdullah
- Aliya bint Abdullah
- Adela bint Abdullah
- Saifa bint Abdullah
- Abeer bint Abdullah
- Sara bint Abdullah Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (Arabic: عبد الله بن عبد العزيز آل سعود, born 1924) became the King of Saudi Arabia on August 1, 2005. Formerly known as Crown Prince Abdullah, he succeeded the throne following the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. He had previously acted as de facto regent and thus ruler of Saudi Arabia since 1995 when King Fahd was incapacitated by a major stroke. He was formally enthroned on August 3, 2005, but he inherited the title of King immediately after the death of his half-brother. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4734175.stm]One of his sons, Prince Mutaib serves as a deputy commander in the Saudi National Guard. Abdullah also serves as Prime Minister and Commander of the Saudi National Guard. He is one of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

Early Life

Abdullah was born in Riyadh to Ibn Saud's eighth wife, Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim of the Abde section of the Shammar tribe. She had earlier been married to the 10th Rashidi amir, Saud, who was killed in 1920. Abdullah received his early education that was in the Royal Court at the Princes' School from religious authorities and intellectuals. He was given the position of Commander of the Saudi National Guard in 1963, and the position of First Deputy Prime Minister in June 1982. Abdullah has four wives, seven sons and fifteen daughters.

Religion

King Abdullah is a devout Muslim and follows the Salafi understanding of Islam which is a strict intrepretation of the religion based on the teachings of the first three generations of Muslims, and is said to have meetings with leaders of Saudi Arabia's religious establishment on a weekly basis to garner advice and guidance.

Governance and foreign policy

In recent years the image of moderation cultivated by Abdullah has been compromised, as Saudi Arabian schools are alleged to teach anti-Semitism and Saudi Arabia's Royal Family funds madrassas around the world. Saudi Arabia was also a major backer of the Taliban in Afghanistan. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates withdrew recognition of the Taliban government. In 2002, Abdullah floated the so-called Arab Peace Initiative, what many considered at the time to be an opening salvo in a Saudi attempt to make peace with Israel. The plan called for Israel to cede almost the entirety of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority and to recognize the PA's sovereignty, with the Authority's capital in East Jerusalem. In exchange, Abdullah offered unprecedented concessions, including the ending of the Arab-Israeli conflict, a peace treaty with Israel, recognition of the state of Israel (despite the 1947 UN Partition Plan approved by the UN General Assembly), and the establishment of "normal relations" between Arab states and Israel. The plan was dropped after criticism from both Arab states and Israel. Recently, Abdullah has visited Egypt, Syria and Jordan in what the Saudi Arabian government calls "an attempt to restart the stalled Middle East peace process and promote Arab unity and cooperation."

Philanthropy

Abdullah paid for the surgery of a pair of Polish conjoined twins which took place at the King Abd al-Aziz Medical City in Riyadh on 3rd January 2005. He had heard about the twins from a doctor who found the information about the twins on the Internet. 14-month-old Daria and Olga Kolacz were successfully separated after the surgery which took 15 hours. Abdullah has established two libraries, one in Riyadh (the King Abdulaziz Library) and another in Casablanca, Morocco.

Relationship with the United States

Casablanca, Morocco] In October 1976, as Abdullah was being groomed for greater responsibility in Riyadh, he was sent to the United States to meet with then-President Gerald Ford. He again travelled to the United States in October 1987, meeting then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. In September of 1998, Abdullah made a state visit to the United States to meet in Washington, DC with then-President Bill Clinton. He returned again in September of 2000 to attend millennium celebrations at the United Nations in New York, New York. Since then Abdullah has visited America many times, and there are reports that the Bush family, including President George W. Bush, consider Abdullah to be a great friend — both of America and the Bush family.

On terrorism

George W. Bush On the second anniversary of the September 11 attack on the United States, the then-prince wrote a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, which ended with: :"God Almighty, in His wisdom, tests the faithful by allowing such calamities to happen. But He, in His mercy, also provides us with the will and determination, generated by faith, to enable us to transform such tragedies into great achievements, and crises that seem debilitating are transformed into opportunities for the advancement of humanity. I only hope that, with your cooperation and leadership, a new world will emerge out of the rubble of the World Trade Center: a world that is blessed by the virtues of freedom, peace, prosperity and harmony."

