Night That Made Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

¶ … Night That Made Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

When studying the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia there will be always some disputes about some of the stories and about the formation of the country and all the conspiracies that are related to it. Some of the controversy arises from gossip, some we witnessed, and some will occur in the future, as history has shown. There is a story in particular that is continuously discussed. This story is about the night King Abdulaziz who took over Riyadh city, which is the capital of Saudi Arabia now. There are two stories to that night which illustrate extremity different scenarios.

The first story starts after Bin Jalai's army defeated king Abdulaziz for the first time trying to takeover Riyadh city. He asked for the permission of his father to go on a mission of starting the third Saudi Kingdom. At that time, King Abdulaziz and his father Abdulrahman were gusts of sheik Mubarak, ruler of Kuwait. Sheik Mubarak equipped him with armors, food, and 60 men for his journey to fight Bin Jalawi, who was the king of Riyadh at that time. He led the men in a 50 days trip to conquer Riyadh.

He arrived at Riyadh during the daytime and camped outside the city, intending to attack during the nighttime to have the element of surprise for his advantage. During the nighttime he took 40 men with him to attack the city, which was a big gated fort made of clay and mud brick, and left the remaining men to guard the camp and serve as backup fighters. That night, the king and his fighters were faced with fire and a battle started between him and Bin Jalawi. By the end of the night, he had defeated Bin Jalawi and his army at which time it was announced that king Abdulaziz in the new king of Riyadh. That was the story that we were taught in school and also can be found in the history books. However, there is another story that been told by people.

The other story does not show king Abdulaziz as a hero, but it shows that he took over Riyadh by deceit. In this version, King Abdulaziz and his 40 men went to Riyadh at night and a spy opened one of the forts gates without the guards notice. King Abdulaziz and his men walked through the city quietly until they reached Bin Jalawi's house, where they jumped and killed him and his guards. Following these events, they announced that King Abdulaziz is the new king.

Both of these stories are discussed, but the first one seems to be the plausible one. It is well know that the first, second, and third Saudi Kingdoms were established with only one purpose, which was to unite these diverse and disputed areas under Islam. This noble goal contradicts the means that were used to conquer Riyadh in the second story. Also, lack of documentation of the second story decreases its plausibility. There is no book in history that documents the second story or any fact related to it, which might indicate that this story might be just a fable.