stronger than the caliph, few considered declar-
ing themselves independent outright, in order to
maintain an aura of legitimacy as supporters of
the traditional caliphate. The clear exceptions to
this were the Fatimid dynasty (909–1171) and the
Umayyads in andalUsia.
The Abbasids thus had little more than sym-
bolic power by the middle of the 10th century,
except for a limited revival of their political for-
tunes in the 12th and 13th centuries. They were
finally crushed by the invading Mongols, who
took Baghdad in 1258, wiping out most mem-
bers of the Abbasid family and destroying their
legendary capital, Baghdad. While a few of the
Abbasids escaped to Egypt, where a figurehead
caliphate survived under the tutelage of the mam-
lUk dynasty, they no longer held even the moral
aUthority that they had had when in Baghdad.
Today, the Abbasids remain important as a symbol
of the former greatness of the Islamicate civiliza-
tion, and as a model for what a united Muslim
community might again attain.
See also adab; arabic langUage and litera-
tUre; mahdi; shiism.
John IskanderFurther reading: Paul M. Cobb, White Banners: Conten-
tion in Abbasid Syria, 750–880 (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 2001); Tayeb El-Hibri, Reinterpreting
Islamic Historiography: Harun al-Rashid and the Narra-
tive of the Abbasid Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999); Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet
and the Age of the Caliphates (Harlow: Longman, 2003);
J. J. Saunders, A History of Medieval Islam (New York:
Barnes & Noble, 1965).
Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (Ibn Saud) (1880–1953)
charismatic founder of the modern Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and political patron of the conservative Wahhabi
sect of Islam
Abd al-Aziz was the descendant of the Al Saud clan
of central Arabia that had formed a strategic alli-
ance with the revivalist leader mUhammad ibn abd
al-Wahhab (1703–92) and established a tribal state
that ruled much of the Arabian Peninsula during
the 18th and 19th centuries. In a period of political
fragmentation, he revived Saudi control of the pen-
insula after conducting a raid from neighboring
Kuwait in 1902 that resulted in the capture of the
town of Riyadh, the future capital of saUdi arabia.
He then conquered other regions of the peninsula
with the assistance of the Ikhwan (Brotherhood),
a Wahhabi fighting force recruited from among
Arab tribes. In 1926, after the fall of mecca and
medina, religious authorities recognized Abd al-
Aziz as king of the Hijaz and sultan of Najd, the
western and central regions of Arabia, respectively.
With the support of tribal allies, Ulama, and the
British, he defeated a rebellion among the Ikhwan
in 1927–30, and in 1932, he renamed his realm the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abd al-Aziz was a skillful statesman and leader
in times of peace, in addition to being a man of war.
He consolidated his power through consultations
with close advisers and merchants, intermarriage
with influential tribes and clans, and generous
disbursements of state revenues. Although he had
ruthlessly suppressed the Ikhwan, he maintained
solid ties with Wahhabi ulama and gave them
control of the country’s religious and educational
affairs. They were not capable of seriously oppos-
ing him as he moved to modernize the kingdom,
however. He granted Standard Oil of California
oil exploration rights in 1933, and he persuaded
the ulama to allow for the introduction of radio
transmissions and the telephone. Oil was first dis-
covered in 1938, and Abd al-Aziz quickly moved
to use the new revenues to build family properties
and palaces. It was not until after World War II,
however, that the Saudi kingdom and the royal
family began to fully enjoy the profits of the oil
industry. This was when Saudi Arabia became
the first Arab country to form close ties with the
United States, as signaled by Abd al-Aziz’s meet-
ing with President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945 on
the deck of the USS Quincy. The newly formed
Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) thenK 2 Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud