Caliphates and Empires Ruling Judah From 750 CE to 1917

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

• The Abbasid Caliphate ruled a vast Islamic empire from 750 to 1258 A.D., centered in Baghdad. The Abbasid era was a Golden Age for Islamic art and science, preserving and expanding classical knowledge.The fall of Baghdad in 1258 ended the Abbasid Caliphate's power, but its cultural legacy lived on.

ʿAbbasid caliphate, second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim empire of the caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 ce and reigned as the Abbasid caliphate until it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.

Or, some people say that the Abbasid Caliphate was the third major Islamic caliphate, ruled by the Abbasid dynasty from 750 CE to 1258 CE.  a total o 508 years, but The historical region of Judah (part of Palestine/the Holy Land) was under Abbasid-affiliated rule for a total of 192 years, split across two main time periods.  The relationship between the Abbasid Caliphate and the historical geographic region of Judah (known during the Islamic era as Jund Filastin, or the province of Palestine) spans the 8th through 13th centuries. Because the ancient Kingdom of Judah no longer existed as a political entity by this time, the intersection of these two concepts centers on Abbasid geopolitical rule over the region and their administrative relationship with the Jewish population.

2. Religious & Administrative Status of Jews

Under Abbasid Islamic law, Jews living in the territory of Judah and across the wider empire were classified as dhimmis (protected non-Muslim monotheists-2nd class citizens). 

• Autonomy and Taxation: Jews were granted religious freedom and a degree of internal judicial autonomy. In return, they were required to pay a poll tax (jizya) and a land tax (kharaj). [1]
• Institutional Shift: During this era, the global center of Jewish authority shifted away from the Land of Israel toward the Abbasid capital. The Geonim (the leaders of the rabbinic academies of Sura and Pumbedita) and the Exilarch relocated to Baghdad. From there, they institutionalized the authority of the Babylonian Talmud over Jewish communities worldwide, eclipsing the older traditions of the Jerusalem Talmud. 

3. Abbasid Focus on Jerusalem

While the region was governed as a province, the Abbasid caliphs retained a strong ideological and religious interest in Jerusalem. Several early caliphs, including the empire's founder Al-Mansur and Al-Ma'mun, financed the restoration of the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) complex after regional earthquakes, solidifying Islamic presence on the site of the ancient Judean Temples.

After the fall of the central Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad—culminating in the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 CE and later the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517—political power in the Islamic world fragmented into several major empires and regional dynasties.

                                       Major Successor Powers

• Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517): Based in Cairo, Egypt, the Mamluks defeated the Mongols, took in surviving Abbasid family members as ceremonial caliphs (1261–1517), and ruled Egypt, the Levant, and the Hejaz. The Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) ruled over the historical region of Judah (Judea/Palestine) for nearly three centuries, treating it as an administrative district within the larger province of Bilad al-Sham (Islamic Syria) governed from Damascus. During this era, the official name "Judah" or "Judea" was not used; instead, the Mamluks divided the Holy Land into six city-based districts, including Jerusalem, Hebron, Gaza, Ramla, Nablus, and Safed. 
• Ilkhanate (1206–1353): A southwestern branch of the Mongol Empire that ruled over Persia, Iraq, and surrounding regions after destroying Baghdad.  It never held permanent control over the region of Judah (Palestine/the Levant). Instead, Judah served as a heavily contested borderland between the Ilkhanate and their primary rivals, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt,              
  
  
  
