Faisal of Saudi Arabia

File:King Faisal in England, 1919.jpg

Faisal bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh on 14 April 1906.{{cite book|author=George Kheirallah|title=Arabia Reborn|year=1952|page=254 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque, NM|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmAxAAAAIAAJ|isbn=978-1-258-50201-0}}{{cite web|title=The kings of the Kingdom|archive-date=22 October 2012|work=Ministry of Commerce and Industry|access-date=28 July 2012|url=http://beta.mci.gov.sa/English/AboutKingdom/Pages/KingdomKings.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022080810/http://beta.mci.gov.sa/English/AboutKingdom/Pages/KingdomKings.aspx|url-status=dead}} He was the third son of Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman, then Emir of Nejd; Faisal was the first of his father's sons who was born in Riyadh.{{cite journal|author=Nabil Mouline|title=Power and generational transition in Saudi Arabia|journal=Critique Internationale|date=April–June 2012|volume=46|pages=1–22|doi=10.3917/crii.046.0125| issn = 1290-7839}}{{cite news|author=Paul L. Montgomery|title=Rise of a Desert Chief's Son to the World Power and Riches|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/610991637/?terms=emirate%20of%20najd&match=1|access-date=27 September 2020

|work=Rutland Daily Herald|agency=Times News Service|date=26 March 1975|page=2i}} His mother was Tarfa bint Abdullah Al Sheikh,{{cite book|editor=Winberg Chai|title=Saudi Arabia: A Modern Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lh4bENPP_HEC&pg=PA193|year=2005|page=193|publisher=University of Indianapolis Press|isbn=978-0-88093-859-4|location=Indianapolis; IN}} whom Abdulaziz had married in 1902 after capturing Riyadh. Tarfa was a descendant of the religious leader Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab.{{cite news|title=Wahhabism – A Unifier or a Divisive Element|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Wahhabism+-+A+Unifier+Or+A+Divisive+Element.-a0315471423|access-date=26 March 2013|work=APS Diplomat News Service|date=7 January 2013}} Faisal's maternal grandfather, Abdullah bin Abdullatif Al Sheikh, was one of Abdulaziz's principal religious teachers and advisers.{{cite journal|author=Alexander Bligh|year=1985|title=The Saudi religious elite (Ulama) as participant in the political system of the kingdom|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=17|pages=37–50|doi=10.1017/S0020743800028750|s2cid=154565116}}{{cite journal|title=Riyadh. The capital of monotheism|journal=Business and Finance Group|url=http://www.bfg-global.com/pdfnw/pdf/eng/1-ensalman.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014223725/http://www.bfg-global.com/pdfnw/pdf/eng/1-ensalman.pdf}} Faisal had an older full sister, Noura, who married her cousin Khalid bin Muhammad, a son of Abdulaziz's half-brother Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman.{{cite book|author=As'ad AbuKhalil|title=The Battle for Saudi Arabia. Royalty, fundamentalism and global power|year=2004 |publisher=Seven Stories Press |location=New York City|isbn=1-58322-610-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfU5ldbBOasC&pg=PA9|author-link=As'ad AbuKhalil}}{{efn|group=note|He also had many half-siblings, a number of whom would play an important role in his life and his reign, including King Saud, King Khalid, King Fahd, King Abdullah, and Prince Sultan.}}

Tarfa bint Abdullah died in 1906, when Faisal was six months old. He then began to live with his maternal grandparents, Abdullah bin Abdullatif and Haya bint Abdul Rahman Al Muqbel,{{cite news|title=في ذكري ميلاده.. تعرف على أهم أسرار حياة الملك فيصل آل سعود|url=https://www.elzmannews.com/290554|access-date=12 September 2020|work=Elzman News|date=14 April 2020|language=ar}} who educated their grandson. Under the mentorship of his grandfather, Prince Faisal completed his studies of reading the Qur'an and studying Islamic law and doctrines at the age of nine.{{cite web|title=King Faisal bin Abdulaziz|publisher=King Faisal Faoundation|url=https://www.kff.com/king-faisal-bin-abdulaziz/|access-date=15 August 2021}} He also learned horseback riding and politics from his father. His father influenced him militarily and politically, and at a young age, Faisal was chosen to represent his father in international forums.

According to Helen Chapin Metz, Faisal, and most of his generation, was raised in an atmosphere in which courage was extremely valued and reinforced.{{cite book|title=Saudi Arabia: A Country Study|year=1992|publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress|location=Washington |url=http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/|editor=Helen Chapin Metz|editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz|isbn=978-0-8444-0791-3}} From 1916 he was tutored by Hafiz Wahba who later served in various governmental posts.{{cite book|editor=Michael Duffy|title=The Naval Miscellany |volume=VI|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxEIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA433|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-00-034082-2|page=433

|location=Abingdon; New York|chapter=On royal duty: HM Aurora's report of proceedings 1945|author=CHH Owen}}{{cite web

|title=File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia|date=13 January 1948|publisher=Qatar Digital Library|access-date=18 August 2023|url=https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100061134244.0x00004d|quote=Citing from the British India Office Records and Private Papers}}

File:Faisal bin Abdulaziz - Asir Campaign.jpg

File:Visite de l'émir Fayçal au camp de Satory 1932 - 02.jpg in France, 1932]]

File:Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Abdulaziz.jpg

As one of Abdulaziz's eldest sons, Faisal was given numerous responsibilities. In 1919 the British government invited Abdulaziz to visit London.{{cite thesis|author=Hassan Abedin|title=Abdulaziz Al Saud and the great game in Arabia, 1896–1946|degree=PhD|year=2003

|url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/2925835/397151.pdf|location=King's College London|page=146}} He could not go, but he assigned his eldest son, Turki, as his envoy. However, Prince Turki died due to Spanish flu before the visit. Therefore, Faisal was sent to London instead, making him the first ever Saudi Arabian royal to visit England. His visit lasted for five months, and he met with British officials.{{cite book|author=Leon Hesser|title=Nurture the Heart, Feed the World: The Inspiring Life Journeys of Two Vagabonds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoEEwADWzeoC&pg=PA104|year=2004

|publisher=Synergy Books|isbn=978-0-9744668-8-0|page=104|location=Austin, TX}} During the same period, he also visited France, again being the first Saudi Arabian royal to pay an official visit there.{{cite book|author=Mark Weston|title=Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present|location=Hoboken, NJ|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEFsVYLko4C&pg=PA129|year=2008|isbn=978-0-470-18257-4|page=129}}

Abdulaziz gave his son Faisal many military duties to consolidate authority over Arabia. After the capture of Hail and initial control over Asir in 1922, Faisal was sent to these provinces with nearly six thousand fighters. He achieved complete control over Asir at the end of the year.{{cite thesis|author=Mohammad Zaid Al Kahtani|title=The Foreign Policy of King Abdulaziz|degree=PhD

|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/529/1/uk_bl_ethos_412035.pdf|location=University of Leeds|date=December 2004}}

Prince Faisal was appointed viceroy of Hejaz on 9 February 1926 following his father's takeover of the region.{{cite book

|author=Nora Derbal|chapter=Humanitarian Service in the Name of Social Development: The Historic Origins of Women's Welfare Associations in Saudi Arabia|editor1=E. Möller|editor2=J. Paulmann|editor3=K. Stornig|title=Gendering Global Humanitarianism in the Twentieth Century|series=Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series |location=Cham|year=2020|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-3-030-44629-1|pages=167–192|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-44630-7_7|s2cid=226630086|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-44630-7_7}}{{cite encyclopedia|title=Fayṣal (King of Saudi Arabia)|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Faysal|date=20 July 1998|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}{{cite thesis|author=Alexander Blay Bligh|title=Succession to the throne in Saudi Arabia. Court Politics in the Twentieth Century|location=Columbia University|page=57|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303101806|degree=PhD|year=1981|id={{ProQuest|303101806}}}} He often consulted with local leaders during his tenure.{{cite journal|author1=Ghassane Salameh|author2=Vivian Steir|title=Political Power and the Saudi State|journal=MERIP|date=October 1980|issue=91|pages=5–22|jstor=3010946|doi=10.2307/3010946}} Faisal was the president of the Consultative Assembly and the minister of interior. In December 1931, following the announcement of the constitution of the Council of Deputies (Majlis al Wukala), he also became the president of the four-member council and minister of foreign affairs.{{cite journal|issue=1|pages=1–19|author=Charles W. Harrington|title=The Saudi Arabian Council of Ministers|journal=The Middle East Journal

|date=Winter 1958|volume=12|jstor=4322975}} He would continue to oversee Saudi foreign policy until his death—even as king, with only a two-year break{{cite web|url=http://www.mofa.gov.sa/Detail.asp?InSectionID=1543&InNewsItemID=24863|title=Mofa.gov.sa|access-date=24 January 2015}} between 1960 and 1962.

File:Amir Khalid right and Amir Faisal in 1943, sons of King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia 1a35390v (cropped).jpg

Faisal visited several countries in this period, including Iran in May 1932,{{cite thesis|author=Turki bin Khalid bin Saad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud|url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/saudi-arabiairan-relations-19292013(394c4809-5e5b-4fba-a2e8-8c4bd5cb3f4a).html|title=Saudi Arabia-Iran relations 1929–2013|location=King's College London|degree=PhD|year=2015}} Poland in 1932 and Russia in 1933.{{cite journal|author=T. R. McHale|title=A Prospect of Saudi Arabia|journal=International Affairs|date=Autumn 1980|volume=56|issue=4|pages=622–647|jstor=2618170|doi=10.2307/2618170}}{{cite news|title=Seminar focuses on King Faisal's efforts to promote world peace|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/221293|access-date=11 August 2013|newspaper=Arab News|date=30 May 2002}} On 8 July 1932 he visited Turkey and met with President Kemal Atatürk.{{cite book|author=Hakan Özoğlu|editor1=Gönül Tol|editor2=David Dumke|title=Aspiring Powers, Regional Rivals|year=2019|publisher=Middle East Institute|location=Washington DC|page=12|isbn=9798612846444|chapter-url=http://mail.irdiplomacy.ir/file/download/news/1584098995-aspiring-powers-regional-rivals-dec.-13-2019.pdf#page=11|chapter=Heirs of the Empire: Turkey's diplomatic ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia until the mid-20th century}} On 23 September 1932, the prince officially announced the establishment of Saudi Arabia on behalf of his father from Al Hamidiyah Palace in Mecca by reading out the royal decree that renamed the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.{{Cite web |title=المملكة العربية السعودية... قصة "إعلان التوحيد"|work=Al Sharq Alawsat|language=ar

|url=https://aawsat.com/home/article/3210201/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%C2%AB%D8%A5%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AF%C2%BB|access-date=22 November 2022}}{{Cite web|date=23 September 2022|title=National Day... The golden annals that were never scripted|url=http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/625286|access-date=22 November 2022|work=Saudi Gazette}} Faisal commanded a campaign during the Saudi–Yemeni War in 1934, resulting in a Saudi victory. He and his half-brother Khalid visited the US in October 1943 following the invitation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.{{cite thesis|author=Odah Sultan Odah|title=Saudi-American relation 1968–78: A study in ambiguity|degree=PhD|year=1988|url=http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/14829/|location=University of Salford}} This is one of the early contacts between Saudi Arabia and the US.

