7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 71920–22, however, he marched against Ibn Rashīd and
extinguished Rashīdī rule, doubling his own territory.
Ibn Sa‘ūd now ruled central Arabia except for the
Hejaz region along the Red Sea. This was the territory of
Sharīf H·usayn of Mecca. In 1924 the Ikhwān took Mecca,
and the Hejaz was added to Ibn Sa‘ūd’s dominions. In the
late 1920s, the Ikhwān turned against him when he for-
bade further raiding on their part. He defeated them at
the Battle of Sibilla in March 1929.
This battle opened a new era; thereafter Ibn Sa‘ūd’s
task was government, not conquest. In 1932 he formally
unified his domains into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An
absolute monarch, he had no regular civil service or pro-
fessional administrators. All decisions were made by him
or by those he personally delegated for a particular task.
There was little money, and he himself was not interested
in finance. In May 1933 Ibn Sa‘ūd signed his first agree-
ment with an American oil company. Not until March 1938
did the company strike oil, and work virtually ceased dur-
ing World War II, so that Ibn Sa‘ūd was again nearly
penniless.
Saudi Arabia took no part in the war, but toward its
end the exploitation of oil was resumed. By 1950 Ibn Sa‘ūd
had received a total of about $200,000. Three years later,
he was getting some $2,500,000 a week. The effect was
disastrous on the country and on Ibn Sa‘ūd. He had no
idea of what to do with all the money, and he watched
helplessly the triumph of everything he hated. His austere
religious views were offended. The secluded, penurious,
hard, but idealistic life of Arabia was vanishing. Such vast
sums of money drew half the swindlers in the Middle East
to this puritan religious sanctum. Ibn Sa‘ūd was unable to
cope with financial adventurers. His last years were marked
by severe physical and emotional deterioration.