King Fahd bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, who died last week at the age of 84, will without doubt be described by historians as the modernizer of the kingdom. From his accession to the throne in 1982, the Saudi monarch had wagered on the modernization of his realm while at the same time remaining faithful to its tribal traditions and its ultra-traditional Islam.
He succeeded in transforming a quasi-feudal country possessing the most important reserves of petroleum on earth into one of the most modern states in the region, a modernity in which nevertheless all the customs and usages, as well as the rigorous form of Islam dear to the Saudis, continue to bring all their weight to bear on daily life. A great ruler, King Fahd gave deep consideration to all the questions affecting the Middle East and initiated a true opening to the Western world, particularly the United States, which he regarded as the kingdom's best ally. Messages of condolence flowed in from countries worldwide following the announcement of his decease, bearing witness to the place he held and the role he played within the international community. The leaders of this world paid him vibrant tributes. In 1995, a cerebral embolism compelled this great "workaholic", who involved himself in the smallest details of state business, and whose first name means "Leopard", reduced his activities and forced him to move about in a wheelchair.
His half-brother, Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdelaziz, had in the last 10 years assumed de facto authority, which ensured a smooth transition on the passing of King Fahd. But the new king faces numerous challenges including, particularly, the struggle against religious extremists in the kingdom and the continuation of reforms undertaken, reforms called for by the international community in the economic, social and political spheres in order to complete the work of modernization begun by his predecessor.
King Fahd modernized the 'land of the black gold' while remaining loyal to traditions and Wahhabi Islam
King Fahd bin Abdelaziz died at dawn on Monday, August 1, at the age of 84, at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, to which he had been admitted two months earlier (May 27) following an acute lung infection. He had ascended the throne in 1982.
During the morning, the Saudi television channels interrupted their transmissions to broadcast recitations of the Koran. Shortly afterwards, Information Minister Ayad bin Amin Madani appeared on television to read a communiqu issued by the royal court. "With deep pain and sorrow, the royal palace announces the decease of King Fahd bin Abdelaziz, 'Servant of the Two Sanctuaries', following an illness. The members of the royal family have recognized Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdelaziz as the sovereign of the country", the communiqu said.
The Saudis, imbued with a rigorist view of Islam, received the news calmly. Correspondents reported that life went on normally in Riyadh, a city of more than four million inhabitants. Ministries and other government offices remained open, and the sole sign of mourning was that the four channels of the state TV, including the one broadcasting in English, interrupted their program schedules to broadcast recitations of the Koran. Stock Exchanges transactions were interrupted for 30 minutes. The people had in any case been expecting the passing of their sovereign in the not-distant future, given the precarious state of his health, although a few days earlier it was announced that he would soon leave hospital.
A reign of 23 years
The fifth king of the House of Saud, Fahd was born in Riyadh in 1921, in the Dira Palace, built by King Abdelaziz in 1910. He was the ninth of the 36 male children fathered by the founder of the dynasty. All biographies stress the important role played by his mother in the upbringing of her children. She had regular meetings with her children, boys and girls, reports say, to closely follow their studies and deal with all matters of daily life.
Fahd received a very religious primary education at the school set up by his father for his sons. He continued his studies at the Saudi Institute of Education, created by the king in 1926 in Mecca after the Hejaz region had been integrated into the rest of the kingdom.
As an adult he acquired a reputation as a bon vivant, a lover of life, of gaming and of travel, and as one who was very open to the Western world. But for a prince of the direct line of the House of Saud, such behavior was inconceivable, and so care was taken to give him responsibility for domestic affairs within the kingdom. In these roles he acquitted himself perfectly, observers say.
In 1953 this liberal prince was appointed minister of education, a newly-created post which he inaugurated. He devoted all his energies to it, laying the basis for an education system which had previously been almost non-existent and which, thanks to his action, now educates 3.2 million students and counts several universities of quality.
He received further cabinet posts. In 1962 he was appointed minister of the interior, and to this post was added that of second deputy prime minister in 1967. In 1975 he was appointed first deputy prime minister, and in the same year a royal decree named him crown prince following the assassination of King Faisal by one of his nephews, who was mentally ill. His brother Khaled was made king. But as Khaled was apolitical and devout, it was Fahd who really held the reins of power. On June 13, 1982, on the death of Khaled, Fahd bin Abdelaziz was proclaimed the fifth king of the Saud dynasty.
Modernizer and guardian of tradition
On his accession, King Fahd made clear his intention of modernizing the country while at the same time remaining faithful to the traditions of Wahhabi Islam. Described as ultra-orthodox, he devoted himself fully to this mission throughout the years of his reign until 1995, when a stroke compelled him to enormously reduce his activities and cede most of his powers to Crown Prince Abdallah.