See also


- List of national leaders
- Philanthropist Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud ja:アブドゥッラー・ビン＝アブドゥルアズィーズ・アッ＝サウード ms:Abdullah ibn ’Abd al ’Aziz Al Sa’ud jhjhfjgj

Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud


- Al-Waleed Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (Arabic: طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ) (b. 1935), sometimes called "The Red Prince", is a member of the House of Saud and a brother to King Fahd. He was one of a group of reformers within the royal family known as the Free Princes. In 1958 he wrote a proposed constitution for Saudi Arabia which would have created a constitutional monarchy and expanded political rights. He even began to assemble an elected advisory committee, but his ideas were rejected by the king, and religious leaders in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa declaring his constitution to be contrary to Islamic law. In 1961 the kingdom revoked his passport and attempted to silence him, but he expatrioted to Egypt and declared himself a socialist. There, influenced by Gamal Abdel Nasser, Talal continued to push for reform and criticise the leadership of the Kingdom. In 1964 Talal agreed to temper his criticisms in exchange for permission to reenter Saudi Arabia. He is now a successful businessman and prominent philanthropist. Talal married Mona as-Sohl, the daughter of Riad as-Sohl, Lebanon's first prime minister after its independence.

External links

[http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=97433 Political reform essential for Saudi Arabia, says Prince Talal] (Gulf News Online, September 2003) Category:Saudi royal family Category:1935 births

November 9

November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining.

Events


- 694 - Hispano-Visigothic king Egica accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery.
- 1282 - Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon.
- 1492 - Peace of Etaples between Henry VII & Charles VIII.
- 1494 - Family de' Medici become rulers of Florence.
- 1520 - Danish King Christian II executes 82 in the Stockholm Bloodbath.
- 1729 - Spain, France & England sign the Treaty of Seville.
- 1764 - Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, is turned over to forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet.
- 1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup of 18 Brumaire.
- 1848 - Robert Blum, German revolutionary, executed in Vienna
- 1851 - Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George McClellan was removed.
- 1872 - The Great Boston Fire of 1872.
- 1887 - The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
- 1888 - Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.
- 1906 - Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country (to inspect progress on the Panama Canal).
- 1907 - The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.
- 1918 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.
- 1918 - Kurt Eisner, Provisional National Council Minister-President, declares Bavaria to be a republic.
- 1921 - Albert Einstein awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect.
- 1923 - In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crush the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup is the work of the Nazis.
- 1932 - Riots between conservative and socialist supporters in Switzerland kill 12 and injure 60.
- 1937 - Japanese troops take control of Shanghai, China.
- 1938 - Kristallnacht, Nazi Germany's first large-scale act of physical anti-Jewish violence, begins.
- 1940 - Premiere of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez in Barcelona, Spain.
- 1953 - Cambodia becomes independent from France.
- 1960 - Robert McNamara is named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post — quitting a month later to join the newly-elected John F. Kennedy administration.
- 1961 - Neil A. Armstrong records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587km/h flying a X-15.
- 1963 - At Miike in Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458, and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning. On the same day, a three-train disaster in Yokohama, also in Japan, kills more than 160 people.
- 1965 - Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
- 1965 - Catholic Worker member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
- 1967 - Apollo program: NASA launches the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft from Cape Kennedy.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States to not hear a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
- 1971 - John List, an accountant from Westfield, New Jersey murders his mother, wife and three children. He then hides under a new identity for 18 years.
- 1986 - Romania: Election of Patriarch Teoctist Arǎpaşu/Theoctist
- 1989 - Cold War: Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to freely travel to West Germany.
- 1993 - Stari Most, the "old bridge" in Bosnian Mostar built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing.
- 1994 - Discovery of the chemical element Darmstadtium.
- 1996 - UN Security Council Resolution 1078 calls on members to prepare for possible military intervention in Eastern Zaire.
- 1997 - BBC News 24 begins broadcasting at 17:30 GMT.
- 1998 - Brokerage houses are ordered to pay US$1.03 billion to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for their price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.
- 2003 - During the holy month of Ramadan, a suicide-terrorist attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, kills 17 people.
- 2003 - Rebel Youth Network Organizing Committee formed in Toronto.
- 2004 - Mozilla Firefox 1.0 released. This has become one of Microsoft Internet Explorer's biggest competitors.
- 2004 - The long-awaited Xbox game Halo 2 is released, bringing in US$75 million from pre-orders alone.
- 2004 - John Ashcroft and Don Evans resign their posts as U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Commerce respectively.
- 2005 - The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
- 2005 - Suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 56 people.
- 2005 - Muriel Degauque becomes the first Belgian female suicide bomber, wounding one in Iraq.

