The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916-1936: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State (Studies in Middle Eastern History)

273 Pages·1993·18.22 MB·English

by  Joseph Kostiner

The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916-1936
STUDIES IN MIDDLE EASTERN HISTORY
Bernard Lewis, Itamar Rabinovich, and Roger Savory
General Editors
THE TURBAN FOR THE CROWN
The Islamic Revolution in Iran
Said Amir Arjomand
LANGUAGE AND CHANGE IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST
The Evolution of Modern Arabic Political Discourse
Ami Ayalon
IRAN'S FIRST REVOLUTION:
Shi'ism and the Constitutional Revolution of /905-1909
Mangol Bayat
ISLAMIC REFORM
Politics and Social Change in Late Ottoman Syria
David Dean Commins
KING HUSSEIN AND THE CHALLENGE OF ARAB RADICALISM
Jordan, 1955-1967
Uriel Dann
EGYPT, ISLAM, AND THE ARABS
The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930
Israel Gershoni and James Jankowski
EAST ENCOUNTERS WEST
France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century
Fatma Muge Gocek
NASSER'S "BLESSED MOVEMENT"
Egypt's Free Officers and the July Revolution
Joel Gordon
THE FERTILE CRESCENT, 1800-1914
A Documentary Economic History
Edited by Charles Issawi
THE MAKING OF SAUDI ARABIA, 1916-1936
From Chieftaincy to Monarchical Stale
Joseph Kostiner
ESTRANGED BEDFELLOWS
Britain and France in the Middle East during the Second World War
Avici Roshwald
The Making
of Saudi Arabia
1916-1936
From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State
JOSEPH KOSTINER
In cooperation with the Moshe Dayan Center
and the Shiloah Institute for Middle Eastern
and African Studies, Tel Aviv University
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1993
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland Madrid
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1993 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kostiner, Joseph.
The making of Saudi Arabia, 1916-1936 : from chieftancy
to monarchical state / Joseph Kostiner.
p. cm. (Studies in Middle Eastern history)
"In cooperation with the Moshc Dayan Center and the Shiloah Institute
for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-507440-8
I. Saudi Arabia—History. I. Title.
II. Series: Studies in Middle Eastern history (New York, N.Y.)
DS244.K68 1993 953.8—dc20
92-17948
135798642
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To my parents,
Hilda and Itamar Kostiner
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv
University, my home institute, strongly supported me in writing this book. I
am most grateful to the center's previous and current directors, Itamar
Rabinovich and Asher Susser, respectively, for their devotion, assistance, and
good advice. Their help was essential in preparing this book. My colleagues
and the administrative staff of the Dayan Center and the department of
Middle Eastern and African history at Tel-Aviv University, notably the last
three departmental chairmen, Mordechai Tamarkim, Michael Winter, and
Aryeh Schmuelevitz, have been most helpful as well. The time I spent as a
graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science at
the University of London, as a visiting scholar at the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies at Harvard University, the College of the Holy Cross, and
George Mason University was most valuable in preparing this study. Fellow-
ships from the University of Haifa, the British Council, and the Yad Avi Ha-
Yishuv Fund, and grants from the Federal Republic of Germany's Deutsches
Akademisches Austausch Dienst (DAAD) and the Littauer Foundation facili-
tated the necessary research. I also am grateful for the assistance of the B'nai
B'rith of London, the Anglo-Jewish Association, and the Zalman Aranne
School of History at Tel-Aviv University. John Esposito of the College of the
Holy Cross, Roy Mottahedeh and Nadav Safran of Harvard University, Mel-
vin Friedlander of George Mason University, Werner Ende of the Albert
Ludwig University at Freiburg, and Stefan Wild and Reinhard Schulze of the
Friedrich Wilhelm University at Bonn all were very helpful in advancing my
research. I consulted the archives of the British Public Record Office, the
India Office Library and Records, the U.S. National Archives, and the Israel
State Archives. I also reviewed private collections and the libraries of the
School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London; the
Middle East Centre, St. Antony's College, at Oxford University; the School
of Oriental Studies at Durham University; the British Library; the collections
at the Firestone Library, Princeton University; the Orientalisches Seminar at
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
the Albert Ludwig University at Freiburg; and the Friedrich Wilhelm Univer-
sity of Bonn; the Widener Library at Harvard University; and the Library of
Congress in Washington, DC. I thank the staff at these institutes for their
service.
My colleagues Daniel Silverfarb of Madison, Wisconsin; Joseph Nevo of
the University of Haifa; James Piscatori of the National University of Wales;
Marc Mancall of Stanford University; Mordechai Abir of the Hebrew Univer-
sity; Ernest Gellner of Cambridge University; and Jacob Goldberg and Eman-
uel Marx of Tel-Aviv University offered valuable comments on the study,
which substantially helped improve its content. The assistance in this respect
given by the late Uriel Dann of the Dayan Center at Tel-Aviv University was
particularly useful. I also had the benefit and pleasure of Elie Kedourie's
guidance through the complexities of historical scholarship. Kedourie's criti-
cal remarks, knowledge of the archives, and demands for thorough analysis
and judgment of documents have been the torchlight of my work. His intellec-
tual height and dedication constituted a continuous leaning post and stimu-
lant. I deeply regret that both Elie Kedourie and Uriel Dann did not live to
see the publication of this book. Helen Silman, Sharon Barnett, Abbie
Ziffren, Noah Feldman, and Barbara Swirski, who read different versions of
this study, helped me bring the text to its present form. Lidia Gareh, Yael
Horner, and Gadi Meir typed the different versions of the manuscript. I also
wish to thank Stacey International, Clio Press, and the Estate of Sir John
Bagot Glubb, for allowing me to use in this book maps and figures published
in their books.
The completion of this work often required my family's efforts. My cous-
ins Dr. M. Waechter and T. Auber and their families; my aunt Lidia Sand; and
my wife Riki and our children, Na'ama, Uriya, and Nadav all were ready to
help me and to shoulder the burdens of preparing this book. I dedicate this
book to my parents, in token of my gratitude for the love and help that they
have always given me.
Note on the Transliteration
The transliteration system in this book is that used in the Dayan Center's
annual Middle East Contemporary Survey. Thus ' is used for a hamza in the
middle of a word; and ' is used for an ayin. The ta marbuta is not shown except
in persons' names. The shadda is indicated by doubling the consonant contain-
ing it.
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS xi
Introduction 3
1. War and Expansion, 1916-1925: Tribes, Rulers, and the British 13
The Two Arenas of Conflict 13
The Significance of Ha'il 18
On War and Proselytism: Some Further Remarks
on Khurma, Turaba, and Ibn Sa'ud's Forces 35
Musical Chairs: Ibn Sa'ud and Rival Rulers 42
The Subvention Policy 55
The "Crawling" Into the Hijaz 62
2. The Struggle Over Internal Consolidation, 1917-1930 71
Old and New Political Forces: The 'ulama',
the umara', and the Ikhwan 72
At the Northeastern Frontier, 1921-1926 79
Najd and the Hijaz, 1925-1927 100
Challenge and Collision, 1927-1930 117
3. The Saudi State and Its Neighbors, 1930-1936 141
In the Lions' Den 141
The Fortunes of a Conspiracy 158
The Mode of Acquiescence 173