Saudi Arabia

a Timeline of Wahhabiism, Islamism and Terrorism

Last Updated: 6-27-2005

Rise and Fall of First Alliance between Wahhabi Muslims and ibn Saud Clan

• 1744-45 - Abdul Wahhab and tribal chief Muhammad bin Saud form alliance. In exchange for Bin Saud's adherance to the strict dogma of Ibn Taymiyya, Abdul Wahhab offered to consecrate the Saudi tribe's raids on neighboring oases by renaming those raids jihad..." (Kepel, p.159)

  ---

• 1764 circa - Wahhab-bin Saud conquers Nejd.

  ---

• 1792 - Abdul Wahhab dies.

  ---

• 1801 - Wahhabi Ikhwan sack the Shia holy city of Karbala next door in Mesopotamia, "destroying its gold-domed shrines, slaughtering thousands of its inhabitants, and carrying off wives, daughters, and possessions," which they believe to be lawful plunder. (Shia veneration of tombs is held to be a form of idolatry, punishable by death.) (Rodenbeck)

  ---

• 1806 - Wahhab-bin Saud and Ikhwan overrun the Ottoman garrisons at Mecca and Medina, "they again" smash "every tomb" they can find, forcibly applying "their strict rules," and whipping, robbing, or murdering pilgrims who disobey. (Rodenbeck)

  ---

• 1811 - Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul orders his viceroy Muhammad Ali in Cairo to reclaim holy cities. Troops land and proceed to crush the kingdom of Saud. (Kepel, p.161)

  ---

• 1818 - Crushing completed. Oasis of Diriyya, Saud birthplace, laid to waste by Muhammad Ali.

  ---

  
  

  Secound Wahhabi-ibn Saud Alliance

• 1902 - Abd Aziz Ibn Saud, only 20 years old, living in exile in Kuwait, starts conquest of Nejd, Hijaz anew. Wahhab-bin Saud alliance reactivated. (p.161) Captures Riyadh from the Rashidi clan (Goodwin).

  ---

• 1912 - al-Ikhwan religious milita manned by Bedouins created to fight for Saud. al-Ikhwan believe surrounding Muslims - Shiite farmers of the eastern coast, mountain tribes of Asir, inhabitants of the holy cities - are all kuffar.

  ---

• 1915 - "Nearly one hundred thousand Ikhwan" gather in Najd waiting "for a chance to fight under Ibn Saud." (Goodwin)

  ---

• 1915 - "King `Abd al-`Aziz signs "a treaty of `friendship and cooperation` with the British, and begins "receiving an extremely generous monthly annuity from the British government." (from abou el Fadl Great, p.65)

  ---

• 1924-5 - British help Saudi conquer Mecca and Medina by expelling the Hashemite dynasty. (Kepel p.162)

  ---

• 1929 - Ikhwan rise up against presence of kuffar British on Islamic land. Ibn Saud exterminates Ikhwan with help of Royal Air Force bombardiers. (The need to preserve annuity from British of 1915 treaty is thought to be a major reason the king eliminated the Ikhwan after they clashed with and killed British soldiers. (from abou el Fadl Great, p.65))
  Memory of slaughter lives on among the Wahhabi ulema footsoldiers. Heroism of jihadi killing of (allegedly) appostate Muslim neighbors is taught in Saudi schools (Kepel p.162-3)

  ---

• 1938 - Standard Oil of California discovers several enormous deposits of oil and gas beneath the gravelly surface or the desert near the Persian Gulf coast (Goodwin, p.162-3)

  ---

• 1952 - Importation of all alcohol banned. (Previously alcohol had been available to foriegners.) (Trifkovic, p.138)

  ---

• 1953 - Ibn Saud dies. Has dedicated his final years to modernizing Saudi Arabia. His son Saud becomes king.

  ---

• 1957 - Women are banned from driving motor vehicles. (Trifkovic, p.138)

  ---

• 1964 November - After a decade of misrule, the Ulama issue fatwa deposing King Saud and crowning another son of Ibn Saud - Faisal. (Goodwin p.47) Faisal becomes the kingdom's "most efficient monarch", comes to power. Possesses both religious credibility from his great personal piety and extensive knowledge of the outside world. (Kepel p.163)

  ---

• 1965 - First Saudi Arabian television broadcasts. These offend ultraconservative elements in the country leading to violent protests. One of Faisal's own nephews leads an attack on a new television station and is killed in a shootout with the police. His brother allegedly later kills King Faisal (Goodwin)

  ---

  Oil Embargo and Oil Wealth

• 1973 - Arab Oil embargo. Saudi oil revenue is $4.3 billion.

  ---

• 1974 - Saudi oil revenue now $22.6 billion.