• The Ottoman Empire controlled the ancient land of Judah (the Land of Israel / Palestine) from 1517 to 1917, following Sultan Selim I’s defeat of the Mamluks. Ottoman Empire (1299–1923): Originating in Anatolia,Turkey in Asia Minor, Jews lived here already had a synagogue in the old capital of Brusa in 1326. There was a conquest of Jewish communities and Salonica was captured in 1430.  and Constantinople in 1453.  After 1492, the sultans opened the gates of the Ottoman Empire to the Jewish refugees from Spain; later from Portugal and other lands and now the Turkish Jewish community was Sephari and became important to Judean Jews. The Ottomans eventually conquered the Mamluks in 1517, claimed the caliphate, and built a vast empire spanning southeastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa.The Ottoman Empire conquered the Land of Israel (historical Judea) from the Mamluks in 1517 and ruled it until 1917.  Conquest: Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks and took control of the region in 1517 (with Jerusalem falling in 1516–1517).  End of Rule: The Sultans applied the normal Moslem code against the Jews (2nd class citizens) but not strictly.  Thus persons such as Joseph Nasi and Solomon Ashkenazi were able to exercise great influence in the state.  After the 16th century, circumstances were not  so favorable.  Anti-Jewish restrictions were being were applied more rigidly, but there was no general reaction.  Even the pseudo-messianic movement of SHABBETAI TZEVI, who could have been charged with disloyalty, did not undermine the position of Turkish Jewry, though the outcome weakened it spiritually.  Down to the 19th century, the position of the community remained almost no longer seemed especially enlightened as compared with other countries.  It was the 3rd largest empire in the world.  Pop. 350,000 by 1900.  The losing of the empire meant Judeans were under different rulers that were worse.  This continued to the Balkan War and World War I.  when the Turkish Empire was destroyed.  Ottoman rule in the region ended in 1917 during World War I when British forces captured Jerusalem and Palestine.   
•                               Unimportant Empires
• Timurid Empire (1307–1507): Founded by Timur (Tamerlane) in Greater Iran and Central Asia, famous for its patronizing of arts, architecture, and science. Even during Timur's massive military expansions into the Levant around 1400–1401 CE, his forces only advanced as far south as Aleppo and Damascus in modern-day Syria. The Timurid army sacked these northern cities but never marched further south into the historic geographic region of Judah (modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories), which remained under the control of the Mamluk Sultanate
• Safavid Empire (1501–1722): Established in Iran, it established Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion and shaped the modern identity of Iran. 
• Mughal Empire (1526–1858): A gunpowder empire in the Indian subcontinent founded by descendants of the Timurids and Mongols. Baghdadi Jewish Trade Networks.  Beginning in the late Mughal era, Jewish merchants fleeing persecution in the Middle East—many tracking their lineage directly back to the Babylonian captivity of Judah—established thriving trading ports in Mughal India. These communities, known as the Baghdadi Jews, later became central economic pillars under both late Mughal and British colonial administration, dominating trade networks in silk, indigo, and spices.  

• As the Mughal Empire expanded, Persian-speaking Jewish merchants, mystics, and travelers migrated into India. The most prominent figure connecting Jewish tradition to the Mughal throne was Sarmad Kashani, a 17th-century Armenian Jewish merchant who converted to Islam (and later adopted Sufism). Sarmad became a highly influential spiritual guide and close adviser to Dara Shikoh, the crown prince and eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, a court scholar named Niamat Ullah Harvi compiled the Makhzan-e-Afghani (1612 CE). This text popularized a theory that the Pashtun people of Afghanistan and Pakistan were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel and Judah. While modern genetics and historical consensus do not support this lineage, it reflects how elite Mughal historians explicitly integrated Israelite and Judean biblical genealogies into their own regional origins.                                             
  
  Suleiman I (6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566. The longest reign, 46 years,  among the Ottoman sultans. His rule brought about a notable peak in the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power, and raised the number of the empire's subjects to at least 25 million people.

Imperial Expansion & Safe Haven (16th–17th Centuries): Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt Jerusalem’s city walls. Sephardic Jewish refugees flourished in regional centers like Safed, which became the global hub of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism).                               

Old Yishuv & Zionist Aliyah (19th Century): The Jewish population grew steadily throughout the 1800s. Driven by European pogroms, the First Aliyah (1882) and Second Aliyah (1904) brought thousands of Zionist pioneers who founded modern agricultural settlements and revived spoken Hebrew.  Here, the fall of Jerusalem to British.    During the First Aliyah (1882–1903), Jewish settlers primarily hired local Arab guards (often including Bedouin tribesmen and mainly Circassians) to ride horses, patrol fields, and protect their colonies (moshavot) from thieves and marauders. Their society is guided by the Adyghe Khabze (or Habze), an unwritten traditional code of honor, ethics, hospitality, duty, and respect.  Most Circassians are Sunni Muslims, though their traditions blend with pre-Christian and ancient folk beliefs.  Following the protracted Russo-Circassian War and the 1864 Circassian genocide carried out by the Russian Empire, about 95% of the population was expelled or exiled. [I had Circassian boys in my English class in Safed from 1980-1985.  They had to manage their language as well as Arabic and Hebrew and English. They were well behaved.  It was either in 8th or 9th grades].  