The modernization of the kingdom involved all spheres of the kingdom's economic, social and cultural life by means of several vanguard development plans. This renaissance made possible the achievement of multiple objectives, including raising citizens' living standards, the diversification of the country's economic resources to industrial and commercial levels, the boosting of the private sector and of numerous infrastructural projects which have completely changed the image of the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia, a quasi-feudal country possessing the most important reserves of oil on the planet, was transformed by Fahd into one of the most modern states in the region. A modernity which continues to be in marked contrast with tribal traditions and a fundamentalist Islam.
In 1986 King Fahd announced officially that his title of 'Majesty' would be replaced by that of 'Servant of the Two Sanctuaries', that is, of Islam's two greatest places of pilgrimage, Mecca and Medina.
Challenges posed by the regional and international situations
Fahd became king only a few days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and three years after two major events had shaken Arabia in 1979: the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, and the seizure of the Great Mosque in Mecca by insurgents also speaking in the name of Islam and criticizing the Saudi royal family.
And in the 1980s Saudi Arabia, the United States and Pakistan mobilized the Muslim world to combat the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Riyadh spent vast sums and thousands of Saudis went to Afghanistan, including a certain Ossama bin Laden, who has since then gained an unenviable reputation. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, Afghanistan was transformed into a training ground for Muslim extremists, jihadis and revolutionaries of many kinds. Meanwhile, Iran and Iraq fought a long and bitter war (1980-88), and in 1990 came the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, without forgetting the war of "others" that bled Lebanon white from 1975 to 1990, in addition to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
All these regional and international circumstances posed a great challenge for a king concerned, above all, to give the best image of his country and to advance it on the path of modernity, while assuming his responsibilities on the regional and international levels. Fahd used all his political acumen, his openness to the West, his friendship with the United States and his commitment to Islam to do his best to help resolve these questions. It was a task that left him little time for repose.
Fahd and the Arab world:Defender of Arab causes
The late king always had the defense of Arab causes very close to his heart and attached a very special importance to the Palestinian cause. In 1981, at a summit of the Arab League, King Fahd proposed a peace plan for the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the eight-point text was rejected because of the opposition of certain Arab leaders, who reproached it for giving implicit recognition to Israel. The proposal provided for an independent Palestinian state including the West Bank and Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, an idea to which Israel was opposed. In return, the states of the region would commit themselves to coexist in peace.
This clause implicitly signified that the Arab states would have to recognize the Jewish state. The proposal was rejected. In 2002, at the Arab League summit in Beirut, Crown Prince Abdallah (now king) proposed a similar plan, offering Israel normal relations in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the Arab territories occupied in 1967, the creation of a Palestinian state and a resolution of the question of Palestinian refugees. This plan, rejected by Israel, received only a lukewarm reception in the United States and Europe.
His private life
King Fahd's private life was veiled in the greatest discretion. It is said that he had three wives and eight sons. His oldest son, Faisal, died in 1999 of a heart attack.
As a perfect Saudi, he had, it is said, a passion for horses and a stable of thoroughbreds.
And he took great enjoyment from traveling, with a particular preference for Marbella, a Spanish resort town on the coast of Andalusia. There he built a white mosque, and there he went each year with an entourage of some 400 persons, which did much to enhance the town's economic prosperity.
Businessmen in Marbella sent their condolences to the royal family for the one who had been a principal motor of their prosperity. "For many years King Fahd came to our commune, transforming it into a place firmly fixed in the national and international spotlight", said the statement issued by the town's Center for Touristic Initiative, representing more than 500 business leaders. The Saudi royal family partly financed the Marbella hospital, where a specially-equipped room was set aside for the sovereign's use.
During the last 10 years King Fahd, once a man who worked indefatigably far into the night, involving himself in the smallest details of his government's activities with an almost nit-picking exactitude, has been on the sideline of affairs. His stroke in 1995 greatly diminished him. Foreign dignitaries were ordinarily allowed only brief encounters with him, in the company of close associates of his. The most recent images of Fahd, who was a great king and a true builder of his country, convey the picture of a monarch seated on a couch, holding out his hand to visitors or sipping coffee.
But history will evoke a truer memory, recalling his achievements for his country and his role in regional and international affairs.
Fahd, 'godfather' of Taef
King Fahd always felt a particular affection for Lebanon, a country where many Saudi families come on vacation. It wasn't only the tourism side that impressed the monarch, but also its economic, commercial and financial development, Lebanon's openness to two worlds, its attachment to democratic values and its harmonious Christian-Muslim relations.
