Word: saud
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...Fahd to come home and devote himself to serious matters of state. Implicit in the rebuke was a warning that Fahd was endangering his chances of succeeding to the crown. As one of seven sons borne by the favorite wife of the legendary Abdul Aziz (generally known as Ibn Saud), who created Saudi Arabia, Fahd was among those in line someday to be King. But there was, and is, nothing automatic about the succession; like almost every other major decision in Saudi Arabia, it reflects a consensus of the royal family...
...heard it at all. The candor of Salman's visitors was a manifestation of how the tremor from Kuwait has shaken the fixtures of Saudi society, one of the world's most conservative realms. For the first time since the visionary warrior-statesman Abdul Aziz, generally known as Ibn Saud, proclaimed his kingdom in 1932, Saudi Arabia has been confronted by the alarming threat of conquest. In coping with that challenge, the country and its 14.5 million inhabitants find themselves poised on the sword edge of change. The modernization and enrichment of Saudi life produced by the oil- price boom...
...royal family has faced remarkably little challenge. In the early years, Abdul Aziz struggled to hold together a scattered and widely disparate population of tribes. But he and his successors -- sons Saud, Faisal, Khalid and now Fahd -- were greatly aided in their task by the lucky presence beneath their feet of the world's largest reservoir of oil. The revenues from black crude -- which reached a high of $113 billion in 1981 and this year are expected to top $60 billion -- have enabled the House of Saud to create a modern state almost overnight and, in the process...
While embracing modernity, the government has assiduously eschewed its usual counterpart, Westernization. The House of Saud has clung tenaciously to Wahhabism, the puritanical strain of Sunni Islam that was the driving force of Abdul Aziz's victorious Ikhwan (brethren) movement. The royal family, as well as most Saudis, believe Wahhabi fervor unifies the kingdom's diverse tribes. Though King Fahd is known not to relish meeting his subjects, he devotes an entire day each week, Monday, to conferring with the ulama, the country's religious scholars...
While keeping the lid on personal liberties, the House of Saud has also held on tightly to its monopoly on power. Within the Saud clan, which includes 5,000 princes, there is considerable consultation. Still, government is a closed shop. There is not a single elected official and not a single political party...