Births


- 1414 - Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg (d. 1486)
- 1522 - Martin Chemnitz, German theologian (d. 1586)
- 1664 - Henry Wharton, English writer (d. 1695)
- 1717 - Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German classical scholar and archaeologist (d. 1768)
- 1721 - Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (d. 1770)
- 1731 - Benjamin Banneker, American scientist (d. 1806)
- 1802 - Elijah P. Lovejoy, American abolitionist (d. 1837)
- 1810 - Bernhard von Langenbeck, German surgeon (d. 1887)
- 1818 (N.S.) - Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (d. 1883)
- 1825 - A.P. Hill, American Confederate general (d. 1865)
- 1841 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d. 1910)
- 1853 - Stanford White, American architect (d. 1906)
- 1869 - Marie Dressler, Canadian actress (d. 1934)
- 1873 - Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist (d. 1941)
- 1877 - Enrico De Nicola, Italian politician (d. 1959)
- 1877 - Allama Iqbal, Indian philosopher and poet (d. 1938)
- 1879 - Milan Sufflay, Croatian politician (d. 1931)
- 1880 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect (d. 1960)
- 1883 - Edna May Oliver, American actress (d. 1942)
- 1885 (N.S.) - Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian writer (d. 1922)
- 1885 - Hermann Weyl, German mathematician (d. 1955)
- 1886 - Ed Wynn, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Jean Monnet, French internationalist (d. 1979)
- 1892 - Mabel Normand, American actress (d. 1930)
- 1895 - Mae Marsh, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1897 - Ronald George Wreyford Norrish British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1902 - Anthony Asquith, British film director (d. 1968)
- 1905 - Erika Mann, German writer (d. 1969)
- 1913 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
- 1915 - Sargent Shriver, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
- 1918 - Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the United States (d. 1996)
- 1923 - Alice Coachman, American athlete
- 1923 - Dorothy Dandridge, American actress (d. 1965)
- 1928 - Anne Sexton, American poet (d. 1974)
- 1929 - Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 - Ingvar Carlsson, Swedish politician
- 1934 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (d. 1996)
- 1935 - Bob Gibson, baseball player
- 1936 - Daniel Robert Graham, Governor of Florida
- 1936 - Mikhail Tal, Latvian chess player (d. 1992)
- 1937 - Roger McGough, English poet
- 1941 - Tom Fogerty, American musician (Creedence Clearwater Revival) (d. 1990)
- 1942 - Tom Weiskopf, American golfer
- 1951 - Lou Ferrigno, American bodybuilder and actor
- 1959 - Thomas Quasthoff, German bass-baritone
- 1959 - Tony Slattery, British actor and comedian
- 1961 - Jill Dando, British television presenter (d. 1999)
- 1964 - Robert Duncan McNeill, American actor
- 1965 - Bryn Terfel, Welsh baritone
- 1968 - Nazzareno Carusi, Italian pianist
- 1970 - Chris Jericho, American professional wrestler, actor and musician
- 1970 - Susan Tedeschi, American musician
- 1972 - Corin Tucker, American singer (Sleater-Kinney)
- 1974 - Alessandro Del Piero, Italian footballer
- 1978 - Sisqó, American actor and singer (Dru Hill)
- 1979 - Martin Taylor, English footballer
- 1984 - Delta Goodrem, Australian singer, songwriter, and actress