As King Abdulaziz neared the end of his life, he favored Faisal as a possible successor over his eldest living son, Crown Prince Saud, due to Faisal's extensive knowledge, as well as his years of experience. Since Faisal was a child, Abdulaziz recognized him as the most brilliant of his sons and often tasked him with responsibilities in war and diplomacy. In addition, Faisal was known to embrace a simple Bedouin lifestyle. "I only wish I had three Faisals", Abdulaziz once said when discussing who would succeed him.{{cite news|title=Faisal, Rich and Powerful, Led Saudis Into 20th Century and to Arab Forefront|newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 March 1975

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/26/archives/faisal-rich-and-powerful-led-saudis-into-20th-century-and-to-arab.html|access-date=6 April 2021

|author=Paul L. Montgomery}} However, Abdulaziz made the decision to keep Saud as crown prince in the fear that otherwise would lead to decreased stability.{{cite journal|author=Mai Yamani|title=From fragility to stability: A survival strategy for the Saudi monarchy

|journal=Contemporary Arab Affairs|date=January–March 2009|volume=2|issue=1|pages=90–105|doi=10.1080/17550910802576114|author-link=Mai Yamani}}

King Abdulaziz died on 9 November 1953, and Prince Faisal was at his side.{{cite magazine|author=Richard Cavendish

|title=Death of Ibn Saud|magazine=History Today|year=2003|volume=53|issue=11|url=http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-ibn-saud|author-link=Richard Cavendish (occult writer)}}{{cite web|title=Ibn Saud dies|work=King Abdulaziz Information Source

|url=http://sacmclubs.org/king_abdulaziz/mainns/3800.htm|access-date=9 August 2012|url-status=usurped|archive-date=14 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014124034/http://sacmclubs.org/king_abdulaziz/mainns/3800.htm}} Faisal's elder half-brother, Saud, became king. Faisal was then appointed crown prince. On 16 August 1954 he was made prime minister.{{cite news|title=Saud Names His Brother Prime Minister of Nation|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=17 August 1954|location=Jeddah|id={{ProQuest|112933832}}}}

File:Gamal Abdel Nasser in Saudi Arabia.jpg

King Saud embarked on a spending program that included the construction of a massive royal residence on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh. He also faced pressure from neighboring Egypt, where Gamal Abdel Nasser had overthrown the monarchy in 1952. Nasser was able to cultivate a group of dissident princes led by Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, who defected to Egypt. Fearing that Saud's financial policies were bringing the state to the brink of collapse, and that his handling of foreign affairs was inept, senior members of the royal family and the ulema (religious leadership) pressured Saud into appointing Faisal to the position of prime minister in 1958, giving Faisal wide executive powers.{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://lexicorient.com/e.o/faisal.htm|title=King Faisal

|encyclopedia=LookLex Encyclopaedia|archive-date=12 October 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012095316/http://lexicorient.com/e.o/faisal.htm}}

A power struggle ensued between Saud and Faisal, and on 18 December 1960, Faisal resigned as prime minister in protest, arguing that Saud was frustrating his financial reforms. Saud took back his executive powers and, having induced Prince Talal to return from Egypt, appointed him as minister of finance in July 1958.{{cite web|work=Ministry of Finance|title=About Ministry of Finance

|url=https://www.mof.gov.sa:443/en/about/Pages/previousministers.aspx}}Alexei Vassiliev. (1998). The History of Saudi Arabia, London, UK: Al Saqi Books, 978-0863569357, p. 358 In 1962, however, Faisal rallied enough support within the royal family to install himself as prime minister for a second time. Less than a month before this event Faisal held a secret meeting with US president John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., on 4 October 1962.{{cite book|author=Rosie Bsheer|editor1=Amal Ghazal|editor2=Jens Hanssen|title=The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History|date=August 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-967253-0

|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672530.001.0001|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672530.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199672530-e-43?rskey=gVBxOY&result=1|chapter=W(h)ither Arabian Peninsula Studies?}} The same year, Faisal announced the Ten Point Program, which outlined Saudi Arabia's path to becoming an industrialized nation by implementing economic, financial, political, and legal principles. Among the highlights were:

File:President John F. Kennedy with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud, at White House Luncheon.jpg

• Issuing a basic system of governance derived from Islamic Sharia and developing the system of governance and the Saudi Arabian Council of Ministers.
• Establishing a system for the provinces, clarifying the method of local government, in the various regions of the Kingdom.
• Establishing a system for the independence of the judiciary, under the control of a Supreme Judicial Council, and establishing the Ministry of Justice.
• Establishing a Supreme Council for issuing fatwas, comprising twenty jurists.
• Improving the social level of the Saudi people, through free medical treatment, free education, and the exemption of many foodstuffs from customs duties. In addition, a social security system and a system to protect workers from unemployment were established.
• Establishing a program for economic recovery, strengthening the financial position of the Kingdom, developing a program to raise the standard of living of citizens, establishing a road network linking parts of the Kingdom and its cities, providing water sources for drinking and agriculture, and ensuring the protection of light and heavy national industries. This includes allocating all the additional sums that the government would receive from Aramco for its rights claimed by the companies for the past years, and harnessing them to serve development projects.
• Continuing to develop girls' education as well as the advancement of women.
• The liberation of slaves and the abolition of slavery, once and for all in Saudi Arabia.{{cite web|title=Chapter II: The reign of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud|url=http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/AfterAziz/sec02.doc_cvt.htm|work=Moqatel|access-date=21 August 2021|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701104037/http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/AfterAziz/sec02.doc_cvt.htm|url-status=dead}}

Faisal founded the Economic Development Committee in 1958.{{cite thesis|author=Abdullah Hamad Al Salamah|title=Employee Perceptions in Multinational Companies: A Case Study of the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1568/1/1568.pdf|access-date=14 April 2021|location=University of Durham |degree=PhD|date=April 1994}} He was instrumental in the establishment of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1961. In 1962 he helped found the Muslim World League, a worldwide charity to which the Saudi royal family has reportedly since donated more than a billion dollars.{{cite journal|author=Rachel Bronson|title=Rethinking Religion: The Legacy of the US–Saudi Relationship|journal=The Washington Quarterly|year=2005|volume=28|issue=4|pages=121–137|doi=10.1162/0163660054798672|s2cid=143684653}} In 1963 he established the country's first television station, though actual broadcasts would not begin for another two years.{{cite news|title=A history of treason – King Faisal bin Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud|access-date=5 November 2014|work=Islam Times|date=22 May 2014

|url=http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcammnew49naw1.tgk4.html}}

{{further|History of Saudi Arabia#Modern history}}

File:King Abdulaziz with Prince Faisal and Prince Saud.jpg

During this period, the struggle with King Saud continued in the background, with the royal princes meeting and asking Faisal to take over effective control from Saud. Saud had driven the country into serious debt and embarrassed the royal family by becoming embroiled in a plan to assassinate United Arab Republic president Gamal Abdel Nasser.{{cite news|title=Saud Stripped of Power; Faisal Takes Full Control|newspaper=The New York Times|date=29 March 1964|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/29/archives/saud-stripped-of-power-faisal-takes-full-control.html|access-date=21 May 2022}}

Faisal took advantage of Saud's absence from the country for medical reasons in early 1963 to amass greater power for himself as Saudi Arabia's political and economic circumstances worsened. He removed many of Saud's loyalists from their posts and appointed like-minded princes in key military and security positions,James Wynbrandt. (2004). A Brief History of Saudi Arabia, New York: Facts on File, Inc., pp. 221-225. ISBN 978-0-8160-7876-9.Vassiliev, pp. 366–7 such as his half-brother Prince Abdullah, to whom he gave command of the National Guard in 1962. Upon his return, Saud rejected Faisal's new arrangement and requested that all of his powers be restored.

In response, Faisal called a meeting of all senior members of the royal family, excluding Saud, as well as ulema and tribal elders. Faisal had convened the tribe chiefs in response to Saud's demand that his full powers be restored. As a result, the assembly supported Faisal and proposed that Saud be deposed from the throne and Faisal be proclaimed monarch. The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh, a maternal cousin of Faisal, issued a fatwa (edict) calling on the King to accede to his brother's demands. Faisal, on the other hand, urged that Saud keep the royal title. He was said to have felt bound by his oath to his father that he would recognize Saud as king. All that mattered, he maintained, was that Saud leave power in Faisal's hands and stay out of public life.

As a last-ditch attempt to reclaim executive powers, Saud ordered the deployment of the Royal Guard at Nasriyah Palace, prompting Faisal to order the National Guard to surround Saud's palace. His loyalists outnumbered and outgunned, Saud relented, and on 4 March 1964, Faisal was appointed regent. A meeting of the elders of the royal family and the ulema was convened later that year, and the grand mufti decreed a second fatwa, calling on Saud to abdicate the throne in favor of his brother. Faisal believed that Saud's continued ill health compelled him to take the throne, thus absolving him of the oath.{{cite news|title=Saud Dethroned; Faisal made King; Arabian Prince Takes Title From Ailing Brother|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 November 1964|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/03/archives/saud-dethroned-faisal-made-king-arabian-prince-takes-title-from.html|access-date=21 May 2022}} The royal family supported the fatwa and immediately informed Saud of their decision. Saud, by now shorn of all his powers, agreed, and Faisal was proclaimed king on 2 November 1964. Saud then went into exile, finding refuge in Egypt before eventually settling in Greece.

{{see also|Islamic views on slavery|Slavery in Saudi Arabia}}

Slavery did not vanish in Saudi Arabia until Faisal issued a decree for its total abolition in 1962. BBC presenter Peter Hobday stated that about 1,682 slaves were freed at that time, at a cost to the government of $2,000 each.{{cite journal|author=Michel G. Nehme|title=Saudi Arabia 1950–80: Between Nationalism and Religion|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=1994|volume=30|issue=4|pages=930–943|doi=10.1080/00263209408701030|jstor=4283682}} The political analyst Bruce Riedel argued that the US began to raise the issue of slavery after the meeting between King Abdulaziz and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, and that John F. Kennedy finally persuaded the House of Saud to abolish slavery in 1962.{{cite journal|author=Bruce Riedel|title=Brezhnev in the Hejaz|journal=The National Interest|year=2011 |volume=115|url=http://www.relooney.info/SI_Milken-Arabia/0-Important_14.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115051640/http://www.relooney.info/SI_Milken-Arabia/0-Important_14.pdf|archive-date=15 November 2013}}

{{further|History of Saudi Arabia#Modern history}}

File:Arab leaders at a Summit in Cairo.jpg, September 1970. From left to right: Muammar Gaddafi (Libya), Yasser Arafat (Palestine), Jaafar al-Nimeiri (Sudan), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), King Faisal (Saudi Arabia) and Sheikh Sabah (Kuwait)]]

In a speech shortly after becoming king, Faisal said:{{blockquote|I beg of you, brothers, to look upon me as both brother and servant. 'Majesty' is reserved to God alone and 'the throne' is the throne of the Heavens and Earth.{{cite journal|author=Mordechai Abir

|year=1987|title=The Consolidation of the Ruling Class and the New Elites in Saudi Arabia|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=23|issue=2|page=156|doi=10.1080/00263208708700697}}}}