That was why he was at great pains to help Lebanon to emerge from the war, which had so damaged it in every respect. He was the "godfather" of the Taef Agreement, so named for the mountain resort near Mecca where it was signed. The whole Lebanese political class paid tribute to the deceased monarch, recalling his commitment to Lebanon and the vital role he played to ending its long ordeal. President Emile Lahoud expressed great sadness at "the passing of Lebanon's great brother, who defended the Lebanese and contributed to ending the war on their territory. He was a symbol of Arab solidarity and his stances had great influences on a number of international [UN] resolutions".
The speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, sent letters of condolence to the royal family, and the prime minister, Fuad Saniora, recalled especially the king's role in ending the war. "He welcomed the members of the Lebanese Parliament at Taef in 1989, where a solution to the Lebanese internal conflict was found, and this made possible the laying of a foundation for an enduring peace and for national understanding..." MP Saad Hariri, who also has Saudi nationality, stressed "the paternal and fraternal affection felt by the late king for Lebanon, its state and government, in particular the martyred former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. King Fahd supported Lebanon and its people in the most difficult moments without ever abandoning his commitment". On the announcement of the monarch's death, MP Hariri went immediately to Riyadh.
Former House Speaker Hussein Husseini, who played a very active role at Taef, expressed "the gratitude of the Lebanese" towards Fahd bin Abdelaziz who, he said, "had an unforgettable role in the forging of peace in Lebanon". An official three-day mourning period was decreed in Lebanon, with the closure of public administrations and banks on August 2, the day of the funeral. A delegation of the highest level, led by President Lahoud and grouping the House speaker, prime minister, MPs, and the presidents of the Press and Journalists' associations, Mohammad Baalbaki and Melhem Karam, traveled to Riyadh for the funeral.
A simple funeral and worldwide condolences
The late King Fahd was laid to rest in an austere ceremony in Riyadh in line with Saudi traditions.
His final journey started from the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, where he died, and ended at a public cemetery in the center of the Saudi capital after prayers attended by the ruling family and a host of Arab leaders.
Covered by the last abaya (the traditional Arab robe) he had worn, without a coffin, the body was carried in an ambulance, without a military escort, from the hospital to Imam Turki bin Abdallah Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, for the funeral prayers, held in the afternoon.
Sheikh Abdelaziz Al Sheikh, the grand mufti of the kingdom, led the prayers for the late monarch. King Abdallah, the newly-proclaimed monarch, led the mourners.
The "prayer for the dead" during which mourners remain standing was recited following afternoon prayers, in a ceremony replicated in other mosques across the kingdom, where the "prayer for the departed" was read.
Ordinary citizens also took part in the funeral service, albeit without chanting slogans or raising flags, in line with local tradition.
The body was then ferried again in the ambulance to the Al-Oud cemetery some two kilometers away, a public cemetery where Fahd's four predecessors as monarchs and other members of the Al Saud ruling family are nonetheless buried.
Arab and Muslim dignitaries attending the funeral were not present at the burial. Only ruling family members and Saudi citizens were on hand as the body was lowered into an unmarked grave that was covered by earth, in keeping with the tradition of the strict Wahhabi doctrine of Islam which is predominant in Saudi Arabia.
At the cemetery, Al Saud family members gathered under a sea of bright umbrellas shading them from the blazing summer heat for the burial ceremony.
Muslim leaders offered condolences at the mosque, while other foreign dignitaries and leaders who came after the funeral paid their respects at the royal court. Emphasizing the close ties Fahd forged with the Western world, French President Jacques Chirac and Britain's Prince Charles traveled to Riyadh to pay their last respects. Also present was US Vice-President Dick Cheney, leading a delegation.
King Fahd's rule was marked by close links with the United States, which climaxed during the 1991 Gulf war to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait, before they took a blow following the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudi.
Scores of other Arab and Muslim leaders, including Jordanian King Abdallah II, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President Zein al-Abidin of Tunisia and Afghan President Hamid Karzai flocked to the mosque, which can accommodate up to 15,000 people.
"The Arab and Muslim world has lost an exceptional leader who did not spare any effort in order to unify Arab and Muslim ranks and defend their identity," King Abdallah II said.
Other heads of state included Syrian President Bashar Assad, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bahrain's King Hamad and Oman's Sultan Kabous bin Sad.
The new king, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, received condolences from world dignitaries after the funeral.
Musharraf said "King Fahd was a great leader of the Muslim world... He played an active role in the emancipation and betterment of the Muslim" nation, while Karzai praised him for supporting the "jihad" (holy war) against his country's 1979-1989 Soviet occupation.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan paid tribute to a statesman who had attended the world body's inaugural meeting in 1945, while US President George W. Bush telephoned King Abdallah and offered his congratulations.