Deaths


- 959 - Constantine VII, Byzantine Emperor (b. 905)
- 1187 - Emperor Gaozong of China (b. 1107)
- 1208 - Sancha of Castile, queen of Alfonso II of Aragon (b. 1155)
- 1504 - King Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
- 1623 - William Camden, English historian (b. 1551)
- 1641 - Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, Governor of the Netherlands and Bishop of Toledo
- 1766 - Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Dutch composer (b. 1692)
- 1770 - John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician
- 1778 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (b. 1720)
- 1809 - Paul Sandby, English cartographer and painter (b. 1725)
- 1848 - Robert Blum, German politician and member of the National Assembly (executed) (b. 1810)
- 1911 - Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (b. 1853)
- 1918 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (b. 1880)
- 1937 - Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1866)
- 1940 - Stephen Peter Alencastre, Portuguese Catholic prelate (b. 1876)
- 1940 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
- 1942 - Edna May Oliver, American actress (b. 1883)
- 1944 - Frank Marshall, American chess player (b. 1877)
- 1951 - Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (b. 1887)
- 1952 - Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel (b. 1874)
- 1953 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (b. 1914)
- 1970 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France (b. 1890)
- 1988 - John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General and convicted Watergate criminal (b. 1913)
- 1991 - Yves Montand, French actor (b. 1921)
- 1997 - Helenio Herrera, French football player and manager
- 2000 - Hugh Paddick, British actor (b. 1915)
- 2002 - William Schutz, psychologist
- 2003 - Art Carney, American actor (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Gordon Onslow Ford, English painter (b. 1912)
- 2004 - Iris Chang, American author (b. 1968
- 2005 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances


- Roman Catholicism - Dedication of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, Cathedral of the Pope (memorial feast day)
- Also see November 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Cambodia - Independence Day (1953)
- Germany - November 9th is often called Germany's Schicksalstag (day of fate) due to the events of 1848, 1918, 1923, 1938, and 1989.
- Europe - Inventor's Day - in honor of Hedy Lamarr's birthday

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 8 - November 10 - October 9 - December 9 -- listing of all days ko:11월 9일 ms:9 November ja:11月9日 simple:November 9 th:9 พฤศจิกายน

Arabic language

The Arabic language (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. It is spoken throughout the Arab world and is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world. Arabic has been a literary language since at least the 6th century and is the liturgical language of Islam.

Literary and Modern Standard Arabic

The term "Arabic" may refer either to literary Arabic, which no Arab speaks as a mother tongue, or Modern Standard Arabic or to the many spoken varieties of Arabic commonly called "colloquial Arabic." Arabs consider literary Arabic as the standard language and tend to view everything else as mere dialects. Literary Arabic, (Literally: "the most eloquent Arabic language" — ) refers both to the language of present-day media across North Africa and the Middle East and to the more archaic language of the Qur'an. (The expression media here includes most television and radio, and all written matter, including all books, newspapers, magazines, documents of every kind, and reading primers for small children.) "Colloquial" or "dialectal" Arabic refers to the many national or regional dialects/languages derived from Classical Arabic, spoken daily across North Africa and the Middle East, which constitute the everyday spoken language. These sometimes differ enough to be mutually incomprehensible. These dialects are not typically written, although a certain amount of literature (particularly plays and poetry) exists in many of them. They are often used to varying degrees in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows. Literary Arabic or classical Arabic, is the official language of all Arab countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of Diglossia -the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of whatever nationality can be assumed to speak both their local dialect and their school-taught literary Arabic (to an equal or lesser degree). This diglossic situation facilitates code switching in which a speaker switches back and forth unaware between the two varieties of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence. In instances in which Arabs of different nationalities engage in conversation only to find their dialects mutually unintelligible (e.g. a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), both should be able to code switch into Literary Arabic for the sake of communication. Since the written Arabic of today differs from the written Arabic of the Qur'anic era, it has become customary in western scholarship and among non-Arab scholars of Arabic to refer to the language of the Qur'an as Classical Arabic and the modern language of the media and of formal speeches as Modern Standard Arabic. Arabs, on the other hand, often use the term to refer to both forms, thus placing greater emphasis on the similarities between the two. The difference between Arabic of the Qur'anic era and today's Classical Arabic is only in the degree of eloquance. The vocabulary, the syntatic and grammatical rules are the same. Quite a few English words are ultimately derived from Arabic, often through other European languages, especially Spanish, among them every-day vocabulary like sugar (sukkar), cotton (qutn) or magazine (). More recognizable are words like algorithm, algebra, alchemy, alcohol, azimuth, nadir, and zenith (see List of English words of Arabic origin). The Maltese language spoken on the Mediterranean island of Malta is the only surviving European language to derive primarily from Arabic (a North African dialect), though it contains a large number of Italian and English borrowings.