One of the earliest actions Faisal took as king was to establish a council to deal with future succession issues.{{cite book

|author=David Rundell|title=Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pLyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|year=2020

|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-83860-594-0|page=63}} The members were his uncles Abdullah and Musaid and his half-brothers Khalid, Fahd, Abdullah, Sultan, and Nawwaf. In 1967 Faisal established the post of second prime minister and appointed Prince Fahd to this post.{{cite book|author=Nadav Safran|title=Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest for Security|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zSkIi_1T1FsC&pg=PR17|year=1985|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-9484-0|pages=94–217|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906211245/https://books.google.com/boovks?id=zSkIi_1T1FsC&pg=PR17|url-status=live}} The reason for this newly established body was Prince Khalid's request and suggestion.{{cite web|title=Saudi Arabia|url=https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|work=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training|access-date=16 January 2021|page=77|format=Country Readers Series|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033355/https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|url-status=dead}} The use of Saudi Arabia's flag was made by him official on 15 March 1973, although it had been in use since 1902.{{cite book|author=Elie Podeh|title=The Politics of National Celebrations in the Arab Middle East|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780511734748|page=256|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511734748.009

|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511734748.009}}

Faisal's most senior adviser during his reign was Rashad Pharaon, his father's private physician.{{cite book|author=Alexei Vassiliev

|title=King Faisal: Personality, Faith and Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0AhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT280|year=2013|publisher=Saqi

|location=London|isbn=978-0-86356-761-2|page=280}} Another adviser was Grand Mufti Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al Sheikh, who was influential in shaping the King's political role in the Arab world.{{cite journal|author=Nawaf E. Obaid|title=The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders|url=https://www.meforum.org/482/the-power-of-saudi-arabias-islamic-leaders|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=September 1999}}

Early in his rule, Faisal issued an edict that all Saudi princes had to school their children inside the country, rather than sending them abroad; this had the effect of making it popular for upper-class families to bring their sons back to study in the Kingdom.Peter Bergen. (2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know. He also introduced the country's current system of administrative regions, and laid the foundations for a modern welfare system. In 1970 he established the Ministry of Justice and inaugurated the country's first "five-year plan" for economic development.{{cite book|author=Esther van Eijk|editor=Jan Michiel Otto|title=Sharia Incorporated|date=2010|publisher=Leiden University Press|location=Leiden|isbn=9789087280574|page=148|chapter=Sharia and national law in Saudi Arabia|chapter-url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2728352/view}}

One of Faisal's modernization attempts was the new laws on media, publishing, and archiving and bilateral cultural cooperation protocols with foreign and corporate archives that kept records about mid-twentieth century Arabia. Television broadcasts officially began in 1965. In the same year, a nephew of Faisal attacked the newly established headquarters of Saudi television but was killed by security personnel. The attacker was the brother of Faisal's future assassin, and the incident is the most widely accepted motive for his assassination.Vassiliev p. 395. Although there was some discontent with the social changes he carried out, the Arab world grew to respect Faisal as a result of his policies modernizing Saudi Arabia, his management of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, his reputation as a staunch opponent of Zionism, and the country's fast-rising financial strength.{{cite book|title=Saudi Arabia Diplomatic Handbook Foreign Policy, Strategy Information and Developments|year=2009|publisher=International Business Publications, USA|page=52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzizDwAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1-4387-4235-9}}

Faisal pursued strategies to maximize the utilization of oil revenue and initiated a thorough evaluation of the profit-sharing agreement with Aramco, which he deemed inequitable and requested its revision. Additionally, the government transitioned from engaging in oil reservoir exploitation agreements to exclusively granting oil investment concessions to state institutions.{{cite web|title=The reign of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a fighter from the desert|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=12 October 2018

|url=https://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/AfterAziz/sec02.doc_cvt.htm|url-status=dead|work=Moqatel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012091011/http://www.moqatel.com:80/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/AfterAziz/sec02.doc_cvt.htm}} Following the declaration of bankruptcy within the government treasury, Faisal directed his focus towards revitalizing industrial, agricultural, financial, and economic enterprises, earning recognition for his instrumental role in the economic and administrative rejuvenation of the Kingdom.{{cite news|title=Saudi-American Relations: A Permanent Alliance and Emergency Differences|url-status=live|work=BBC News Arabic

|url=https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-40001070|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=16 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916000155/https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-40001070}}

Faisal took charge of formulating the nation's five-year plans and started setting up the structure of administrative regions. To bolster the capabilities of state service institutions, he enlisted the aid of foreign consulting firms. Furthermore, he actively participated in the development of industries, agriculture, project initiatives, land investments, and the exploration of natural resources and sources of potable water. Faisal played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Petromin Corporation and laid the foundation for a comprehensive network of power plants. Additionally, he spearheaded the creation of essential industries such as petrochemicals, iron, steel, cement, and mining. Recognizing the significance of skill development, Faisal advocated for sending students to Western countries for training, thereby contributing to the growth of industrial ventures. In 1969, the Kingdom initiated its inaugural development strategy.{{cite web|title=The economy in the era of al-Faisal|url=https://www.sauress.com/albilad/1000917|url-status=live|work=Sauress|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026010632/https://www.sauress.com/albilad/1000917|archive-date=26 October 2020}} Faisal held a meeting with US president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, forging a Saudi-American alliance focused on collaborative endeavors for the advancement of the Kingdom. Subsequently, in 1971, Faisal engaged with President Richard Nixon during a meeting in Washington. Three years later, in 1973, the Joint Saudi-American Economic Committee was established. A milestone occurred in 1974 when Nixon became the first US president to visit Saudi Arabia.{{cite web|title=In pictures... Extensive visits between the leaders of Saudi Arabia and America in 73 years|url=https://al-ain.com/article/saudi-usa-visits|url-status=live|work=Al Ain|date=18 March 2018 |access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=26 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026002959/https://al-ain.com/article/saudi-usa-visits}}{{cite web|title=King Salman pushes Saudi-American cooperation to a new stage|url=https://www.aleqt.com/2015/09/03/article_987788.html|url-status=live|work=Aleqt|date=3 September 2015 |access-date=22 June 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121134758/http://www.aleqt.com/2015/09/03/article_987788.html|archive-date=21 January 2019}}

File:سد أبها1W8796.jpg

In 1965, the Ministry of Agriculture collaborated with multinational consulting firms to establish a comprehensive program for water exploration. This initiative aimed to systematically search for water resources by extraction. The Ministry dedicated its endeavors to enhance agricultural practices, promote livestock and fisheries, conserve plant species, combat desertification, and provide guidance to farmers for improving date production. Furthermore, it actively encouraged the commercial sector to invest in the packaging and preservation of dates. Several significant projects were successfully accomplished during this period, including the construction of the Jizan Dam in 1970, which was completed with the assistance of foreign corporations. In Al-Ahsa, a water-saving initiative was implemented through an irrigation and drainage project, aimed at conserving water from springs and wells while effectively utilizing any surplus. Dams were constructed in Abha, Al-Majma'ah, and along Wadi Hanifa near Riyadh to collect rainwater. Moreover, agricultural ventures were initiated in Tabuk Province, Al-Jawf Province, Wadi Sirhan, Al-Qassim Province, Al Aflaj Governorate, Wadi Bisha, and Najran Province. The Ministry also instructed the Agricultural Bank to offer loans to farmers and fishermen for the procurement of essential equipment, with the condition that the loans be repaid in interest-free, long-term installments.

Under his leadership, Faisal oversaw the extensive expansion of modern road networks throughout the Kingdom, enlisting the expertise of international companies for their implementation. These developments facilitated connections with neighboring countries such as Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait. Additionally, he prioritized the development of agricultural roads, enabling villages and farmers to transport their products to market efficiently. In the realm of aviation, airports were expanded and upgraded, while Saudi Arabian Airlines acquired jet planes to enhance their services. Notably, an institute for civil aviation training was established in Jeddah. In parallel, port traffic experienced significant growth, with the expansion of the Jeddah Islamic Port and the establishment of new ports in Yanbu and Jazan.

File:Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.jpg

Education received paramount attention and underwent significant improvements during Faisal's reign. Reforms were implemented in the curricula, accompanied by an increase in foreign educational missions. Special provisions were made to financially support families who lacked resources to educate their children, emphasizing equal opportunities for both male and female students. Textbooks were distributed free of charge, eliminating any associated fees. In 1974, Faisal also directed the establishment of Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.{{cite web|title=About Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University|work=Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University|url=https://imamu.edu.sa/en/about/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=live|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=30 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330231924/https://imamu.edu.sa/en/about/Pages/default.aspx}} Furthermore, in 1967, he established the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. In 1974, he ordered the Council of Ministers to merge the university with the government, converting it to a public university and offering free education to Saudi students.{{cite web|title=About King Abdulaziz University

|url=https://www.kau.edu.sa/Content-0-EN-2384|url-status=live|work=King Abdulaziz University|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=7 December 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207003356/https://www.kau.edu.sa/Content-0-EN-2384}} In 1975, the College of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran was converted into the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.{{cite web|title=About KFUPM

|url=http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/SitePages/en/AboutUs.aspx|url-status=live|work=KFUPM|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=11 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811131959/http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/ar/Pages/history-philosophy_arabic.aspx}} Similarly, King Faisal University was established in Al-Ahsa in 1975, although it was inaugurated during the reign of his brother Khalid in 1977.{{cite web|title=About KFU|url=https://www.kfu.edu.sa/en/Pages/AboutKKFU.aspx|url-status=live|work=KFU|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326034102/https://www.kfu.edu.sa/en/pages/aboutkkfu.aspx|archive-date=26 March 2023}}

Faisal is recognized for his significant contributions to women's education in Saudi Arabia, starting from his time as crown prince. In 1956, he established the first regular government school for girls in the country, known as Dar Al Hanan. This school was established under the patronage of his wife Iffat. A major milestone occurred in 1960 when a royal order was issued during the reign of King Saud, leading to the establishment of the General Presidency for Girls Education. This marked the official beginning of women's education in Saudi Arabia, providing them with broader access to educational opportunities.{{cite web|title=Dar Al Hanan|url=https://dhs.edu.sa/pages.aspx?pageid=3|url-status=live|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001195925/http://dhs.edu.sa/pages.aspx?pageid=3}}

Medical professionals, including doctors and nursing staff, were recruited from various countries worldwide under the leadership of King Faisal. Recognizing the importance of healthcare, he issued an order to establish the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh on land that he donated, which commenced its operations in 1975. Collaboration with the World Health Organization was fostered to develop government health programs.{{cite web|title=Achievements of King Faisal.. Information about his most prominent achievements, life and death|work=Mhtwyat

|url=https://mhtwyat.com/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83-%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%B5%D9%84/#i-3|url-status=live

|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028004019/https://mhtwyat.com/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83-%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%B5%D9%84/#i-3|archive-date=28 October 2020}} Notably, significant investments were allocated to the healthcare sector, with funding reaching 3.4% of the budget, aimed at advancing the foundational components of the healthcare system. In 1973 alone, the allocated budget for public health and social affairs amounted to 591 million riyals. The kingdom implemented a strategic planning system within its five-year plan from 1970 to 1975. The number of doctors increased to 1,020, health assistants rose to 3,750, hospital beds witnessed a 30% increase, dispensaries expanded by 60%, and the number of health centers grew to 200, reflecting the Kingdom's commitment to enhancing healthcare services.{{cite web|title=Health care in the era of the cheetah, Education + health = a citizen participating in the construction of civilization|url=https://www.al-jazirah.com/2001/20011118/fy3.htm|url-status=live|work=Al Jazirah

|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117220502/http://www.al-jazirah.com/2001/20011118/fy3.htm|archive-date=17 November 2016}}