Across the Arab world governments voiced their sadness and announced periods of mourning. An Arab summit due to be held in Egypt was postponed.
Arab leaders mourned the death of King Fahd as a major loss for the Muslim world, remembering him as a great monarch who will go down in history as a tireless defender of Arab causes.
From Morocco to Yemen, tributes poured in for the man who ruled Saudi Arabia during the most turbulent period in its history.
While Fahd may be remembered for the close relationship Riyadh forged with the United States, he was also active in foreign policy within the region, promoting peace plans for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However perhaps his greatest achievement in this respect was bringing Lebanese MPs to the Saudi mountain resort of Taef in 1989 to hammer out an accord which ended 15 years of civil war.
President Mubarak, who had called for the Arab summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss the threat of regional terrorism after bombings last month in the Egyptian resort, ordered three days of mourning.
The Cairo-based Arab League praised "a great man [who] played an important role defending the interests of the Arab and Muslim world as well as defending the religion of Islam," said a statement from Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
The supreme leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammad Mahdi Akef, implored God to "grant... His great mercy and a place of choice in paradise" to the guardian of Mecca and Medina.
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan regretted "with deep sadness and sorrow" the death of King Fahd, declaring a week of mourning.
In Beirut, the government ordered three days of official mourning and the closure of public buildings to "honor the memory of a great man who always gave support to Lebanon."
President Lahoud said the death of King Fahd was a "great loss for the Arab and Muslim world".
Lebanese observers recalled the substantial material assistance, notably in the form of food, water and medical supplies, provided by King Fahd during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Saudis pledge allegiance to new king
On the day following the funeral, Saudi clerics, tribal chiefs and officials pledged allegiance to King Abdallah bin Abdelaziz in a ceremony seen as a public endorsement of the new monarch.
King Abdallah and the new Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdelaziz received prominent Saudi figures at a Riyadh palace after receiving condolences from foreign dignitaries.
The new king was swarmed by important figures and some less prominent citizens in a sea of red-and-white checkered headdresses, showing a public endorsement of the new leaders in line with the kingdom's religious tradition.
"This is a historic day... in which the Saudi people will express their complete unity" with the ruling family, said a commentary on state Saudi television which aired the ceremony.
Rulers of Saudi Arabia, whose entire system is based on Islamic law, see the pledge of allegiance based on the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad as akin to a public plebiscite.
The process consists in visiting the new ruler and his crown prince to greet them and offer condolences for the demise of the departed monarch. Visitors kiss the right shoulder of the king, the traditional sign of allegiance.
Before the allegiance ceremony, King Abdallah received President Jacques Chirac, Swedish King Carl Gustaf XVI, German President Horst Koehler, Swiss President Samuel Schmid and Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka and Britain's Prince Charles.
Saudi Arabia's grand mufti called on citizens to rally behind King Abdallah and his crown prince, marking the endorsement of the official religious establishment.
Saudi citizens also showed their allegiance to the new 82-year-old king by visiting ruling family members who serve as governors in provinces across the vast country.
The Saudi press splashed pictures of Fahd's funeral under emotional headlines.
The English-language daily Arab News said in an editorial that King Abdallah's accession after Fahd's death "will mean one thing only... continuity," because the new king had long been running state affairs.
The paper said Saudi policies would not change regarding stability on world oil markets, creating jobs for Saudis, working toward peace in the Middle East and pursuing the "determination to crush terrorism".
Under King Abdallah: Saudi Arabia in good hands
Crown Prince Abdallah, 82, has succeeded King Fahd on the Saudi throne. Born in 1924 and only three years younger than King Fahd, his half-brother, he was the de facto ruler for 10 years following the king's stroke in 1995. The transition should have little impact on the policies of the world's largest oil-exporting country, a close ally of Washington.The new king, Abdallah bin Abdelaziz, has designated his brother, Prince Sultan, as his direct successor. In his first royal decree, he confirmed all members of the Council of Ministers in their posts, including Prince Sultan, who remains minister of defense and aviation, in addition to be appointed first deputy prime minister. The new ruler had yet to select the kingdom's number three or to submit his accession to the validation of the Council of Ulema.
Abdallah thus inherited the country he had in fact been leading for a decade. He enjoys real popularity in the Arab world, and as a man of piety and probity, he has been spared the accusations of corruption directed at the regime. Those close to him say he prefers isolation and meditation at his retreat in the desert, to the pomp of palaces and Mediterranean yachts beloved of some Saudi princes.
