Abed Alziz Saud

This ruthless dictator was born in 1888 and expired in1953. Founder of SAUDI ARABIA and its first king. As leader of the WAHHABI sect - vicious sect - he claimed ancient rights in the area. By 1912 he had conquered the Nejd by killing innocent Muslims, and he triumphed over HUSAYN IBN ALI and became king of the Hejaz in 1924 the very same year the Othman Empire had fallen. In 1932 he combined his conquests into the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Wahhabi reform movement in ISLAM; the ruling family of SAUDI ARABIA are among its adherents. It was founded in Arabia by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (c.1703-1791), who converted the Saud tribe. He taught that all accretions to Islam after the 3d cent. of the Muslim era-i.e., after c.950-were spurious and must be expunged. This view involved essentially a purification of the SUNNI sect.

The Wahhabis advocated austerity in worship and in living, but their code is less strict today. The movement, although centered in Arabia, has also spread eastward to India and Sumatra and westward to North Africa and the Sudan. Recent discoveries confirm that Al-Saud are Jews in origin.