Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud
Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud (عبد الله بن ثنيان بن إبراهيم آل سعود; died July 1843) was Emir of Nejd from 1841 to May 1843. He is the sole member of the Al Thunayan branch of the Al Saud who became emir.[2][3]
Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Emir of Nejd | |||||
Reign | 1841–May 1843 | ||||
Predecessor | Khalid bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | ||||
Successor | Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud | ||||
Died | July 1843 Riyadh | ||||
Burial | Riyadh | ||||
Issue | Abdullah bin Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud | ||||
| |||||
House | House of Saud | ||||
Father | Thunayan bin Ibrahim bin Thunayan bin Saud bin Muhammad Al Muqrin |
Early years
Abdullah bin Thunayan was a great-grandson of Thunayan bin Saud, who was the brother of Muhammad bin Saud,[4] founder of the Emirate of Diriyah.[2] Therefore, he was a great-great-grandson of the founder of the Al Saud dynasty, Saud bin Muhammad.[5]
Until 1841 Abdullah was in southern Iraq under the protection of the Muntafiq tribe.[3] He first came Hejaz and made several unsuccessful attempts to capture the Emirate of Nejd.[6]
Reign
Abdullah's third-cousin Khalid bin Saud, the Emir of Nejd, had been backed by the Egyptians and lost power when they had to leave Nejd in 1840.[3] Finally Abdullah ousted Khalid bin Saud in December 1841.[6][7] Abdullah's major supporter was the ruler of Al Hariq, Turki Al Hazzani.[3] He was also supported by the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and other significant tribal leaders[3] who regarded Khalid bin Saud as the illegitimate ruler due to his alliance with the Egyptians.[8] Abdullah ruled the emirate from Riyadh.[9]
In 1842 Bahraini royal Mohammed bin Khalifa asked help from Abdullah following his defeat at al Nasfah battle against the ruler of Bahrain, Abdullah bin Ahmad Al Khalifa.[1] He was granted asylum, but not military assistance.[1] In 1843 Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, another third-cousin of Abdullah was released by the Egyptians in Cairo and managed to regain the rulership of the Emirate in May 1843.[7][10]
Death and personal life
Abdullah did not endorse the leadership of Faisal and was imprisoned in Al Masmak fortress where he died of poisoning in July 1843.[5][6][11][12] He was buried in Riyadh following the funeral prayers led by Imam Faisal bin Turki.[13]
One of Abdullah's sons was born on the same day he died. Due to this, he was also named Abdullah.[11] He was the father of Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Thunayan and paternal grandfather of Iffat bint Mohammad Al Thunayan.[2]
References
- Abdulaziz Mohamed Hasan Ali Al Khalifa (April 2013). Relentless Warrior and Shrewd Tactician: Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmad of Bahrain 1795-1849 A Case Study of Shaikhly Statecraft in the Nineteenth Century Gulf (PhD thesis). University of Exeter. pp. 190–192. hdl:10871/12461.
- Joseph A. Kechichian (20 January 2012). "Self-assurance in the face of military might". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- Alexei Vassiliev (2013). The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-86356-779-7.
- Simon Henderson (August 2009). "After King Abdullah". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. p. 2. Archived from the original (Policy Focus #96) on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1997). Saudi Arabia under King Faisal (PDF) (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. pp. 43–44. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2019.
- Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. pp. 23–24. ProQuest 303295482.
- Nadav Safran (2018). Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest for Security. Cornell University Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780674789852.
- David Commins (2006). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia (PDF). New York: I. B. Tauris. p. 49. ISBN 9781848850149. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2021.
- Madawi Al Rasheed (2002). A History of Saudi Arabia (PDF). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780521747547.
- Valerie Anishchenkova (2020). Modern Saudi Arabia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-4408-5705-8.
- Joseph A. Kechichian (2014). 'Iffat Al Thunayan: an Arabian Queen. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 10. ISBN 9781845196851.
- Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1993). Political and religious origins of Saudi Arabia (PDF) (MA thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. p. 76. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2021.
- R. Bayly Winder (1965). Saudi Arabia in the Nineteenth Century. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 147. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-81723-8. ISBN 9780333055410.