Arabic and Islam

It is sometimes difficult to translate Islamic concepts, and concepts specific to Arab culture, without using the original Arabic terminology. The Qur'an is expressed in Arabic and traditionally Muslims deem it impossible to translate in a way that would adequately reflect its exact meaning—indeed, until recently, some schools of thought maintained that it should not be translated at all. A list of Islamic terms in Arabic covers those terms which are too specific to translate in one phrase. While Arabic is strongly associated with Islam (and is the language of salah), it is also spoken by Arab Christians, Oriental (Sephardic) Jews, and smaller sects such as Iraqi Mandaeans. Even so, a majority of the world's Muslims do not actually speak Arabic, but only know some fixed phrases of Arabic, such as those used in Islamic prayer. However, to counteract this, there is great encouragement for non-Arabic-speaking Muslims to learn the language.

Dialects

See Varieties of Arabic for a fuller overview. "Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken languages or dialects of people throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the Maghreb dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Maltese, though descended from Arabic, is considered a separate language. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding Maghrebis (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media). One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fiih, and North African kayen all mean "there is", and all come from Arabic (yakuun, fiihi, kaa'in respectively), but now sound very different. The major groups are:
- Egyptian Arabic (Egypt) Considered the most widely understood and used "second dialect"
- Maghreb Arabic (Algerian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Tunisian Arabic and western Libyan)
- Levantine Arabic (Western Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and western Jordanian, Cypriot Maronite Arabic)
- Iraqi Arabic or Gulf Arabic (Iraqi, Eastern Syrian, Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabian, Persian Gulf coast from Iraq to Oman including much of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and minorities on the other side) Other varieties include:
- (in Mauritania and Western Sahara)
- Andalusi Arabic (extinct, but important role in literary history)
- Maltese
- Sudanese Arabic (with a dialect continuum into Chad)
- Hijazi Arabic (West Cost of Saudi Arabia, Northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, Western Iraq)
- Najdi Arabic (Najd region of central Saudi Arabia)
- Yemeni Arabic (Yemen to southern Saudi Arabia)

Phonology

The consonant phonemes below reflect the pronunciation of Standard Arabic, which has only three vowels, in short and long variants, namely and . Naturally, considerable allophony occurs.

Consonants

Standard Arabic has 28 consonants: See Arabic alphabet for explanations on the IPA phonetic symbols found in this chart. # is pronounced as by some speakers. This is especially characteristic of the Egyptian and southern Yemeni dialects. In many parts of North Africa and in the Levant, it is pronounced as . # is pronounced only in , the name of God, i.e. Allah. # is usually a phonetic approximant. # In many varieties (if not most), are actually epiglottal (despite what is reported in many earlier works).

Emphatic Consonants

The consonants traditionally known as "emphatic" are either velarised or pharyngealised . In some transcription systems, emphasis is shown by capitalizing the letter e.g. is written ‹D›; in others the letter is underlined or has a dot below it e.g. ‹ḍ›.

Long Consonants

Vowels and consonants can be (phonologically) short or long. Long (geminate) consonants are normally written doubled in Latin transcription (i.e. bb, dd, etc.), reflecting the presence of the Arabic diacritic mark shaddah, which marks lengthened consonants. Such consonants are held twice as long as short consonants. This consonant lengthening is phonemically contrastive: e.g. qabala "he received" and qabbala "he kissed".