File:Royal Saudi Air Force Lightning.jpg fighter on display at the gates of King Faisal Air Base in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia]]

Upon ascending to the throne, Faisal devised a comprehensive strategy for the Royal Saudi Air Force that aligned with the prevailing needs and demands of the era. Recognizing the necessity of a distinguished institution capable of accommodating a substantial number of Saudi students and providing them with top-tier training, he embarked on the task of finding a suitable college. Consequently, the announcement regarding the establishment of the King Faisal Air Academy was made in 1967, and it officially commenced its operations three years later, specifically in 1970.{{cite web|title=The Establishment and Development of the Royal Saudi Air Force|url-status=live|work=Moqatel|access-date=22 June 2023

|url=http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Askria6/gawiaSaudi/sec01.doc_cvt.htm|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701104332/http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Askria6/gawiaSaudi/sec01.doc_cvt.htm}}

In December 1965, Faisal initiated a procurement of advanced weaponry and equipment, which included forty Lightning fighters. This consisted of 34 single-seat aircraft and 6 two-seat aircraft. Deliveries of these aircraft commenced on July 1, 1968, with two (F.Mk 53) aircraft taking off from Wharton and reaching Jeddah. The delivery process concluded in September 1969, with the receipt of the final aircraft manufactured, bearing the serial number (53-700), on June 29, 1972. The Lightning fighters remained in active service until January 1986.

In 1972, Faisal placed an order for 39 Mirage 5 aircraft from France. However, upon their arrival in the Kingdom in 1974, and before the Royal Saudi Air Force could utilize them, the King decided to donate the aircraft to Egypt in order to bolster their air force. Faisal undertook this gesture of support to assist Egypt in strengthening its military capabilities.{{cite web

|title=The Dassault-Breguet Mirage 5SDE Fighters at Egyptian Air Force|url=http://www.easternorbat.com/html/dassault_mirage_5_eng.html|url-status=live|work=Eastern Order of Battle|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724100236/http://www.easternorbat.com/html/dassault_mirage_5_eng.html}}

During his reign, Faisal oversaw the establishment of the first advanced military cities. These cities were designed as modern complexes, encompassing military bases, training and shooting fields, warehouses for storing ammunition and combat equipment vehicles, as well as residential neighborhoods with educational, healthcare, recreational, and commercial facilities. These military cities also featured landscaped gardens, green spaces, and sports clubs. The inaugural military city was the King Faisal Military City, established in 1971 near the city of Khamis Mushait in the southern region. Subsequently, the King Abdulaziz Military City was established in the northwestern region and was officially inaugurated by King Faisal in 1973. These military cities represented significant developments in infrastructure and provided comprehensive facilities to support military personnel and their families.{{cite web|title=Information about King Faisal Military City|work=AlMrsal|access-date=22 June 2023|url=https://www.almrsal.com/post/808001|url-status=live|archive-date=28 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628164203/https://www.almrsal.com/post/808001}}{{cite web|title=A Sequence of Important Incidents and Visits in the Life of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz|url=http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/KingFaisal/mol06.doc_cvt.htm|url-status=live|work=Moqatel|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217043433/http://www.moqatel.com:80/openshare/Behoth/Atrikia51/KingFaisal/mol06.doc_cvt.htm}}

{{See also|1969 Saudi Arabian coup d'état attempt}}

The 1950s and 1960s saw numerous coups d'état in the region. Muammar Gaddafi's coup that overthrew the monarchy in oil-rich Libya in 1969 was especially threatening for Saudi Arabia due to the similarity between the two sparsely-populated desert countries.Vassiliev 371. As a result, Faisal undertook to build a sophisticated security apparatus and cracked down firmly on dissent. As in all affairs, he justified these policies in Islamic terms. Early in his reign, when faced with demands for a written constitution for the country, Faisal responded that "our constitution is the Qur'an".Official website of the Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense, [http://www.muqatel.com/openshare/Wthaek/Khotob/Khotub13/AKhotub119_6-1.htm_cvt.htm#أم%20القرى official Saudi government journal Umm Al-Qura Issue 2193, 20 October 1967] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106060402/http://www.muqatel.com/openshare/Wthaek/Khotob/Khotub13/AKhotub119_6-1.htm_cvt.htm#أم%20القرى|date=6 November 2014}} In the summer of 1969 he ordered the arrest of hundreds of military officers, including some generals,{{cite web|url=http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/RestrictedPapers/conmed2003free/200303Teitelbaum12.pdf|author=Joshua Tietelbaum|title=A Family Affair: Civil-Military Relations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia|access-date=25 June 2008|page=11|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625232753/http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/RestrictedPapers/conmed2003free/200303Teitelbaum12.pdf|archive-date=25 June 2008}} alleging that a military coup d'état was being planned. The coup was planned primarily by air force officers and aimed at overthrowing the monarchy and founding a Nasserist regime in the country.{{cite journal|author=Roham Alvandi|title=Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: the origins of Iranian primacy in the Persian Gulf|year=2012|volume=36|journal=Diplomatic History|issue=2|pages=337–372|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2011.01025.x}} King Faisal claimed that Sami Sharaf, one of the Gamal Abdel Nasser's officials, was the planner of the plot.{{cite book|year=2020|author=Brandon Friedman|title=The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=Cham|isbn=978-3-030-56182-6|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6

|page=133|s2cid=229220016 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6}} The arrests were possibly based on a tip from American intelligence.

{{See also|Religion in Saudi Arabia}}

File:Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad with King Faisal.jpg and Quran reciter Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad, early 1970s|alt=Faisal shaking hands with Imam Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad]]

Faisal seemed to hold the pluralist view, favouring limited, cautious accommodation of popular demands for inclusive reform, and made repeated attempts to broaden political representation, harking back to his temporarily successful national integration policy from 1965 to 1975. The King acknowledged his country's religious and cultural diversity, which includes the predominantly Shia Al Ahsa in the east; the Asir in the southwest, with tribal affinities to Yemen, especially among the Ismaili tribes of Najran and Jizan; and the Kingdom of the Hejaz, with its capital Mecca. He included non-Wahhabi, cosmopolitan Sunni Hejazis from Mecca and Jeddah in the Saudi government.{{cite journal|author=Mai Yamani|title=The two faces of Saudi Arabia|journal=Survival|date=February–March 2008|volume=50|issue=1|pages=143–156|doi=10.1080/00396330801899488|doi-access=free}} It was said that he would not take any decision regarding Mecca without seeking the advice of Sunni (Sufi) scholar al-Sayyid 'Alawi ibn 'Abbas al-Maliki al-Hasani, the father of Muhammad ibn 'Alawi al-Maliki.{{cite web|title=Sayyid Muhammad bin 'Alawi Al-Maliki al-Hasani: A Biography|website=Imam Ghazali Institute

|url=https://www.imamghazali.org/resources/muhammad-alawi-al-maliki-biography|author=Fakhruddin Owaisi|date=16 February 2021

|access-date=11 April 2021}} Similarly in 1962, in promoting a broader, non-sectarian form of pan-Islamism, Faisal launched the Muslim World League where the Tijani Sufi scholar Ibrahim Niass was invited.{{cite journal|author=Andrea Brigaglia|title=Two Exegetical Works from Twentieth-Century West Africa: Shaykh Abu Bakr Gumi's Radd al-adhhān and Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse's Fī riyāḍ al-tafsīr|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|year=2013

|volume=15|issue=3|pages=253–266|doi=10.3366/jqs.2013.0120}} Furthermore, he countered the outlook of certain prior Saudi rulers in declaring to the Saudi state clergy that, "All Muslims, from Egypt, India etc. are your brothers".Muhammad Husayn Ibrahimi, Mansoor Limba, and Sunitas y Chiitas. (2007). [https://www.al-islam.org/printpdf/book/export/html/18357 A New Analysis of Wahhabi Doctrines]. Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly. However Mai Yamani argued that after his reign, discrimination based on sect, tribe, region, and gender became the order of the day and has remained as such until today.

The role and authority of the state clergy declined after Faisal became king in 1964, even though they had helped bring him to the throne. Despite his piety and biological relationship through his mother to the Al as Shaykh family, and his support for the pan-Islamic movement in his struggle against pan-Arabism, he decreased the ulema's power and influence.{{cite journal|author=Mordechai Abir|title=The Consolidation of the Ruling Class and the New Elites in Saudi Arabia|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=1987|volume=23|issue=2

|pages=150–171|jstor=4283169|doi=10.1080/00263208708700697}} Unlike his successor Khalid, Faisal attempted to prevent radical clerics from controlling religious institutions such as the Council of Senior Ulema, the highest religious institution in Saudi Arabia, or taking religious offices such as Grand Mufti, responsible for preserving Islamic law. But his advisers warned that, once religious zealots had been motivated, disastrous effects would result.

Due to his status as a pious Muslim, Faisal was able to implement careful social reforms such as female education. Despite this, religious conservatives staged large protests. By holding talks with the conservatives, he was able to persuade them of the importance of progress in the coming years by using their own logic.{{cite news|title=Educated for indolence|access-date=12 June 2018

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/aug/03/saudiarabia.gender|work=The Guardian|date=2 August 1999}}

Corruption in the royal family was taken very seriously by religious figures in the Islamic theological colleges. They challenged some of the accepted theological interpretations adopted by the Saudi regime. One such influential figure was Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Baz, then rector of the Al Medina college of theology (later he would serve as the country's grand mufti). Faisal would not tolerate his criticism and had him removed from his position. However, the teachings of Bin Baz had already radicalized some of his students, one of which was Juhayman al-Otaybi.{{cite journal|author=Michel G. Nehme|title=Saudi Arabia 1950–80: Between Nationalism and Religion|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=1994|volume=30|issue=4|pages=930–943|doi=10.1080/00263209408701030|jstor=4283682}}

File:King Faisal visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque.jpg in 1966. During this time, he prayed in Al Aqsa Mosque.]]