However, during the Second Aliyah (1904–1914), Jewish pioneers shifted toward a philosophy of total self-sufficiency (Hebrew Labor and Hebrew Guarding). This led to the creation of Jewish defense organizations, most notably                                                   

                                         Allenby riding into Jerusalem
                 

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• Fall of Ottoman Rule (1917): During World War I, British forces led by General Allenby captured Jerusalem, ending 400 years of Ottoman control. This coincided with the issuance of the British Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.The Date & Document:                                        
  
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• On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a short, 117-word letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, intended for transmission to the Zionist Federation.  
• The Core Promise: The letter stated that the British government viewed "with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" and would use its best endeavors to facilitate this goal.  
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• The Caveat: The text included a clause stating that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" (who made up over 90% of the population at the time), nor the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.  Jews all over seemed to worry about their status with the creation of a Jewish State. Chaim Weizmann, chemist, Zionist leader, international reputation for his discoveries to the fermentation of acetone-butyl, the manufacture of dyes and cancer-producing substances nd production of synthetic rubber rubber from organic substances of digestible proteins from vegetable matter. He saved Britain with his help on weapons, helping to win their war. The problem was that Faisal also had a horse in this race;  he had also helped Britain and felt they owed him.  
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•  Chaim Weizmann met with Emir Faisal/Hussein Ibn Feisal (1885-1933)—the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca—at the Paris Peace Conference on January 3, 1919.  Husseini,; the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was the opposition to peace, causing attacks on Jews.  Faisal and Weizmann had been getting along fine.  Feisal was king of Iraq from 1921, had led the Arab rising against Turkey from 1916-1918 and was designated King of Syria. Britain favored the Arabs more.   

A Muslim Leader of the Civilized Peoples of the World : Emir Faisal

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Emir Faisal was an important leader of the Arab world in 1918. Sherif Hussein, the leader of the Arab world during World War I,, was his father.   "Faisal was born in Mecca, Ottoman Empire (in present-day Saudi Arabia), in 1885, the third son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca. He grew up in Istanbul and learned about leadership from his father. In 1913, he was elected as representative for the city of Jeddah for the Ottoman parliament.                                   

Following the Ottoman Empire's declaration of war against the Entente (WWI Allies, joining Hitler )  in December, 1914, Faisal's father sent him on a mission to Constantinople to discuss the Ottomans' request for Arab participation in the war. Along the way Faisal visited Damascus and met with representatives of the Arab secret societies al-Fatat and Al-'Ahd. After visiting Constantinople Faisal returned to Mecca via Damascus where he again met with the Arab secret societies, received the Damascus Protocol, and joined with the Al-Fatat group of Arab nationalists."

The Damascus Protocol was a document given by the leaders of two Arab secret societies, Al-Fatat and Al-Ahd, to Hashemite prince Faisal, son of Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, on 23 May 1915. The document contained the demands the Arab leaders wanted Hussein to present to the British in return for the Arabs revolting against the Ottoman Empire. 

The demands included: British recognition of Arab independence over most of today's Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories; the abolition of the capitulation regime, granting exceptional rights to foreigners; a defensive alliance between the British and the Arab state; and the "granting of economic preference" to the British. The Damascus Protocol later served as a basis for British-Arab negotiations contained in the McMahon-Hussein Letters.

         Dr. Chaim Weizmann b: 1874 and Emir Faisal b: 1885

Emir is a title.  An emir, sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, can refer to a king or an aristocratic or noble and military title of high office used in a variety of places in the Arab countries, West Africa, Afghanistan and in the Indian subcontinent.