Syllable Shape

Arabic has two kinds of syllable: open syllables (CV) and (CVV) - and closed syllables (CVC), (CVVC) and (CVCC). Every syllable begins with a consonant - or else a consonant is borrowed from a previous word through elision – especially in the case of the definite article THE, al (used when starting an utterance) or _l (when following a word), e.g. baytu –l mudiir “house (of) the director”, which becomes bay-tul-mu-diir when divided syllabically. By itself, definite mudiir would be pronounced .

Word Stress

Although word stress is not phonemically contrastive in Standard Arabic, it does bear a strong relationship to vowel length and syllable shape, and correct word stress aids intelligibility. In general, "heavy" syllables attract stress (i.e. syllables of longer duration - a closed syllable or a syllable with a long vowel). In a word with a syllable with one long vowel, the long vowel attracts the stress (e.g. ki-'taab and ‘kaa-tib). In a word with two long vowels, the second long vowel attracts stress (e.g.ma-kaa-'tiib). In a word with a "heavy" syllable where two consonants occur together or the same consonant is doubled, the (last) heavy syllable attracts stress (e.g. ya-ma-’niyy, ka-'tabt, ka-‘tab-na, ma-‘jal-lah, ‘mad-ra-sah, yur-‘sil-na). This last rule trumps the first two: ja-zaa-i-‘riyy. Otherwise, word stress typically falls on the first syllable: ‘ya-man, ‘ka-ta-bat, etc. The Cairo (Egyptian Arabic) dialect, however, has some idiosyncrasies in that a heavy syllable may not carry stress more than two syllables from the end of a word, so that mad-‘ra-sah carries the stress on the second-to-last syllable, as does qaa-‘hi-rah.

Dialectical Phonologies

In some dialects, there may be more or fewer phonemes than those listed in the chart above. For example, non-Arabic is used in the Maghreb dialects as well in the written language mostly for foreign names. Semitic became extremely early on in Arabic before it was written down; a few modern Arabic dialects, such as Iraqi (influenced by Persian) distinguish between and . Interdental fricatives ( and ) are rendered as stops and in some dialects (principally Levantine and Egyptian) and as and in "learned" words from the Standard language. Early in the expansion of Arabic, the separate emphatic phonemes and coallesced into a single phoneme, becoming one or the other. Predictably, dialects without interdental fricatives use exclusively, while those with such fricatives use . Again, in "learned" words from the Standard language, is rendered as in dialects without interdental fricatives. Another key distinguishing mark of Arabic dialects is how they render Standard (a voiceless uvular stop): it retains its original pronunciation in widely scattered regions such as Yemen and Morocco (and among the Druze), while it is rendered in Gulf Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Upper Egypt and less urban parts of the Levant (e.g. Jordan) and as a glottal stop in many prestige dialects, such as those spoken in Cairo, Beirut and Damascus. Thus, Arabs instantly give away their geographical (and class) origin by their pronunciation of a word such as qamar "moon": , or .

Grammar

See Arabic grammar

Alphabet

Arabic alphabet

Main article: Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet derives from the Aramaic script (which variety - Nabataean or Syriac - is a matter of scholarly dispute), to which it bears a loose resemblance like that of Coptic or Cyrillic script to Greek script. Traditionally, there were several differences between the Western (Maghrebi) and Eastern version of the alphabet—in particular, the fa and qaf had a dot underneath and a single dot above respectively in the Maghreb, and the order of the letters was slightly different (at least when they were used as numerals). However, the old Maghrebi variant has been abandoned except for calligraphic purposes in the Maghreb itself, and remains in use mainly in the Quranic schools (zaouias) of West Africa. Arabic, like other Semitic languages, is written from right to left.