  ---

• 1975 - King Faisal assassinated by one of his young cousins. Motive unclear. (Kepel p.164)

  ---

• 1979 November 20 - Great Mosque in Mecca taken over by several hundred radicals. Young Saudi Wahhabites joined by foreign Islamists take over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, and hold thousands of pilgrims hostage. Juhayman bin Muhammad bin Sayf al-Utaybi, a veteran of the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), is the organizer of the attack. He declares his brother-in-law, Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani, to be the Mahdi, (Islam's long-awaited messiah who will appear at end times. Nov. 20 1979 is 1400 A.H.)

  ---

• 1979 November 25 - Saudi clergy lift ban on use of weapons in the mosque. At least 2000 National Guard, army and police troops move in under direction of French military strategists flown in specially to help plot the counterattack.

  ---

• 1979 December 4 - Rebellion quelled, after "fighting room to room among the 270 vaults and chambers beneath the mosque."
  Officially "255 pilgrims, troops and fanatics are killed in the battles, another 560 injured. . . . although diplomats suggested the toll was higher." Military casualties: 127 dead and 451 injured. Al-Utaybi and al-Qahtani are subsequently decapitated, along with more than 60 of their surviving coconspirators.
  Government responds to revolt by trying to co-opt fundamentalism with stricker enforcement of Shariah law and conservative religious education to undermine greivances of Islamist radicals. (Wright, p.148) (Benjamin, p.90)

  ---

• 1980 - Saudi oil revenue reaches $102.2 billion due to shortages of the Iran-Iraq war.

  ---

• 1981 - Saudi per capita GDP peaks. "About the same as in the United States."
  Population explosion in progress. Fertility rate at 8.26 children per Saudi woman. (Kepel, 2005, p.169)

  ---

• 1986 - Oil revenues fall to $21.2 billion.

  ---

• 1987 July 31 - 407 killed, 649 injured at Hajj. Saudi police prevent Iranian pilgrims from approaching Grand Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram), which they suspect Iranians plan to surround and take over. Muslim world is horrified. (Kepel, Jihad, p.135) Riot/demonstration ends with a stampede into locked exits and Saudi riot police firing into the Iranian crowd. Iranian government enraged. (Wright, In the Name of God, p.166)

  ---

  Terror Attacks on U.S. and other non-Muslim Targets

• 1995 Nov. 13 - 5 U.S. military servicemen killed when a car bomb explodes at U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh. (www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html) "Four suspects confess to having been inspired by Osama bin Laden and receiving training in Afghanistan or Bosnia." Saudi authorities execute the four before they can be interrogated by U.S. agencies. (Sageman, p.45)

  ---

• 1996 June 25 - 19 U.S. servicemen killed when a truck bomb explodes outside Khobar Towers military complex in Dhahran. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, are later indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001. (www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html)

  ---

• 2000 - Oil revenues low. Saudi per capita income only 1/4 of 1981 peak. (about $7000 compared to $28,000 in 1981) (Kepel, War, 2005, p.169)

  ---

• 2003 - Oil revenues back up: $85 billion.

  ---

• 2003 April - Riyadh. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrives in Riyadh to announce that U.S. troops will pull out of Saudi air bases, the American presence in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques having been a rallying cry for Al Qaeda for more than ten years.

  ---

• 2003 May 12 - Riyadh. During visit of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to capital 35 people are killed in a residential complex, 9 of them Americans. Over 100 are wounded. Saudi society and royal family are shocked. (Kepel, War, p.140; Guardian)

  ---

• 2003 June - National Dialogue Forum takes place at crown prince's instigation. Goal is "to substitute nationalism (wataniyya) for the concept of jihad," upon "which the alliance between the Saud dynasty and Wahhabism had been built." Conference include Shafite, Malikite, Sufi and Shi'a as well as salafi and wahhabi representatives. Part of temporary "Riyadh springtime." (Kepel, War, p.192)

  ---

• 2003 July - Fatwa by radical senior cleric grants legal legitimacy to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the US and Britain and against their citizens. Fatwa published on http://www.al-ansar.biz/ (a website associated with al-Qaeda) by well-known radical Saudi cleric Sheik Nasser bin Hamd al-Fahad, argues that the Muslim world is engaged in a defensive war against U.S. and U.K. aggression, so that Muslims must use all means at their disposal to defeat its enemy, even if they are likely to kill women and children or harm many Muslims. (www.ict.org.il)

  ---

• 2003 November 8 - Riyadh. 17 people killed in terrorist attack. All are Arabs, some are Lebanese Christians. (Kepel, p.140)

  ---

• 2004 May 29-31 - 22 people killed when terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar taking foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound. (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html)

  ---

• 2004 June 11-19 - 3 Americans and a BBC cameraman killed in attacks in Riyadh. (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html)

  ---

• 2004 December 6 - Five consulate employees killed in assault on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah. (Guardian)

  ---

• 2004 December 20 - the Saudi Ministry of the Interior is car bombed. (Guardian)

  ---

• 2005 February - Following terrorist attacks against foreigners, thousands of Americans pull out of the kingdom and British Airways suspends flights to the country. (Guardian)