Faisal and Dr. Weizmann came to a written agreement on January 3, 1919.  The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement was a 3 January 1919 agreement between Emir Faisal, the third son of Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi, King of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz, and Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist leader who had negotiated the 1917 Balfour Declaration with the British Government, signed two weeks before the start of the Paris Peace Conference. Together with a letter written by T. E. Lawrence in Faisal's name to Felix Frankfurter in March 1919, it was one of two documents used by the Zionist delegation at the Peace Conference to argue that the Zionist plans for Palestine had prior approval of Arabs.  Weizmann would later become the 1st President of Israel.  The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was a state in the Hejaz region in the Middle East, the western portion of the Arabian Peninsula ruled by the Hashemite dynasty.                     

The agreement was presented to Faisal in his room at the Carlton Hotel on 3 January in English, which Faisal could not read, and its contents were explained to Faisal by Lawrence as the sole translator. Faisal signed the document in the same meeting, without consulting his advisors awaiting him in a separate room, but added a caveat in Arabic next to his signature, such that Faisal considered the agreement was conditional on Palestine being within the area of Arab independence. The Zionist Organization submitted the Agreement to the Paris Peace Conference without the caveat.

Yoav Gelber described the document as "of propaganda value only", since it quickly became clear that Faisal's conditions would not be met.  (Hebrew: יואב גלבר‎; born September 25, 1943) is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin.

Faisal participated in meetings in Paris at the Paris Peace Conference of the League of Nations and met with Jewish leaders about a Jewish Homeland.  He said in 1919, "We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.  We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home ll....our two movements complement one another."  The movement is national and not imperialistic. There is room in Syria for us both. Indeed, I think that neither can be a success without the other.” (Quoted by UN Ambassador Chaim Herzog, November 10, 1975 in response to the Zionism is racism resolution.) Faisal had said this as an important leader of the Arab world, probably THE most important.  

He also wrote this in a letter. His introduction said more: 

 Letter from Emir Feisal (Son of Hussen Ibn Ali, Sharif of Mecca) to Felix Frankfurter, associate of Dr. Chaim Weizmann:  DELEGATION HEDJAZIENNE

Paris Peace Conference         

March 3, 1919 

Dear Mr. Frankfurter:         

I want to take this opportunity of my first contact with American Zionists to tell you what I have often been able to say to Dr. Weizmann in Arabia and Europe.

We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together.  Then came the section above.  He continued.  

With the chiefs of your movement, especially with Dr. Weizmann, we have had and continue to have the closest relations. He has been a great helper of our cause, and I hope the Arabs may soon be in a position to make the Jews some return for their kindness. We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist. Our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both. Indeed I think that neither can be a real success without the other.

People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for cooperation of the Arabs and Zionists, have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital out of what they call our differences.

I wish to give you my firm conviction that these differences are not on questions of principle, but on matters of detail such as must inevitably occur in every contact of neighbouring peoples, and as are easily adjusted by mutual good will. Indeed nearly all of them will disappear with fuller knowledge.

I look forward, and my people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their places in the community of civilised peoples of the world.

Believe me, 

Yours sincerely, 

(Sgd.) Feisal 

"Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi (Arabic: فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي‎, Fayṣal al-Awwal bin al-Ḥusayn bin 'Alī al-Hāshimī; 20 May 1885^[1][2][4] – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria or Greater Syria in 1920, and was King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933. He was the third son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Emir and Sharif of Mecca, who was proclaimed as King of the Arabs in June 1916. He was a 38th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad, as he belongs to the Hashemite family.  Today's King of Jordan also belongs to the Hashemite family.  

Faisal fostered unity between Sunni and Shiite Muslims to encourage common loyalty and promote pan-Arabism in the goal of creating an Arab state that would include Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Fertile Crescent. While in power, Faisal tried to diversify his administration by including different ethnic and religious groups in offices. However, Faisal's attempt at pan-Arab nationalism possibly contributed to the isolation of certain groups."

                                                     

On 7 March 1920, Faisal was proclaimed King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria (Greater Syria) by the Syrian National Congress government of Hashim al-Atassi. ... Following a plebiscite showing 96% in favour, Faisal agreed to become king.    By April 1920, the San Remo conference gave France the mandate for Syria, which led to the Franco-Syrian War. In the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920, the French were victorious and Faisal was expelled from Syria.  He had been king for a little over 4 months.   It was while under the mandate in 1920 that Jews obtained equal rights, but these were infringed during World War II under the Vichy regime.  The Jewish population in 1943 was 30,000.  By 1947 between immigration to Lebanon, USA and Israel, it was 14,000.                                    