Calligraphy

See Arabic calligraphy for a fuller overview. After the definitive fixing of the Arabic script around 786, by Khalil ibn Ahmad al Farahidi, many styles were developed, both for the writing down of the Qur'an and other books, and for inscriptions on monuments as decoration.
Kufic font
Arabic calligraphy has not fallen out of use as in the Western world, and is still considered by Arabs as a major art form; calligraphers are held in great esteem. Being cursive by nature, unlike the Latin alphabet, Arabic script is used to write down a verse of the Qur'an, a Hadith, or simply a proverb, in a spectacular composition. The composition is often abstract, but sometimes the writing is shaped into an actual form such as that of an animal. Two of the current masters of the genre are Hassan Massoudy and [http://arabworld.nitle.org/gallery.php?module_id=7 Khaled Al Saa’i].

Arabic using the Latin alphabet

See Arabic transliteration and Arabic Chat Alphabet for more information. There are a number of different standards of Arabic transliteration: methods of accurately and efficently representing Arabic with the Latin alphabet. The more scientific standards allow the reader to recreate the exact word using the Arabic alphabet. However, these systems are heavily reliant on diacritical marks, which may be difficult to pronounce at first sight. Other, less scientific, systems often use digraphs (like sh and kh), which are usually more simple to read, but sacrifice the definiteness of the scientific systems. During the last few decades and especially since the 1990s, Western-invented text communication technologies have become prevalent in the Arab world, such as personal computers, the World Wide Web, email, Bulletin board systems, IRC, instant messaging and mobile phone text messaging. Most of these technologies originally had the ability to communicate using the Latin alphabet only, and some of them still do not have the Arabic alphabet as an optional feature. As a result, Arabic speaking users communicated in these technologies by transliterating the Arabic text using the Latin script. To handle those Arabic letters that do not have an approximate equivalent in the Latin script, numerals and other characters were appropriated. E.g., the Latin numeral "3" is used to represent the Arabic letter "ع" ("ayn"). There is no universal name for this type of transliteration, but some have named it Arabic Chat Alphabet.

See also


- Learn Standard Arabic WikiBook
- Arabist
- Arabic alphabet
- Arabic calligraphy
- Semitic languages
- Arabic literature
- The Maltese language is closely related to Arabic
- altahmam -- One of the ten non-English words that were voted hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company
- Common phrases in various languages
- Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic

External links


- [http://arabic-media.com/ Arabic-Media] on-line access to Arabic newspapers, radio, and television
- [http://st-takla.org/Learn_Languages/01_Learn_Arabic-ta3leem-3araby/Learn-Arabic_00-index_El-Fehres.html Learn Arabic language online with audio pronunciation] from [http://St-Takla.org St. Takla Egyptian Church]
- [http://www.nicoweb.com/sirpus/learn%20arabic%20course%20mp3.htm Arabic Writing and Reading with MP3]. Arabic Writing and Reading Course Online with MP3 audio.
- [http://pince31.free.fr/lang/arabic/liens.htm Links to learn Arabic language with online course]
- [http://www.madinaharabic.com Arabic language learning course with audio]
- [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=6173 "Antonyms in Arabic are a strange phenomenon" by Tamim al-Barghouti]
- [http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=17 "The Development of Classical Arabic" by Kees Versteegh]
- [http://arabworld.nitle.org/audiovisual.php?module_id=1&selected_feed=118 Wellesley College Professor of Arabic on the forms and dialects of the language]
- [http://www.uga.edu/islam/arabic_windows.html Multilingual Computing in Arabic with Windows, major word processors, web browsers, Arabic keyboards, and Arabic transliteration fonts]
- [http://www.gomideast.com/arabic/index.htm gomideast - Learning to Speak Arabic phrases]
- [http://language-directory.50webs.com/languages/arabic.htm List of online Arabic-related resources] Web references and examples:
- [http://transliteration.org/quran/Pronunciation/Letters/TashP.htm Arabic language pronunciation applet] with audio samples
- [http://www.sunna.info/teaching/ Learn Arabic]
- [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1289272 E2 article]
- [http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/english/ar.htm Sprachprofi]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Arabic-english/ Arabic - English Dictionary]: from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=arb SIL's Ethnologue]
- [http://www.nitle.org/arabworld/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=113 Dialects of Arabic]
- [http://www.muftah-alhuruf.com Muftah-Alhuruf.com]: Write and send Arabic emails without having an Arabic keyboard or operating system. Arabic languages samples:
- [http://www.language-museum.com/a/arabic.php Arabic]
- [http://www.language-museum.com/a/arabic-chadian-spoken.php Arabic Chadian Spoken]
- [http://www.language-museum.com/a/arabic-judeo-iraqi.php Arabic Judeo Iraqi]
- [http://www.language-museum.com/a/arabic-north-levantine-spoken.php Arabic North Levantine Spoken]
- [http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=17 "The Development of Classical Arabic" by Kees Versteegh]
- Category:Arab ko:아랍어 ms:Bahasa Arab ja:アラビア語 simple:Arabic language th:ภาษาอาหรับ