The Saudi Binladin Group was tasked with expanding Masjid al-Haram, which would be the first substantial enlargement in a thousand years. This massive project began in 1955, during the reign of King Saud, and continued for twenty years during the reigns of King Faisal and King Khalid. In 1967, a conference in Mecca brought together a significant number of Muslim architects to discuss possible design alternatives. Faisal objected to the conference's recommendation to demolish a significant portion of the Ottoman structure, arguing that the Ottoman structure should be preserved and new architectural designs created using the best methods of convergence. A new phase of construction began in 1969 with the addition of two new wings and repairs to the sanctuary's existing structure. During this phase, the surrounding roadways were developed and the squares were installed. At the time, the project cost approximately 800 million Saudi riyals. In 1962, he also ordered the reopening of the Kaaba Cloth Factory in Mecca due to political tensions between Egypt (then called the United Arab Republic) and Saudi Arabia.{{cite web|title=المعلم محمد عوض بن لادن|url=http://sbg.com.sa:80/profile_a.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806204940/http://sbg.com.sa:80/profile_a.html|work=Saudi Binladin Group|archive-date=6 August 2020|access-date=9 April 2022}}

The Muslim World League planned to renovate Maqam Ibrahim in 1965, with the maqam housed inside a crystal pillar with a silver lid. Faisal agreed and issued an order putting the plan in motion. Buildings were demolished to make the circumambulation rituals easier. By 1967, the area around Maqam Ibrahim had grown, and crowds were able to perform the circumambulation rituals in comfort and ease.{{cite news|title=The story behind Abraham's shrine at the Kaaba|access-date=9 April 2022|work=Al Arabiya|date=13 August 2017

|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2017/01/23/The-story-behind-Abraham-s-shrine-at-the-Kaaba}}

In the case of the Prophet's Mosque, Faisal gave an order to construct prayer areas to the west of the mosque following the completion of the first Saudi expansion, which opened in 1955 and due to an increase in the number of pilgrims. It was built in 1973 and stood until the second Saudi expansion, when it was decommissioned. The Saudi Binladin Group was also sent to East Jerusalem in 1964 to perform restoration work on the Dome of the Rock.{{cite web|title=محمد بن لادن.. مقاول توسعة الحرمين|url=http://www.alriyadh.com/1668933|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804231855/http://www.alriyadh.com/1668933|access-date=9 April 2022|work=Al Riyadh|archive-date=4 August 2020|date=16 March 2018}}

{{further|Arab Cold War}}

File:Arrival ceremony welcoming King Faisal of Saudi Arabia 05-27-1971.jpg and his wife Pat Nixon in Washington, D.C., 27 May 1971]]

As king, Faisal employed Islam as one of Saudi Arabia's foreign policy tools which differentiated him from King Abdulaziz and King Saud.{{cite journal|author=Robert R. Sullivan|title=Saudi Arabia in International Politics|journal=The Review of Politics|date=October 1970|page=439

|volume=32|issue=4|jstor=1405899|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405899}} However, he continued the close alliance with the United States begun by King Abdulaziz, and relied on the US heavily for arming and training his armed forces. Faisal's first official visit as king to the US was in June 1966.

Faisal was anti-communist. He refused any political ties with the Soviet Union and other Communist bloc countries, professing to see a complete incompatibility between communism and Islam.[http://www.the-saudi.net/al-saud/faisal.htm King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud]. The Saudi Network {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130120610/http://the-saudi.net/|date=30 November 2010}} He signed an agreement with Abdel-Halim Mahmoud, the Egyptian Grand Imam of al-Azhar, to combat Communism in 1971 during the presidency of Anwar Sadat.{{cite thesis|author=Yasser Mohamed Elwy Mohamed Mahmoud|title=A political economy of Egyptian foreign policy: State, ideology, and modernisation since 1970|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2753/|location=London School of Economics and Political Science|degree=PhD

|year=2009|page=161}} The agreement had a budget of 40 million pounds.

Faisal is said to have reminded the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in a correspondence that he was not "the Shah of France" and that he should keep in mind that Iran was a majority Muslim country. This was in response to a provocative letter from Mohammad Reza asking Faisal to modernise Saudi Arabia, urging him to allow women to wear miniskirts and permitting the disco among other things. Otherwise, the Shah felt, he could not guarantee that the King would stay on the throne.{{cite news|author=Elaine Sciolino|title=U.S. Pondering Saudis' Vulnerability|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/04/world/a-nation-challenged-ally-s-future-us-pondering-saudis-vulnerability.html|access-date=11 April 2021|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 November 2001|location=Washington}}

{{See also|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}

File:Nasser-Faisal-Arafat-1970.jpg (right) at the 1970 Arab League summit]]

After he became foreign minister, Prince Faisal was recognized for his support for the Palestinian cause. His involvement with the Palestinian cause began in 1938, when he represented his father in the London Conference on the Palestine issue, where he delivered an important address opposing the partition plan. He wrote a message to the Saudi people in 1948 in which he discussed the Palestinian struggle and the suffering of the Palestinian people.{{cite web|title=شاهد 90 عاما للأقصى.. أبرز المبادرات السعودية لدعم القضية الفلسطينية (إنفوجراف)|date=26 February 2018 |access-date=13 August 2021|url=http://www.arrajol.com/content/117911/الرجل-الناجح/شاهد-90-عاما-للأقصى-أبرز-المبادرات-السعودية-لدعم-القضية-الفلسطينية}}

The Saudi delegation was led by Faisal and his brother Khalid at the St. James Palace Conference, which Britain called for, inviting representatives of the Arabs of Palestine, neighboring Arab states, and the Jewish Agency to consult with the British government in London on the partition of Palestine.Khalidi, p. 230 The conference began on 7 February 1939 and ended on 17 March 1939, at St. James's Palace in London. In light of the Woodhead Commission's report, both the Arabs and the British government rejected the partition plan as impractical. The British government issued a policy statement rejecting partition as impracticable due to "political, administrative, and financial difficulties."Statement by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of His Majesty November 1938. {{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4941922311B4E3C585256D17004BD2E2 |title=Policy statement/ Advice against partition - UK Secretary of State for the Colonies - UK documentation CMD. 5893/Non-UN document (11 November 1938) |access-date=11 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103061306/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4941922311B4E3C585256D17004BD2E2 |archive-date=3 November 2013 }} The conference was also unable to resolve the issue of Jewish immigration to Palestine, which had become more common following Nazi Germany's annexation of all of Czechoslovakia.Marlowe. p. 215Sykes. p. 232

Faisal was a global advocate for Palestinian rights, as evidenced by one of his speeches to the United Nations in 1963, in which he claimed that the Palestinian crisis is the only thing that has ruined Arab peace since the UN resolution to partition Palestine. One of his policies on this issue was to refuse to recognize Israel, to unite Arab efforts while leaving differences aside, to donate money and fight, to establish a body representing Palestinians, and to involve Muslims in the defense of the cause.{{cite web|title=Eighty-Ninth Plenary Meeting|access-date=10 April 2022|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/733707#record-files-collapse-header}}

File:Faisal Al Saud at the UN meeting.jpg]]

In his speech on 22 September 1947 to the United Nations, Faisal said:

{{blockquote|But today the Arabs wish to repel the aggression of a political minority group, namely, the Zionists. It is a group which does not represent world Jewry. It is a group which is more political than religious, a group whose ways and methods are not different from those of the Nazis.}}

Between 23 and 25 September 1969, Faisal convened a conference in Rabat, Morocco, to discuss the arson attack on the Al Aqsa Mosque that had occurred a month earlier. The leaders of 25 Muslim states attended and the conference called for Israel to give up territory conquered in 1967. The conference also set up the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and pledged its support for the Palestinians.Alexei Vassiliev. (2012). King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times. Saqi. {{ISBN|978-0-86356-689-9}}. pp. 333-334

File:Nasser and Faisal.jpg in Cairo, 18 December 1969|240x240px]]

{{See also|North Yemen Civil War}}

The North Yemen Civil War raged between loyalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and those of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The Yemeni republic was created after revolutionary republicans headed by the army under Abdullah al-Sallal staged a coup against Imam Muhammad al-Badr. As a result, the Imam fled to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, where he rallied backing from northern Shia tribes to reclaim control, sparking a full-fledged civil war. Saudi Arabia backed al-Badr and his royalist followers, while Egypt under the United Arab Republic backed the Yemeni republicans. As a result, Saudi and Egyptian relations were strained.Sandler, Stanley. Ground Warfare: The International Encyclopedia. Vol.1 (2002): p.977. "Egypt immediately began sending —military supplies and troops to assist the Republicans... On the royalist side Jordan and Saudi Arabia were furnishing military aid, and Britain lent diplomatic support. In addition to Egyptian aid, the Soviet Union supplied 24 Mig-19s to the republicans."

In September 1964, Nasser and Faisal met in Alexandria, Egypt, at the Arab summit. At the time, Egypt had 40,000 troops in Yemen, with 10,000 civilians killed. The two leaders committed in their formal declaration to completely cooperate in resolving current disagreements between Yemen's diverse factions, collaborate in preventing armed clashes in Yemen, and to reach a peaceful conclusion. The declaration was widely praised in the Arab world, and Washington praised it as a "statesmanlike action" and a "major step toward eventual peaceful resolution of the long civil war." At Alexandria's airport, Nasser and Faisal exchanged heartfelt embraces and referred to each other as "brother." Faisal said he was leaving Egypt "with my heart brimming with love for President Nasser."{{Cite magazine|issn=0040-781X|title=The Alexandria Duet|magazine=Time|access-date=12 April 2022|date=25 September 1964|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876168,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111213233210/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876168,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2011}}

Gamal Abdel Nasser traveled to Jeddah on the Freedom ship in August 1965, marking his first visit to Saudi Arabia since 1954, when he came to perform Hajj. Faisal greeted Nasser warmly when he arrived.{{Cite web|title=سعيد الشحات يكتب: ذات يوم 24 أغسطس 1965.. اتفاق جدة بين عبدالناصر وفيصل لإنهاء الأزمة اليمنية.. والجمهوريون والملكيون يرفضون|work=Youm7|access-date=12 April 2022|date=24 August 2019|url=https://www.youm7.com/story/2019/8/24/%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8-%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-24-%D8%A3%D8%BA%D8%B3%D8%B7%D8%B3-1965-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A9/4386684|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210127203402/https://www.youm7.com/story/2019/8/24/%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8-%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-24-%D8%A3%D8%BA%D8%B3%D8%B7%D8%B3-1965-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A9/4386684|url-status=live|archive-date=27 January 2021}} Despite their differences, the two countries' relations were restored. Both men came to an agreement on the following (known as the Jeddah Agreement) within 48 hours:

• The gradual withdrawal of Egyptian forces from Yemen within ten months
• The cessation of all Saudi aid to the royalists
• The formation of a Yemeni council of 50 members representing all Yemeni factions and charged with forming a transitional government in preparation for a general referendum to determine the future of Yemen

Sami Sharaf, an Egyptian official, recognized that implementing the agreement would be difficult because it had been rejected by all Yemeni parties. Republican chairman Abdullah al-Sallal stated, "The agreement is a blatant interference in the independence of the Yemen Arab Republic, and a blatant attack on its sovereignty for all International laws." The royalists, on the other hand, backed the agreement at first before rejecting any attempt to terminate the war with the republicans.

