King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

A.k.a. King AbdullahA.k.a. King Abdullah

King Abdullah with foreign minster of Syria Walid Muallem

Family

• Born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1924• Father– Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdur Rahman Al Saud

(more commonly known as Ibn Saud)• Mother– Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim; she was

8th wife of Ibn Saud• Has between 50 and 60 siblings• Royal family was poor until they discovered oil

in the 1940s

Rise to Power

• First major political position was as the mayor of Mecca

• He was later appointed commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard

• After Abdullah’s half brother and former King Faisal was assassinated in 1975, his half brother Khalid took the throne

• Khalid appointed Abdullah to the Council of Ministers, which is an advisory council for the king

Rise to Power (continued)

• In 1982, Khalid died, and Abdullah’s half brother Fahd became king

• Abdullah was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister

• Former King Fahd endured a series of strokes that impeded his ruling

• Abdullah acted as a regent for 9 years until Fahd’s death on August 1, 2005, when Abdullah finally became king

Perspective on Terrorism• Saudi Arabia is made up of fundamentalist

Muslims and modernizing reformers, which make it difficult to rule

• Because Abdullah supports modernization, various terrorist attacks have occurred, many of which have been traced to Al-Qaeda

• Fundamentalists and reformers both want their way, which leads to various uprisings and rebellions

• Abdullah responds to these with security raids, arrests, torture, and public beheadings

Foreign Relations

• While visiting the U.K. in October 2007, people accused him of being a murderer and a torturer

• Many people also felt that females and homosexuals were in a harmful environment

• There have also been alleged bribes involving weaponry between the U.K. and Saudi Arabia

• In 2005, Abdullah attempted to revive his 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which was supposed to help relations between Israel and the entire Arab region

• The plan received attention in 2005, but there has not been any recent news

Philanthropic Movements • King Abdullah’s wealth is estimated at over $21

billion• With his money, he has paid for the surgery for

conjoined twins• Donated $50 million and $10 million worth of

relief funds to the Great Sichuan Earthquake• Gave $10 billion to help found the King Abdullah

University of Science and Technology• Abdullah founded 2 libraries—one in Riyadh,

Saudi Arabia, and another one in Casablanca, Morocco