                            Coronation of Prince Faisal as King of Iraq

On 23 August 1921, he was made king of Iraq. It happened that  in March 1921, at the Cairo Conference, the British decided that Faisal was a good candidate for ruling the British Mandate of Iraq because of his apparent conciliatory attitude towards the Great Powers and based on advice from T. E. Lawrence, more commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia. But, in 1921, few people living in Iraq even knew who Faisal was or had ever heard his name. With help of British officials, including Gertrude Bell, he successfully campaigned among the Arabs of Iraq and won over the popular support of the minority Sunni. However, the Shia majority were lukewarm about Faisal, and his appearance at the Shia port of Basra was met with indifference.

The British government, mandate holders in Iraq, were concerned at the unrest in the colony. They decided to step back from direct administration and create a monarchy to head Iraq while they maintained the mandate. Following a plebiscite showing 96% in favour, Faisal agreed to become king. On 23 August 1921, he was made king of Iraq. Iraq was a new entity created out of the former Ottoman vilayets (provinces) of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. Ottoman vilayets were usually named after their capital, and thus the Basra vilayet was southern Iraq. Given this background, there was no sense of Iraqi nationalism or even Iraqi national identity when Faisal took his throne.

Faisal successfully stabilized the kingdom's bureaucracy, and his reign had significant popularity among Saudi Arabians despite his reforms facing some controversy. Fayṣal I, Fayṣal also spelled Faisal, (born May 20, 1885, Mecca—died Sept. 8, 1933, Bern), Arab statesman and king of Iraq (1921–33) who was a leader in advancing Arab nationalism during and after World War.  

In July 1933, right before his death, Faisal went to London where he expressed his alarm at the current situation of Arabs that resulted from the Arab-Jewish conflict and the increased Jewish immigration to Palestine, as the Arab political, social, and economic situation was declining. He asked the British to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases.King Faisal died of a heart attack on 8 September 1933 in Bern, Switzerland.^[2] He was 48 years old at the time of his death. Faisal was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son Ghazi. (update 5/31)  Sherif Hussein, King Faisal's father, had four wives, fathered five sons and three daughters with three of his wives: Faisal's brother was Abdullah, who was the first king of Transjordan/Jordan, grandfather of today's King Abdullah of Jordan.  

It was another Faisal king, Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a cousin of Faisal from his father's 1st wife,  (Arabic: فيصل بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود‎ Fayṣal ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd; 14 April 1906 – 25 March 1975) was King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from 2 November 1964 to 25 March 1975.

Faisal was the third son of King Abdulaziz.  His mother, Tarfa, was a member of the Al ash-Sheikh family which has produced many prominent Saudi religious leaders. Faisal emerged as an influential royal politician under his father and his half-brother King Saud. He was the Saudi foreign minister from 1930 and prime minister from 1954 until his death, except for a two-year break (1960–1962) in both positions. Faisal was crown prince of Saudi Arabia after Saud's accession in 1953, and in that position he outlawed slavery in Saudi Arabia. He persuaded King Saud to abdicate in his favour in 1964 with the help of other members of the royal family and his relative, Grand Mufti Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh.

In 1975, he was assassinated by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid.                                          

On 25 March 1975, Faisal bin Musaid went to the Royal Palace in Riyadh, where King Faisal was holding a meeting, known as a majlis. He joined a Kuwaiti delegation and lined up to meet the king. 

Faisal's nephew, Faisal bin Musaid,  and girlfriend 

The king recognized his nephew and bent his head forward, so that the younger Faisal could kiss the king's head in a sign of respect. The prince took out a revolver from his robe and shot the King twice in the head. His third shot missed and he threw the gun away. King Faisal fell to the floor. Bodyguards with swords and submachine guns arrested the prince. The king was quickly rushed to a hospital but doctors were unable to save him. Saudi television crews captured the entire assassination on camera.

Initial reports described Faisal bin Musaid as "mentally deranged". He was moved to a Riyadh prison. However, he was later deemed sane to be tried.