King of Saudi Arabia

This is a list of kings of Saudi Arabia: :King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) (1902/1932-1953) :King Saud, son of King Abdul Aziz (1953-1964) :King Faisal, son of King Abdul Aziz (1964-1975) :King Khalid, son of King Abdul Aziz (1975-1982) :King Fahd, son of King Abdul Aziz (1982-2005) :King Abdullah, son of King Abdul Aziz (2005-) King Abdul Aziz began conquering today's Saudi Arabia in 1902, by restoring his family as emirs of Riyadh. He then proceeded to conquer first the Nejd (1922) and then the Hejaz (1925). He progressed from Sultan of Nejd, to King of Hejaz and Nejd, and finally to King of Saudi Arabia (1932). The other kings have all been sons of his, and all likely immediate successors to King Abdullah are likewise his sons. Sons of Ibn Saud are considered to have primary claim on the Kingship of Saudi Arabia. It is intended that a family assembly choose heirs from their or the next generation at some time in the future, but the line of succession is never set beyond the appointed Crown Prince at any given time. This makes the Saudi Monarchy quite distinct from Western monarchies, which usually feature large, clearly defined royal families and orders of succession. The current Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is Abdullah's half-brother, Prince Sultan. The King of Saudi Arabia is also considered the Head of the House of Saud. It is interesting to note that although Saudi Arabia is ruled by Islamic law and purports to be an Islamic state, many Muslims see a monarchy as being a non-Islamic system of government. This attitude towards monarchy stems from Muhammad's own injunction against hereditary rule, and rather in favor of selecting rulers based on who is most qualified. However, it should also be noted that for most of Islamic history, the caliphate was a hereditary system. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, King ms:Raja Arab Saudi

Riyadh

Riyadh ( ar-Riyāḍ) is the capital of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located in the Najd region. It is situated in the centre of the Arabian peninsula on a large plateau and is home to over 3,500,000 people (14% of the nation's population). Riyadh covers more than 600 square miles (1,554 km²). The city lies in Saudi Arabia's 'central corridor' of development along with Buraydah and Al Kharj in the Ar Riyad administrative division. The other areas of concentrated population are two coastal areas - around Jiddah and Mecca on the Red Sea, and around Jubail and Dhahran on the Persian Gulf. Riyadh is located at 24°42'42" North, 46°43'27" East (24.711667, 46.724167). [http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html] The city is divided into 17 branch municipalities under the control of the Riyadh Municipality and the Riyadh Development Authority, chaired by Riyadh Province Governor Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. Although in a highly arid area the city does receive some rainfall. Five dams store the runoff. There are also 96 wells and 290 miles (467 km) of pipe bringing huge volumes of water from desalination plants on the Persian Gulf.

History

In pre-Islamic times, the settlement at the site was called Hajar. The site is at the confluence of several rivers (now wadis) and much underground water is accessible at the site. The settlement was historically famous for its dates and orchards. Its name derives from the plural of the Arabic rowdhah (place of gardens). The modern name was first applied to only certain parts of the settlement where orchards predominated. Gradually the name was used for the entire settlement. By the end of the 18th century, Riyadh was part of the First Saudi State, with the capital at Diriyah. After the destruction of Diriyah in 1818 by the Turks, the capital moved to Riyadh. Portions of Diriyah, a city made of mud bricks, still exisits. The city was seized in 1902 by Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud. He went on to established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, with Riyadh the capital of the nation. The diplomatic capital did not move unt