Shah Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

   Reformer, Pan Islamist , Welfare Administrator

 

Born: April 1906, Riyadh
Assassinated: March 25, 1975, Riyadh
Spouse: Effat Al-Thuniyyan (m. 1932–1975)
Parents: Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia 
Siblings: Abdullah , Fahd , Khalid.
Children: Turki bin Faisal al-Saud, Saud bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, Khalid Al-Faisal

Faisal Al-Saud reigned over the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. His main policy themes were pan-Islamism and modernization. With his progressive vision, he brought about a revolutionary social change in his orthodox country and prepared it for the challenges of a modem era. The pin­nacle of his achievements in modernizing the kingdom was establishment of an elaborate judicial system. He invested heavily in government infrastructure  and introduced agricultural and industrial subsidies.

He made it necessary for Saudi royal family to school their children in the country. He introduced the country’s current administrative regions, and laid the foundations for a modem welfare system.

He inaugurated the country’s first ‘five-year plan’ for economic development. Television broadcasts officially began in 1965. During the 1973 Arab-Israel War, he withdrew Saudi oil from world markets in protest over Western sup­port for Israel. This action quadrupled the price of oil, and gained him prestige among Arabs and Muslims.

He greatly increased the aid and subsidies to Egypt, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is a common belief in the Arab and Muslim world that his oil boycott was the real cause of his assassination. In 1974, he was named Time magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’.

He was a close friend of Pakistan and Pakistanis loved him a lot. A large city was renamed after him (‘Faisalabad’). So was a highway in Karachi as well as a suburb. The largest mosque in Pakistan is also named after him and a major air force base too.

“it is in these moments, when Islam is facing many undercurrents that are pulling Muslims left and right, east and west, that we need time for more cooperation and closer ties to enable us to face all the problems and difficulties that obstruct our wav as an Islamic nation, believing in God,His Prophet and His Laws.”

Speech during a visit to Pakistan in 'Faisal Speaks published by KSA Ministry of Information (1966).