The Haradh conference was conducted on November 23, 1965, under the auspices of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to put the Saudi-Egyptian declaration between the two parties of the Yemeni conflict into effect.Safran (1988), p. 120 Judge Abd al-Rahman al-Iryani led the republican delegation, while Ahmed Muhammad al-Shami, the royalists' foreign minister, led the royal delegation. The conflicting parties, however, were unable to strike a compromise, which resulted in further bloodshed between republicans and royalists.{{Cite magazine

|title=Yemen: Dialogue of the Deaf|magazine=Time|access-date=12 April 2022|date=17 December 1965|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 August 2013

|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834781,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130824015855/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834781,00.html}}

Egypt indicated its willingness to stop the war in Yemen as part of the Khartoum Resolution of August 1967. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad suggested that Egypt and Saudi Arabia renew their 1965 Jeddah Agreement. Faisal was pleased with Nasser's offer, and Imam al-Badr pledged to deploy his troops to fight alongside Egypt against Israel if Nasser kept his word.{{Cite magazine|issn=0040-781X

|title=Coping in Khartoum|magazine=Time|access-date=12 April 2022|date=11 August 1967|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899694,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081215152313/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899694,00.html| url-status=dead|archive-date = 15 December 2008}} Nasser and Faisal signed a deal in which Nasser agreed to withdraw his 20,000 troops from Yemen, Faisal agreed to stop delivering weapons to al-Badr, and three neutral Arab states agreed to send in observers. Al-Sallal felt that Nasser had betrayed him.{{Cite magazine|issn = 0040-781X|title = Beginning to Face Defeat|magazine =Time|access-date=12 April 2022|date=8 September 1967|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899762-2,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121105235238/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899762-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 5, 2012}} Nasser unfroze approximately $100 million in Saudi assets in Egypt, and Faisal denationalized two Egyptian-owned banks he had taken over earlier that year.{{Cite magazine|issn=0040-781X|title=A Distant Peace|magazine=Time|access-date=12 April 2022|date=15 September 1967|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941141,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080423212932/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941141,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 April 2008}} Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait agreed to give Egypt a $266 million annual subsidy, with Saudi Arabia contributing $154 million.Safran (1988), p. 122

{{See also|Six-Day War}}

File:Khartoum_Arab_Summit,_1967.jpg following the Six-Day War. From left to right: Faisal, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Abdullah al-Sallal of Yemen, Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah of Kuwait and Abd al-Rahman Arif of Iraq, 2 September 1967]]

During the Six-Day War, Faisal ordered the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces to be on alert, canceling all vacations and mobilizing forces in the Kingdom's north. Following that, orders were issued for a force of 20,000 Saudi soldiers to travel to Jordan to participate alongside the Arab forces. After the war, he directed that a Saudi force be stationed inside Jordanian territory to provide support and assistance as needed for ten years.{{cite book|author=Neil Partrick|title=Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy: Conflict and Cooperation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LeiKDwAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-8577-2793-0|page=183}}{{cite web|title=بطولات السعوديين حاضرة.. في الحروب العربية|url=https://www.okaz.com.sa/local/na/1756574|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216061810/https://www.okaz.com.sa/local/na/1756574|archive-date=16 February 2021|work=Okaz|date=17 November 2019|access-date=13 August 2021}}{{cite web|title=Saudi Arabian Military Activity Against Israel|url=http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=475577|work=CMU|date=May 1978|access-date=19 November 2021|archive-date=20 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120001418/http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=475577|url-status=dead}}

Furthermore, at the Khartoum Conference, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait agreed to establish a fund worth $378 million to be distributed among countries affected by the June 1967 War. Saudi Arabia would contribute $140 million.{{cite book|title=Saudi Arabia Diplomatic Handbook Foreign Policy, Strategi Information and Developments|year=2009|publisher=International Business Publications, USA|page=53

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzizDwAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1-4387-4235-9}} However, Faisal did not attend himself and did not send a representative to the Arab League summits until 1969 to keep away from the requests of the Arab countries involved in the war concerning the increase of Saudi Arabia's financial aid.{{cite journal|author=Joseph Mann|title=Saudi-Palestinian Relations During the Run-Up to and the Aftermath of Black September|doi=10.1080/09546553.2013.773899|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|volume=26|issue=4

|year=2014|page=714|s2cid=145710333 }}

Faisal's grandson, Prince Amr bin Mohammed Al Faisal, said "I am told by my relatives, my other relatives, after 1967 and the fall of Jerusalem to the Israelis, that was a turning point in his life. He never smiled again, according to them. I didn't see him smile much, and he became very quiet and contemplative, and mostly he would spend his time listening rather than speaking himself."{{cite web|access-date=21 August 2021

|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/interviews/amr.html|title=Interview: Prince Amr bin Mohammed al-Faisal|website=PBS}}

{{See also|Yom Kippur War{{!}}Ramadan War}}

File:Anwar Sadat cropped.jpg

After President Nasser of Egypt died in 1970, Faisal drew closer to Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, who himself was planning a break with the Soviet Union and a move towards the pro-American camp. After Sadat launched the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, Faisal withdrew Saudi oil from world markets and was the primary force behind the 1973 oil crisis, in protest over Western support for Israel during the conflict. The embargo was initially imposed on Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, but it was later extended to Portugal, Rhodesia, and South Africa.Smith, Charles D. (2006), Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict, New York: Bedford, p. 329. The price of oil had risen about 300 percent by the conclusion of the embargo in March 1974,{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo |title=OPEC Oil Embargo 1973–1974 |publisher=Office of the Historian|access-date=30 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306225604/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo |archive-date=6 March 2014|url-status=live}} from US{{convert|3|$/oilbbl|$/m3|lk=on}} to nearly {{convert|12|$/oilbbl|$/m3}} globally; US prices were much higher. The embargo triggered an oil crisis, or "shock", with numerous short- and long-term implications for world politics and the economy. This was regarded as the defining act of Faisal's career, and gained him lasting prestige among many Arabs and Muslims worldwide.

File:King_Faisal_saluting_Saudi_troops.jpg

In 1974 Faisal was named Time magazine's Man of the Year, and the financial windfall generated by the crisis fueled the economic boom that occurred in Saudi Arabia after his death. The new oil revenue also allowed Faisal to greatly increase the aid and subsidies begun following the 1967 Six-Day War[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917226,00.html "King Faisal: Oil, Wealth and Power"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826002733/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917226,00.html|date=26 August 2013}}, Time, 7 April 1975. to Egypt, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization.{{cite magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107154637/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1974.html|url-status=dead|url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1974.html|archive-date=7 January 2007|title=Person of the Year|magazine=Time|volume=183|number=9|date=10 March 2014}}

It is a commonly-held belief in Saudi Arabia, and the wider Arab world, that Faisal's oil embargo was the real cause of his assassination, via a Western conspiracy.{{cite journal|author=Muhammad Hassanein Heykal|title=The Saudi Era|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |date=Summer 1977|volume=6|issue=4|pages=158–164|doi=10.2307/2535788|jstor=2535788|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2535788|url-access=subscription}}{{cite web

|author=Fred Halliday|title=Political killing in the cold war|url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/cold_war_2753.jsp|work=Open Democracy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613062559/http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/cold_war_2753.jsp|archive-date=13 June 2018|url-status=dead|date=11 August 2005}}

File:Prince Faisal Making Dua'a at a Mosque.jpg at a mosque, 1957|alt=Faisal praying in a mosque]]

File:Queen Iffat bint Mohammad Al Thunayan.jpg visiting a school, 1960s|alt=A photograph of one of Faisal's wives, Iffat Al Thunayan, visiting a school]]

Faisal married many times concurrently. His spouses were from powerful families: Al Kabir, Al Sudairi, Al Jiluwi and Al Thunayan.{{cite book|author=William B. Quandt|title=Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security, and Oil|year=1981|publisher=The Brookings Institution|location=Washington, D.C.|page=79|isbn=0-8157-2051-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3gf5fKvv_4C&pg=PA1}} His wives were:

• Sultana bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, the mother of his eldest son Prince Abdullah, whom Faisal fathered when he was between 15 and 17. Sultana was from the Sudairi family and the younger sister of Hassa bint Ahmed, the mother of the Sudairi brothers.{{cite book|author=Joseph A. Kechichian|title=Succession in Saudi Arabia|year=2001

|publisher=Palgrave|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-23880-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79Fs5bLPgBYC&pg=PR11}}

• Iffat bint Mohammad Al Thunayan (1916–2000), who was born and raised in Turkey. Her ancestors were part of the Al Thunayan branch of the Al Saud family.{{cite book|author1=Jennifer S. Uglow|author2=Frances Hinton|author3=Maggy Hendry|title=The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zlQKDvU1WV0C&pg=PA273|year=1999|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-1-55553-421-9|page=273}} They first met in Istanbul around 1932 while he was in Turkey for an official visit.{{cite book|author=Ghada Talhami|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ddqaCdZdZ0C&pg=PA170|date=1 December 2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-6858-8|page=170}} They had nine children, including Prince Mohammed, Prince Saud, and Prince Turki.{{cite news|title=Saudi Arabia mourns passing away of princess|work=Kuwait News Agency

|url=http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1061147&language=en|access-date=6 June 2012|date=12 February 2000}} Iffat was credited with being the influence behind many of her husband's reforms, particularly with regard to women.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FqMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mWgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=854,3409221 "King Faisal Assassinated"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033357/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FqMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mWgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=854%2C3409221|date=10 January 2021}} Lewiston Evening Journal, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine 25 March 1975: 1+. Print.{{cite book|author=Mark Weston|title=Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present|publisher=John Wiley & Sons

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEFsVYLko4C&pg=PA129|year=2008|isbn=978-0-470-18257-4|page=169|access-date=27 June 2015|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225093425/https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEFsVYLko4C&pg=PA129|url-status=live}} Faisal also raised Iffat's younger half-brother, Kamal Adham.{{cite news|title=BAE Files: Kamal Adham|newspaper=The Guardian

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/08/bae49|access-date=12 May 2012|date=8 June 2007|author=David Leigh|author2=Rob Evans|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033430/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/08/bae49|url-status=live}} The King later appointed Kamal as the first president of the Saudi intelligence agency, Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah.{{cite news|author=Dean Baquet|title=After Plea Bargain by Sheik, Question Is What He Knows|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/30/business/the-bcci-scandal-after-plea-bargain-by-sheik-question-is-what-he-knows.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 July 1992|archive-date=20 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020053130/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/30/business/the-bcci-scandal-after-plea-bargain-by-sheik-question-is-what-he-knows.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=live}} He was also an advisor to his royal brother-in-law.{{cite news

|author=Nick Luddington|title=King Faisal's eight sons|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j58gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1190,870999&dq=kamal+adham&hl=en

|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=5 April 1975|agency=AP|location=Jeddah|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033357/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j58gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1190%2C870999&dq=kamal+adham&hl=en|url-status=live}}

• Al Jawhara bint Saud Al Kabir, the daughter of his aunt Noura bint Abdul Rahman and Saud Al Kabir bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.{{cite web|title=Saudi Arabia|url=https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|work=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training|access-date=7 January 2021|page=57|format=Country Readers Series|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033355/https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|url-status=live}} They married in October 1935. With Al Jawhara, Faisal had one daughter, Mashail (died October 2011).{{cite web

|title=Princess Mashael bint Faisal passes away|url=http://www.lifeinriyadh.com/tag/princess|work=Life in Riyadh|access-date=4 May 2012|date=3 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708152650/http://www.lifeinriyadh.com/tag/princess|archive-date=8 July 2013}}

• Haya bint Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Turki, the mother of Princess Noura, Prince Saad and Prince Khalid.{{cite book|author=Joseph A. Kechichian|title='Iffat Al Thunayan: an Arabian Queen|date=2014|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|page=64|isbn=978-1-84519-685-1|url=https://archive.org/details/iffatalthunayana0000kech/page/64/mode/2up?q=king+khalid+bin+abdulaziz}} She was a member of the Al Jiluwi clan.{{cite book|author=Mordechai Abir|title=Saudi Arabia in the Oil Era: Regime and Elites: Conflict and Collaboration|year=1988|publisher=Croom Helm|location=Kent|isbn=978-0-7099-5129-2

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA138}} Princess Noura bint Faisal died on 13 March 2022.{{cite news|work=WAM

|author=Hatem Mohamed|title=UAE rulers condole with Saudi King on death of Princess Noura bint Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud|access-date=14 March 2022|url=http://wam.ae/en/details/1395303029452|date=13 March 2022|archive-date=14 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314130226/http://wam.ae/en/details/1395303029452}}

• Hessa bint Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Muhanna Aba Al Khail, the mother of Princess Al Anoud (died June 2011) and Princess Al Jawhara (died April 2014).
• Munira bint Suhaim bin Hitimi Al Thunayan Al Mahasher, the mother of Princess Hessa (died in December 2020).{{cite news|title=Death of Princess Hussah bint Faysal|url=https://www.datarabia.com/royals/viewArticle.do?id=126572|access-date=7 December 2020|work=SPA|date=3 December 2020|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033432/https://www.datarabia.com/royals/viewArticle.do?id=126572|url-status=live}}
• Fatima bint Abdulaziz bin Mushait Al Shahrani, the mother of Princess Munira (died young).