A sharia court found Faisal guilty of the king's murder on 18 June, and his public execution occurred hours later. His brother Bandar was imprisoned for one year and later released. Cars with loudspeakers drove around Riyadh publicly announcing the verdict and his imminent execution, and crowds gathered in the square. Faisal was led by a soldier to the execution point and was reported to have walked unsteadily. Wearing white robes and blindfolded, Faisal was beheaded with a single sweep of a gold-handled sword.

                                        Picture 1 King Faisal (1964-1975)

The assassinated King Faisal had become King (of Saudi Arabia) in 1964 by forcing his elder brother King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (King Saud) to resign. After his dethronement King Saud was exiled, and he went to Egypt, where he stood by the side of the socialist Egyptian dictator Gamal Nasser, who was fighting Saudi Arabia. For Gamal Nasser and Saudi Arabia see “The Intra-Arab War for Oil 1950-1970”.

There are various explanations about why the Prince murdered the King. According to one of them the Prince revenged the assassination of his brother Prince Khalid bin Musaid al Saud..There are various explanations about why the Prince murdered the King. According to one of them the Prince revenged the assassination of his brother Prince Khalid bin Musaid al Saud. Prince Khalid was shot by the Saudi police during demonstrations in the 60s, when many Saudis were demonstrating against the King’s decision to allow the use of tv in Saudi Arabia. The assassin and nephew of King Faisal was sentenced to death and publicly beheaded.

Update: 5/31/2021: 6:14am: Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (/sɑːˈuːd/;^[1] Arabic: سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎ Suʿūd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 to 2 November 1964. After a period of internal tension in Saudi Arabia, he was forced from the throne and replaced by his brother Faisal.

After the war, when the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine appeared to be imminent, and leaders of the various Arab States met at Inshas in Egypt during 1946 in order to review the situation under the Chairmanship of King Farouk of Egypt, Saud was again selected by his father to represent him and his country, and participated in the adoption of the famous resolution that declared that: "The Palestinian cause is the cause of all Arabs and not merely the Palestinians". In 1947, Saud visited the United States and met with President Harry S. Truman, and also met with leaders in Britain, France, and Italy, in order to acquaint the policymakers with his father's views and the unacceptability of the infringement of the rights of the Palestinians.

Saud succeeded his father King Abdulaziz as King on 9 November 1953 upon the latter's death. He ascended the throne in a political climate very different from the time when his father Abdulaziz established his Kingdom.  

He maintained his support to the countries at war with Israel, and signed a ten-year agreement with the Egyptian and Syrian presidents and with King Hussein of Jordan to ease Jordan's financial burdens as a result of this conflict. The annual Egyptian and Saudi financial assistance added up to five million Egyptian pounds from each of the two countries.

A fierce struggle between Abdulaziz's most senior sons, Saud and Faisal, erupted immediately after Abdulaziz's death. The increase in oil revenues did not solve the financial problem associated with Saudi Arab debt, estimated to have been $US200 million in 1953. In fact, this debt more than doubled by 1958, when it reached $US450 million. The Saudi riyal lost half of its official value against the United States dollars. Both ARAMCO and international banks declined Saudi's demand for credit. Saud suspended the few government projects he had initiated but continued his spending on luxurious palaces. King Saud and Prince Faisal continued their power struggle until 1962 when Prince Faisal formed a cabinet in the absence of the King, who had gone abroad for medical treatment. Prince Faisal allied with Prince Fahd and Prince Sultan. Prince Faisal's new government excluded the sons of Saud. He promised a ten-point reform that included the drafting of the basic law, the abolition of slavery, and the establishment of a judicial council.

 Saud had 108 children and 3 wives at the time of his death. The family tree section on the King Saud Foundation Website contains the names of the wives, children, and grandchildren of Saud

Resource

Israel 101, Produced by StandWiothUs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/feisal-frankfurter-correspondence-march-1919

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal%E2%80%93Weizmann_Agreement

https://ecf.org.il/issues/issue/1222

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoav_Gelber

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_bin_Musaid_Al_Saud

https://iakal.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/the-assassination-of-the-saudi-king-in-1975/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq--update