Word: saud
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman al Faisal al Saud, son of the Sultan of Nejd, grew up lean and strong, ignorant of book learning, but a whirlwind in the saddle and a master of desert wile. As a boy, he was made by his father to ride bareback and walk the blistering desert rocks barefoot each midday to toughen himself for a career of revenge against the enemies of his line. At 20, he set out at the head of his Wahabi tribesmen to regain the sand and oases that had been wrested from his illustrious forebears, the Sauds...
...slashing night ride, he and a handful of followers recaptured the ancestral capital and palace of Riyadh. Soon after World War I, he had united all the tribes of the Nejd under his rule; next, he overthrew the Saud enemy, Sherif Hussein of Mecca, and blended the Hejaz into his domain...
...virtually all Arabia with its 6,000,000 citizens was recognized as his; he called it the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and pronounced himself King Ibn Saud. His prowess was legendary. One day of battle, so the story goes, he was wounded badly in the groin. Hearing that his followers feared for his future potency, he selected a maiden, married her on the spot and consummated the marriage that night...
...Sword. Worried about the future of the empire he had pieced together, Ibn Saud years ago called his sons together, made them agree to recognize the eldest, Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz al Faisal al Saud, as his heir, instead of settling the succession-as he had-"by the sword." Recently, half blind, racked by arthritis and heart disease, the old King handed over many of his duties to Crown Prince Saud and retreated into one of his fabulous palaces at Taif, near Mecca. There, last week, at 72, a fragile shadow of the giant who once rode at the head...
Died. Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman al Faisal al Saud. 73, oil-rich King of Saudi Arabia; in his palace at Taif, near Mecca (see FOREIGN NEWS...