Faisal's children were well educated and had prominent roles in Saudi society and government. His daughters were educated abroad and they went on to graduate from a variety of schools and universities around the world.Sharaf Sabri. (2001). The House of Saud in Commerce: a Study of Royal Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. New Delhi: I.S. Publications. Print.{{cite book|author=Mark Weston|title=Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEFsVYLko4C&pg=PA450|date=28 July 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-18257-4|page=450}} His sons were likewise educated abroad.{{cite magazine|title=The Life and Times of the Cautious King of Araby|magazine=Time |date=19 November 1973|volume=102|issue=21|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,944744,00.html}} Comparatively, only six of the 108 children of King Saud graduated from high school. Faisal's son Turki received formal education at prestigious schools in New Jersey, and he later attended Georgetown University,{{cite web|title=Reflections on US-Saudi Relations|work=Georgetown University|year=2008|url=http://events.georgetown.edu/events/index.cfm?Action=View&EventID=63916|access-date=25 May 2009}} while another son, Saud, was an alumnus of Princeton University. Faisal's sons held important positions in the Saudi government. His eldest son, Abdullah, held governmental positions for a while. Faisal's son Khalid was the governor of Asir Province in southwestern Saudi Arabia for more than three decades before becoming governor of Makkah Province in 2007. Prince Saud was the Saudi foreign minister between 1975 and 2015. Prince Turki served as head of Saudi Intelligence, ambassador to the United Kingdom, and later ambassador to the United States.{{cite news|title=Embassy official: Saudi ambassador to U.S. resigns|work=CNN|year=2006|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/12/usa.saudi.reut/index.html|access-date=17 December 2006|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070111060440/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/12/usa.saudi.reut/index.html|archive-date =11 January 2007}} One of Faisal's sons, Abdul Rahman, was a graduate of Sandhurst Military Academy, and he died in March 2014. Faisal's son Mohammed was a businessman.{{cite web|title=Saudi Royal Court: Prince Saad bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz dies|url=https://www.sharjah24.ae/en/arabic/162065/Saudi-Royal-Court-Prince-Saad-bin-Faisal-bin-Abdulaziz-dies|work=Sharjah 24|access-date=12 July 2020|date=11 April 2017|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033419/https://www.sharjah24.ae/404?item=%2farabic%2f162065%2fsaudi-royal-court-prince-saad-bin-faisal-bin-abdulaziz-dies&user=extranet%5cAnonymous&site=website|url-status=live}} Faisal's daughters also held important roles in Saudi society. From 2013 to 2016, his daughter Sara served in the Shura Council.{{cite news|title=Breakthrough in Saudi Arabia: women allowed in parliament|url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/11/259881.html|access-date=16 August 2021|work=Al Arabiya|date=11 January 2013}}{{cite news|title="الشورى" السعودي الجديد.. خال من للمزيد|url=https://alqabas.com/en/article/328137-the-new-saudi-quotshuraquot--free-of-princesses|access-date=16 August 2021|work=Al Qabas|date=3 December 2016|language=Arabic}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She is also a prominent activist for women's education and other social issues in Saudi Arabia, and so are her sisters Lolowah, Latifa, and Haifa.{{cite journal|author=Amélie Le Renard|title="Only for Women:" Women, the State, and Reform in Saudi Arabia|journal=Middle East Journal|year=2008|volume=62|issue=4|page=622

|jstor=25482571}}{{cite web|title=Princess Haifa bint Faisal al Saud|work=Manhom|access-date=16 August 2021

|url=https://manhom.com/%D8%B4%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%B5%D9%84-%D8%A2%D9%84-%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF/}}

Faisal's daughter Haifa is married to Prince Bandar, son of Faisal's half-brother Sultan by a concubine. The marriage of Princess Haifa and Prince Bandar forced Prince Sultan to recognize Bandar as a legitimate prince. Another daughter of Faisal, Lolowah, is a prominent activist for women's education in Saudi Arabia. In 1962 his daughter Sara founded one of the first charitable organizations, Al Nahda, which won the first Chaillot prize for human rights organisations in the Gulf in 2009.{{cite web|title='Strong Foundations'? The Imperative for Reform in Saudi Arabia|work=FRIDE (Spanish Think-tank organization)|access-date=15 April 2012

|url=http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/HALCoRe_derivate_00003652/Strong%20Foundations.pdf|author1=Ana Echagüe

|author2=Edward Burke|pages=1–23|date=June 2009|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194738/http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/HALCoRe_derivate_00003652/Strong%20Foundations.pdf}} Her spouse was Prince Muhammed, one of King Saud's sons. His granddaughter Reem bint Mohammed is a photographer and gallery owner based in Jeddah,{{cite news|author=Joobin Bekhrad|title=Shiny Happy People|url=http://www.reorientmag.com/2016/03/reem-al-faisal/|access-date=13 March 2016

|work=Reorient|date=1 March 2016|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033400/http://www.reorientmag.com/2016/03/reem-al-faisal/|url-status=live}}{{cite news

|title=Chris Hardwick sold his house to Princess Reem Al Faisal|url=https://www.dirt.com/showbiz/producers/chris-hardwick-house-saudi-princess-reem-al-faisal-5527/|access-date=9 August 2020|work=Dirt|date=12 October 2016}} while another of his granddaughters, Reema bint Bandar, is Saudi Arabia's first female ambassador.{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/fef9c1de-37b2-11e9-b856-5404d3811663|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/fef9c1de-37b2-11e9-b856-5404d3811663 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Saudi Arabia names princess as US ambassador in first for kingdom|website=Financial Times|date=23 February 2019|access-date=24 February 2019}}

Unlike most of his half-brothers, Faisal spoke fluent English and French. However, he preferred to speak in Arabic. When his translators made errors, Faisal would correct them.{{cite news|title=Man in the news. King Faisal|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/26/archives/faisal-rich-and-powerful-led-saudis-into-20th-century-and-to-arab.html|date=26 March 1975|archive-date=4 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704122027/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/26/archives/faisal-rich-and-powerful-led-saudis-into-20th-century-and-to-arab.html|url-status=live}}

Faisal was known for his integrity, extreme humility, kindness, and tact with everyone. As a result, he was ascetic, avoiding displays of extravagance and luxury. He had many hobbies, some of which were falconry, hunting, literature, reading, and poetry. He was also a big admirer of the yearly Najdi festivals and celebrations.{{cite news|title=صفات الملك فيصل رحمه الله|url=https://www.almrsal.com/post/761278|access-date=12 November 2021|newspaper=Almrsal|date=15 January 2019|archive-date=16 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216053931/https://www.almrsal.com/post/761278|url-status=live}} Faisal chose to work long hours and set aside some of his interests after assuming power and becoming preoccupied with state affairs.{{cite news|title=من الصيد بالصقور إلى المطالعة والسباحة: هذه هوايات ملوك السعودية|url=https://www.arrajol.com/content/203816/منوعات/من-الصيد-بالصقور-إلى-المطالعة-والسباحة-هذه-هوايات-ملوك-السعودية|access-date=12 November 2021|newspaper=Arrajol|date=23 September 2020|archive-date=4 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004220039/https://www.arrajol.com/content/203816/%D9%85%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%82%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D9%87%D8%B0%D9%87-%D9%87%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D9%84%D9%88%D9%83-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9|url-status=live}}

After coming to power in 1964, Faisal quickly caught the attention of the international public. The New York Times stated that Faisal looked like "someone out of a poem by Rudyard Kipling or a casting office in Hollywood." He was around six feet tall, above average height, but not quite as tall as his father Abdulaziz and his brother Saud.David Lamb. (1988). The Arabs: Journeys Beyond the Mirage, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, {{ISBN|978-0394757582}} p.265Richard Harlakenden Sanger. (1970). The Arabian Peninsula, Books for Libraries Press, p. 46 Compared to other Muslim rulers such as Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, who almost exclusively wore European-styled outfits, Faisal was known to have dressed modestly, as he was most often seen wearing a traditional Saudi thawb, even in the presence of foreign dignitaries.

