Ninety years since the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and 122 years since the restoration of Riyadh and the establishment of the Saudi homeland at the hands of the great leader, King Abdulaziz—may God have mercy on him. We celebrate this day to energize all our patriotic feelings, to reinforce the sense of belonging, cohesion and pride. We also take pride in this great nation, its leadership, its achievements, and the unique characteristics of its blessed land, which is hard to find in any other country.

Also, when we celebrate this glorious day, we remember the one who had the greatest merit after God, and he was King Abdulaziz. We pray to God for mercy and forgiveness for him, and his companions who participated with him in forming the unity—because of which we today enjoy unity, harmony, security and prosperity. It is indeed the result of the effort of this great king who spent his whole life struggling and sacrificing, so that the subsequent generations could enjoy these achievements that we are proud of today.

When the traveler travels the vast distances between the parts of the Kingdom, he can witness this great effort made by King Abdulaziz to unify these different lands and regions. You will surely sense that the people of this country are all convinced of belonging to this country. There are strong and many reasons that reinforce this conviction, and the evidence for this is despite the expansion of the Kingdom which is approximately the size of a continent, every single citizen feels the sense of belonging and love for this country contrary to what many countries in the Arab world suffer from disruption and insecurity today.

Every Saudi citizen thanks the wise and resolute leadership to preserve the country and everything that enhances its security, unity, interests and prosperity, irrespective of Saudi citizens of different regions and sects. Their love and pride for their country and their keenness towards national cohesion, and leadership is evident.

The country is currently living its best days under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his trustworthy Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.

We live in an era of firmness, determination, progress, prosperity and planning for the future. Every Saudi citizen feels that he is in safe hands and everything that the state does is in the interest of the homeland. We are all concerned about and we will reap the benefits of all this in the future.

On the National Day, we are proud of what has been achieved in the past, and we pledge as Saudis to preserve the achievements of King Abdulaziz, and we acknowledge our present full of building achievements, strength and development, reinforced by belonging and patriotism, and we are optimistic about a promising and prosperous future which is promising great goodness, God willing.

We ask God to preserve our wise leadership and to grant them success for all good, and to preserve this honorable nation and its honorable children.

Khaled Almraeed is specialized in military and strategic affairs. He is author of a book on the restoration of Riyadh 1319 from a military and strategic perspective. He tweets under @khaledalmraeed.

Article first published in Al Riyadh in Arabic.

There has never been any covert or overt alliance between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity of Israel.

Inferences contrary to this historical evidence are deceptive fallacies and an insult to history.

Saudi State or Zionism—Who came first?

With reference to the run-of-the-mill blog Mondoweiss, and its sleazy hogwash—”How Zionism helped create the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.

First of all, the term Zionism was first coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum, and established as a political organization by Theodor Herzl in 1897.

However, the First Saudi State was established in 1744 in Al-Dir’iya, by Imam Muhammad bin Saud—and this was 146 years before the term Zionism was even coined.

Father of Zionism Theodor Herzl was born in 1860—i.e 116 years AFTER the first Saudi State was established.

The first Saudi State ended in 1818—almost 72 years before Zionism even existed—when the Ottomans invaded Al-Dir’iya and murdered Al-Saud.

Question arises, if the Zionist helped create the Saudi state in 1744, did Zionism also eliminate in 1818 the Saudi State they helped create? Ridiculous, right?

In 1824, the Second Saudi state was re-established by Imam Turki bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud in Riyadh—66 years before Zionism or Zionist even existed.

Seven Al Saud rulers ruled during this period of 67 years (1824 – 1891).

The second Saudi State ended in 1891, one year after the term Zionism was coined in 1890. Did the Zionist eliminate it again the second time?

Does this not prove the opposite of what all fallacious “Zionist created Kingdom” type articles claim?

Can Zionists control Two Holy Cities? Question your faith.

Delusional individuals with hostility fixed, should deliberate without parti-pris—would the Zionist have created a land upon Monotheism and the Prophetic Sunnah?

Quran says, “And they are those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give Zakah or Poor-due and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to ALLAH belongs the outcome of [all] matters.” [Surah Al Hajj – 41]

Saudi Arabia ensures worship of Allah Almighty without polytheism. It’s constitution is the Quran, it establishes prayer, distributes Zakah i.e. Poor-due, it implements shariah, serves pilgrims diligently, has embarked upon the most ambitious of projects in Haramain, built mosques and Islamic centres around the world, and funds Muslim countries abundantly and endlessly.

How can any Muslim actually believe the Zionist gained predominance over Makkah and Medinah?

Afreen Baig is a regular writer on contemporary issues of Middle-East and the Arab World. She writes for the Milli Chronicle. She tweets under @afreenb179 and she can be followed on Facebook.

“I will not fight against my brothers in faith.”

Britain calls upon the founder, King Abdulaziz – God’s mercy be on his soul – to fight against the Ottoman Empire, which was overthrown by “Ataturk”, the founder of the present Turkish state, and the hero and role model to Erdogan. Thus Britain offered King AbdulAziz the title of Caliph, power and both financial and military support, he denied, and stated in his rejection –
“I will not fight against my brothers in faith”.

Later on, Sharif Hussain of Makkah, the founder of Jordan, and the leader of the nationalist Arab revolution, has accepted the British offer. 