Unlike King Fahd and Crown Prince Sultan, Abdallah is not a member of the influential "Soudayri Seven" clan, the seven sons of the favorite wife of King Abdelaziz, Hassa Soudayri, who direct the ministries of Defense, the Interior and Foreign Affairs. That won't in any way prevent him from being a monarch worthy of the name and of fully assuming his responsibilities, as he proved during his 10 years of regency.
At the present time, this is one of the central questions asked.
"He was once thought to be anti-American", said one analyst, "but though he is deeply patriotic and opposed to the United States on several fronts, he has nonetheless succeeded in establishing cordial relations with the Washington, which he regards as the best guarantee of the kingdom's stability".
White House spokesman Scott McClellan indicated, "We have a close partnership and good relations with Saudi Arabia, and the president considers King Abdallah a friend". And observers point out that Abdallah is one of the very few statesmen ever to receive an invitation to visit President Bush at his Texas ranch, something considered to be a particular sign of presidential favor.
A senior official of the State Department indicated the Administration did not expect any change in its relations with Riyadh. "Abdallah is someone with whom we have very good relations. Because of King Fahd's long illness, he was already directing the kingdom's policy, and we're accustomed to working with him".
The development of those relations will nevertheless be watched carefully, especially because of the acute tensions that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001, from the fact that 15 of the 19 "kamikazes" were Saudis. In addition, Abdallah refused to allow the US to use Saudi territory during its invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led the Americans to transfer to Qatar their troops stationed in Saudi Arabia since1990, with the assent of King Fahd, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.
Many challenges
Ensuring the continuity of a mission of regency which he has fulfilled for 10 years, King Abdallah will have multiple challenges and problems to face. Among these essential tasks is the pursuit of the struggle against Muslim extremists, an action called for by Washington along with the rest of the Western world. In 1995, 1996 and 2003 the kingdom was the target of numerous murderous suicide attacks, while Ossama bin Laden, chief of the Al-Qaeda network and stripped of his Saudi nationality, has sworn to overthrow the House of Saud, which he describes as "the continuation of the Crusades".
With the bloody attacks in Riyadh, the kingdom was struck by the extremists for the first time. Abdallah hit back hard at them. His struggle with Al-Qaeda, in which he showed no mercy, allayed the tensions with Washington, and his religious legitimacy enabled him to declare war on the religious extremists without being denounced as a traitor to Islam.
The new monarch will also continue his action to bring about internal reforms, both economic and social. During the last few years he has placed economic realities squarely before his people, affirming that the days of abundance are over and pressing the private sector to take its rightful place in the market economy.
In the same way, under international pressure, he will continue to initiate political reforms, although in small doses, in a regime based on tribalism and theocracy. He has already held partial municipal elections and increased the powers of the Consultive Council. There is a need for a greater social openness, especially concerning the condition of women.
King Abdallah will continue his action in the path which he has already traced for 10 years, and which has won him respect.
The new crown prince, Sultan bin Abdelaziz, has modernized the Saudi armed forces
Prince Sultan bin Abdelaziz, who has been named crown prince, has served as the kingdom's defense minister for more than 40 years.
Prince Sultan oversaw the use of his country's vast oil wealth to establish a modern armed forces through a series of large arms deals with Western powers.
The Al-Yamama contract signed with Britain in 1985 is estimated to have generated sales worth more than 40 billion dollars. The project supplies fighter aircraft to the Saudi air force and mine-hunters to the Saudi navy.
He also managed the kingdom's defense policy through the difficult relations with Washington that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Though close to Washington, he supported the kingdom's refusal to provide the US with a launch-pad for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Born in 1928 according to official records, Prince Sultan rose to high office at an early age, becoming governor of Riyadh in 1947. He was appointed defense and aviation minister by then-King Saud in 1963. The large air base named after him in Kharj, 80 kilometers south of Riyadh, was built in the 1990s.
Saudi Arabia reassures oil markets
Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members moved swiftly to reassure jittery oil markets, saying there was likely to be no change in Riyadh's policy following the death of King Fahd.
"I cannot imagine that there will be any particular change" in the kingdom's internal or external policies, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, told reporters in London. Asked if this extended to oil policy, the prince, a nephew of the late king, replied: "Absolutely".
The kingdom currently has an output of about 9.5 million barrels per day with the capacity for an additional 1.5 million barrels.
A senior Saudi oil official indicated that Riyadh will keep output at levels required to ensure market stability.
"Saudi Arabia will not change its oil policy and will work to provide the oil supplies needed by world markets and is keen on avoiding troubles," the official told journalists.
By Nelly Helou
© Monday Morning 2005
