Europe and was named foreign minister after his
return in 1919. Faysal played an active role in the
Saudi conquest of the Arabian Peninsula in the
1920s and 1930s and served as governor of the
Hijaz, the western part of Arabia where mecca
and medina are located. At the end of World
War II, he represented saUdi arabia at the United
Nations. In 1953, he was named the country’s
crown prince and foreign minister and contended
with his brother King Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz for the
upper hand in Saudi affairs. With the help of the
Ulama, he successfully forced Saud to step down
from the throne, and he became the kingdom’s
third monarch in 1964.
Saudi Arabia experienced a great increase in
oil revenues during Faysal’s reign. This helped to
finance a far-reaching program of modernization.
He expanded the state bureaucracy and centralized
planning and decision making in the hands of the
royal family. Faysal made substantial improvements
in the country’s roads, communications, electrical
supply, and social services. He also modernized the
country’s educational system, opening new uni-
versities and vocational centers in the kingdom’s
major cities and towns. With the encouragement
of his wife, Iffat, he opened more than 100 schools
for girls, despite opposition from religious and
social conservatives. Faysal was a staunch oppo-
nent of egypt’s Arab nationalist leader, Jamal abd
al-nasir (r. 1954–70) and sought to unite Muslim
nations against the influence of the Soviet Union
and the spread of Arab socialism. He also par-
ticipated, with some reluctance, in the oil embargo
against the United States because of its support
for israel in the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war. In
1975, he was assassinated by a nephew and was
succeeded by his brother, Crown Prince Khalid ibn
Abd al-Aziz (r. 1975–82). A major research center
for Islamic studies in Riyadh and a university
in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia have been
named in his honor.
See also abd al-aziz ibn saUd; arab-israeli
conFlicts; commUnism; organization oF the
islamic conFerence; Wahhabism.
Further reading: Madawi al-Rasheed, A History of
Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002); Nadav Safran, Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest
for Security (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1985).feasting
Feasting is a celebratory cultural activity that
involves the sharing of quantities of food and
drink by families, social groups and classes, and
entire communities. It is known to many soci-
eties—tribal, agricultural, and industrial—and
religions. As Caroline Walker Bynum has noted,
feasting and Fasting often link members of com-
munities to each other and to the rhythms of
nature, with its times of plenty and times of fam-
ine and drought (Bynum, 34). Periods of feasting
and fasting tend to complement each other, even
if they do not always coincide with the seasonal
patterns of nature.
There are two major times of feasting recog-
nized in Islam. One is id al-adha, the Feast of
Sacrifice, a three- to four-day holiday that com-
memorates the sacrifice of abraham and the con-
clusion of the haJJ rites in mecca. The other is id
al-Fitr, the Breakfast Feast, a three- to four-day
holiday that marks the end of the month-long
ramadan fast. These holidays are celebrated by
Muslims around the world; they involve visiting
among families, neighbors, and friends and the
preparation of savory foods and desserts. Families
often schedule engagements and weddings dur-
ing Id holidays in order to keep overall expenses
down, because people have more free time to
attend, and because baraka (divine blessing) is
believed to be especially strong at such times of
the year. Families also visit cemeteries on these
days to donate food to the poor on behalf of the
souls of deceased loved ones. The idea of feast-
ing, moreover, has been incorporated into Islamic
visions of the aFterliFe. In paradise, the blessed
are rewarded with heavenly dishes and beverages,
which are served endlessly in luxurious settings.K 234 feasting