King Abdulaziz shunned the Sharif of Makkah, which king Abdulaziz deemed atrocious and unforgivable. 

The Sharif of Makkah response was to ban Abdulaziz and and all of the people under his Domain (Najd) from pilgrimage in 1924. This was the final straw which sparked the war between the Sharif Hussain of the Hashimits and King Abdulaziz of Alsaud.  

A force of three thousand men took off from Najd (Mostly from the Otaibah tribe) and met with the Shareef’s regular army, which was dispatched from Taief. 

The battle took place in Alhawiyah, in which after multiple unsuccessful raids and skirmishes, the Ikhwan forces of Alsaud managed to launch a powerful assult which forced the first lines of the Shareefs army to retreat, causing the rear ranks of the inexperienced troops to disorganize and retreat. 

Sharif Hussain, seeing his army in full retreat from Taif, announced the resignation of his throne to his son Ali. This step did’t help the Hashimites and the troops left their stations, while disorganized,  Alikhwan forces of Abdulaziz managed to Enter Makkah in October 28, 1923 with little to no resistance after Sharif Hussain has already sailed to Akabah of Jordan, 

King Abdulaziz entered Makkah wearing Ihram and people gave Bayah to him in December 17, 1923 which was the day the lands of Hijaz got included to the third reign of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Source: The Middle East in the Twentieth Century by Martin Sicker

King Abdulazeez Aal-e-Saud had stipulated that there would be no public ceremony nor any marker for the grave.

Princess Niloufer who was married to Moazzam Jah, the second son of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, helped her cousin Princess Durru Shehvar to fulfil her desire to see her father, the last Ottoman Ruler, Abdul Majid II, buried in the graveyard attached to the holy mosque in Madina, a decade after his demise. Princess Durru Shevar was married to Azam Jah, the eldest son of Mir Osman Ali Khan.

Princess Niloufer Khanum Farhat was born on January 4, 1916 in Istanbul. Her mother Adile Sultan was the granddaughter of Sultan Murad V. Her father, Salahuddin, died when Niloufer was only two years old.

Arvind Acharya, a city-based historian, who has a unique collection of personal belongings of Princess Niloufer, said that a significant moment in Princess Niloufer’s life occurred in 1954. She received a call from Princess Durru Shehvar requesting help for a specific action. The action was difficult and so Niloufer was reluctant to do it. She consulted her mother, who told her to do the best she could.

Princess Niloufer then placed a call to one of her friends, Ghulam Mohammed, a former official in the Nizam’s Government, who was at that time the President of Pakistan.

Ghulam Mohammed called the then King Abdulzeez bin Abdurrahman Aal-e-Saud of Saudi Arabia to relay the request. The King finally agreed to grant the request.

Thereby hangs a tale. Ten years earlier, the Khalifa Abdul Majid who was living in France after the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished and the Ottoman dynasty deposed and expelled from Turkey, died during the German occupation of France. For several days, his body lay in his flat and was only discovered when neighbours complained. The body was then shifted to the Paris Mosque and lay there in a frozen condition till Niloufer’s intervention.

Princess Durru Shehvar had made several efforts to have her father’s body buried in Istanbul, but could not obtain the permission of the Turkish government. The Khalifa had wanted to be buried in either Turkey or Hyderabad. It was not feasible to fulfil the last will of Khalifa at his death or later as at the time of his death Saudi Arabia had become independent. Niloufer’s intervention ensured that he was finally buried in Saudi Arabia in the Jannat-ul-Baqi.

King Abdulazeez Aal-e-Saud had stipulated that there would be no public ceremony nor any marker for the grave.

Arvind Acharya said that on the recommendation of Maulana Shaukat Ali, a freedom fighter and one of the founders of the Khilafat Movement, the Nizam of Hyderabad decided to give Khalifa Abdul Majid a pension of £300 a month when he was living in exile.

Seven years later, in 1931, the Khalifa was looking for marriage matches for his daughter, Durru Shehvar. Shaukat Ali proposed the match between her and Azam Jah, the elder son of the Nizam.

The negotiations for the terms of the marriage started, but soon broke down as the Nizam felt that the requirement for the mehr (dowry given by husband to his wife) was exorbitant. Following several discussions, it was settled that the dowry to be paid would be £40,000.

As the Nizam wanted to perform the marriage of his younger son Moazzam Jah at the same time, and within the same dowry, efforts were made to find a match for him within the Turkish royal family. This resulted in his marriage to Niloufer.

On their way back from the Round Table Conference in London in 1931, the two princes Azam Jah and Moazzam Jah visited Nice and were married there. The Caliph himself performed the role of Qazi at the wedding.

In 1977, Princess Niloufer was living in an apartment in Paris and one evening, she came out of her bedroom and crossed the hallway to go to her mother’s bedroom where she wanted to read a Quran given to her by her one-time secretary, Fathema Ghani. At that moment, a bomb went off inside the building.

Algerian terrorists had wanted to assassinate the chief of the French electric utility, who was living in the flat below Niloufer’s. The bomb ripped open Niloufer’s bedroom, but nothing happened on the other side of the building. Princess Niloufer wrote in her memoirs that she was saved because of her visit to the room of her mother to fetch the Quran. The Princess died in 1989 and was buried near Paris.

Article first published in Deccan Chronicle.