File:Faisal Musaid.jpg

On 25 March 1975, the King was shot point-blank and killed by Faisal bin Musaid, son of his half-brother Musaid bin Abdulaziz. He had just come back from the United States. The murder occurred at a majlis (literally 'a place for sitting'), an event where the king or leader opens up his residence to the citizens to enter and petition him.{{cite book|author=James Wynbrandt|title=A Brief History of Saudi Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZkIXdsZpPsC&pg=PA182|year=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7876-9|page=236}}

In the waiting room, Prince Faisal talked to Kuwaiti representatives who were also waiting to meet King Faisal. When the prince went to embrace him, King Faisal leaned to kiss his nephew in accordance with Saudi custom. At that instant, Prince Faisal took out a pistol and shot him. The first shot hit the King's chin and the second one went through his ear. A bodyguard hit Prince Faisal with a sheathed sword. Oil minister Zaki Yamani yelled repeatedly not to kill the prince.{{cite news|title=1975: Saudi's King Faisal assassinated|work=BBC|date=25 March 1975

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/25/newsid_4233000/4233595.stm|access-date=17 July 2013}}

King Faisal was quickly taken to Central Hospital in Riyadh. He was still alive as doctors massaged his heart and gave him a blood transfusion. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and he died shortly afterward. Both before and after the attack the assassin was reported to be calm. Following the killing, Riyadh had three days of mourning during which all government activities were suspended. The funeral service for King Faisal was performed at the King Abdulaziz Mosque in Riyadh,{{Cite web |last=أخبار 24 |date=2020-08-28 |title=فيديو.. وثائقي يروي معلومات عن جامع الملك عبدالعزيز بالمربع وقصة بنائه |url=https://www.akhbaar24.com/article/detail/506984 |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=أخبار 24 |language=ar}}{{cite journal|author=Geoffrey King|title=Traditional Najdī Mosques|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|year=1978|volume=41|issue=3|page=473|jstor=615491}} and was attended by several head of states such as Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, Yasser Arafat, Hafez al-Assad, Idi Amin, Houari Boumediene, Ahmed Hassan al‐Bakr, Gaafar Nimeiry, Juan Carlos, Anwar Sadat, Mohammad Daoud Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.{{Cite news |last=Onis |first=Juan de |title=Saudis Bury Faisal and Hail King |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/27/archives/saudis-bury-faisal-and-hail-king-saudis-bury-king-faisal-at-riyadh.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213154757/http://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/27/archives/saudis-bury-faisal-and-hail-king-saudis-bury-king-faisal-at-riyadh.html |archive-date=13 February 2018 |access-date=2024-12-23 |language=en |url-status=live }} He was buried in al-Oud cemetery on 26 March 1975.{{cite news|author=Abdul Nabi Shaheen|title=Sultan will have simple burial at Al Oud cemetery|url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/sultan-will-have-simple-burial-at-al-oud-cemetery-1.916706|access-date=29 July 2012|newspaper=Gulf News|date=23 October 2011|archive-date=4 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904023212/http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/sultan-will-have-simple-burial-at-al-oud-cemetery-1.916706|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|author=Michael Ross|title=Brother of murdered King assumes throne|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eLdGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2446,3774094|access-date=2 August 2012|newspaper=Times Union|date=26 March 1975}} During the funeral, the newly ascended King Khalid wept over his murdered brother's body.Nick Ludington. (24 March 1975) [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VbsdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2EYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6896,4366537 Public Execution Expected.] Daily News [Bowling Green, Kentucky], p.5. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033405/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VbsdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2EYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6896%2C4366537|date=10 January 2021}}

One theory for the King's murder was avenging the death of Prince Khalid bin Musaid, the brother of Prince Faisal bin Musaid. King Faisal instituted secular reforms that led to the installation of television, which provoked violent protests. Prince Khalid led an attack on a television station in 1966, and he was shot dead by a policeman.{{cite book|author=David Commins|title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|url=https://archive.org/details/wahhabimissionsa0000comm|url-access=registration|year=2006|isbn=1-84511-080-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabimissionsa0000comm/page/110 110]}}

In a documentary entitled Faisal, Legacy of a King, Faisal's grandson Amr bin Mohammed bin Faisal claims that the King had distanced himself from the world days before his death. Zaki Yamani claimed that King Faisal told his own relatives and friends about a dream he had in which his father, the late King Abdulaziz, was traveling in a car and asked him to get in. Yamani went on to say that Faisal felt that his death was approaching. In Islamic beliefs, dreams hold significance and can sometimes carry messages or guidance.{{Citation|title=King Faisal of Saudi Arabia - وثائقي عن الملك فيصل بن عبدالعزيز| date=5 September 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y6M8sePxgU| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211031/8Y6M8sePxgU| archive-date=31 October 2021|url-status=live|access-date=17 June 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{Citation|title=سيرة الملك فيصل بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود في برنامج الراحل مع محمد الخميسي| date=17 May 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETDysXnSWrk|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211031/ETDysXnSWrk|archive-date=31 October 2021|url-status=live|language=ar|access-date=17 June 2021}}{{cbignore}}

Prince Faisal bin Musaid was captured directly after the attack. He was at first officially declared insane, but following the trial a panel of Saudi medical experts decided that he was sane when he shot the King. The nation's high religious court convicted him of regicide and sentenced him to execution. He was publicly beheaded in Deera Square in Riyadh.

{{Further|List of things named after Saudi kings#Faisal}}

After his death, Faisal's sons established an international philanthropic organisation, the King Faisal Foundation, in his honour.{{cite web|title=King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS)|url=http://www.kff.com/en/King-Faisal-Center-for-Research-Islamic-Studies|work=Datarabia|access-date=12 June 2018|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141331/http://www.kff.com/en/King-Faisal-Center-for-Research-Islamic-Studies|url-status=dead}} Faisal was eulogized by lyricist Robert Hunter in the title track of the Grateful Dead's 1975 album Blues for Allah.{{cite web|title=The Sounds of the '60s: How Dick Dale, the Doors, and Dylan Swayed to Arab Music|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/109842/the_sounds_of_the_%2760s%3A_how_dick_dale%2C_the_doors%2C_and_dylan_swayed_to_arab_music?paging=off|work=Alternet|access-date=26 May 2012|date=3 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162327/https://www.alternet.org/story/109842/the_sounds_of_the_%2760s%3A_how_dick_dale%2C_the_doors%2C_and_dylan_swayed_to_arab_music?paging=off|archive-date=12 June 2018}}

Gerald de Gaury published a biography of Faisal entitled Faisal: King of Saudi Arabia.{{cite journal|author=Natana J. DeLong-Bas|title=Faisal: King of Saudi Arabia. By Gerald de Gaury. (Louisville, Ky.: Fons Vitae, 2008. p. xiv, 191.)|journal=The Historian|date=2011|volume=73|issue=1|pages=117–118 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2010.00288_2.x|s2cid=145473673}} In 2013 Russian Arabist Alexei Vassiliev published another biography, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times. A movie directed by Agustí Villaronga in 2019 entitled Born a King is about the visit of Faisal to London in 1919 when he was thirteen years old.{{cite web|title=Born a King (2019)|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6718730/|work=IMDb|date=26 September 2019|access-date=12 July 2020|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033452/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6718730/|url-status=live}}

In October 1976 King Khalid initiated the construction of Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.{{cite journal|author=Mujtaba Razvi|title=PAK-Saudi Arabian Relations: An Example of Entente Cordiale|journal=Pakistan Horizon|date=1981|volume=34|issue=1|pages=81–92|jstor=41393647|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41393647.pdf}} Lyallpur, the third largest city of Pakistan, was renamed Faisalabad (literally, "City of Faisal") in 1979 in Faisal's honour.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rk-sBwAAQBAJ&q=faisalabad%20named%20after&pg=PA196|title=Historical Dictionary of Pakistan|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|author=Shahid Javed Burki|year=2018|page=196|isbn=978-1-4422-4148-0|access-date=8 October 2020|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033501/https://books.google.com/books?id=rk-sBwAAQBAJ&q=faisalabad+named+after&pg=PA196|url-status=live}}{{cite news|author=Sabir Shah|title=Saudi Royals who have visited Pakistan till date|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/432069-saudi-royals-who-have-visited-pakistan-till-date|access-date=4 November 2020|work=The News|date=15 February 2019|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033507/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/432069-saudi-royals-who-have-visited-pakistan-till-date|url-status=live}} One of the two major Pakistan Air Force bases in Karachi, the largest city in Sindh province, is named "PAF Base Faisal" in Faisal's honour.{{cite web|url=http://www.paf.gov.pk/active_bases.html|title=Pakistan Air Force|work=paf.gov.pk|access-date=24 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626125429/http://www.paf.gov.pk/active_bases.html|archive-date=26 June 2010|url-status=dead}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Quote box|quote=The livers are torn apart, and the wings are torn apart when we hear or see our brothers in religion, in the homeland, and in blood, their sanctities are violated, they are displaced and abused daily, not for something they committed, nor for the aggression they attacked, but for the love of control and aggression and to commit injustice.

–King Faisal bin Abdulaziz{{cite web|title=King Faisal Speech during Hajj in 1968|work=Moqatel|access-date=15 August 2021

|url-status=live|archive-date=15 August 2021|url=http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Wthaek/Khotob/Khotub13/AKhotub123_7-3.htm_cvt.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815172022/http://www.moqatel.com/openshare/Wthaek/Khotob/Khotub13/AKhotub123_7-3.htm_cvt.htm}}|width=28%|align=right}}

Faisal held pro-Palestinian views. Throughout his career, he supported the Palestinian cause, and he was noted for his strong criticism of Israel. He was also anti-communist, and Saudi Arabia under Faisal continued to be allied with the United States against the Soviet Union. Faisal also supported pan-Islamism, and he sought to establish unity among Muslims. Nevertheless, he reduced the power of the Islamic clergy during his reign.

{{Infobox royal styles

| name = King Faisal

| image = File:EmblemSA.svg

| image_size = 80

| reference = His Majesty

| spoken = Your Majesty}}

{{multiple image

| image1 = Royal Flag of Saudi Arabia (1964-1973).svg

| alt1 = Royal flag

| image2 = Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia.svg

| alt2 = Royal flag

| footer = Faisal's royal flag before 1973 (left) and from 1973 onwards

}}

Faisal has received numerous honours from the countries he visited both before and after assuming power.{{cite journal|url=http://www.omsa.org/files/jomsa_arch/Splits/1998/4079_JOMSA_Vol49_4_19.pdf|title=King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, His Awards and the Saudi Order of King Faisal|author=Owain Raw-Rees|journal=The Medal Collector|volume=49|issue=4|year=1998}} The honours and awards given to Faisal are displayed at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh which was established by the King Faisal Foundation in 1983. The awards are as follows:

• Afghanistan:
• 60px Collar of the Order of the Supreme Sun
• 60px Order of Independence
• Belgium:
• 60px Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold
• Chad:
• 60px Grand Cross of the National Order of Chad
• Egypt:
• 60px Order of Ismail
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile
• 60px Collar of the Order of the Nile
• France:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
• 60px Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
• Greece:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of George I
• Guinea:
• 60px Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
• Indonesia:
• 60px First Class of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia
• Iran:
• 60px Order of the Crown (1953){{cite book

|author=Banafsheh Keynoush|title=Saudi Arabia and Iran. Friends or Foes?|year=2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-1-137-58939-2|page=66|doi=10.1007/978-1-137-58939-2|s2cid=156413085|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-58939-2}}

• 60px Order of Pahlavi
• 60px Order of Taj
• Iraq:
• 60px Order of the Two Rivers
• 60px Order of Faisal I
• Italy:
• 60px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Japan:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
• Jordan:
• 60px Collar of the Order of Al-Hussein bin Ali
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance, twice
• Lebanon:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar
• Liberia:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Pioneers of Liberia
• Libya:
• 60px Grand Collar of the Order of Idris I
• Malaysia:
• 60px Order of the Crown of the Realm
• Mauritania:
• 60px National Order of Merit
• Morocco:
• 60px Collar of the Order of Muhammad
• Netherlands:
• 60px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
• Niger:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of Niger
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
• Oman:
• 60px Collar of the Military Order of Oman
• Poland:
• 60px Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• Pakistan:
• 60px Nishan-e-Imtiaz
• 60px Nishan-e-Pakistan
• Saudi Arabia:
• 60px Order of King Abdulaziz{{cite news |title=البترول العربى ليس بأغلى من الدم.. صفحات خالدة من مسيرة القائد العربي الملك فيصل |url=https://gate.ahram.org.eg/News/2692464.aspx|access-date=30 July 2021|work=Al Ahram|date=14 April 2021|language=ar}}
• Senegal:
• 60px Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
• Somalia:
• 60px Collar of the Order of the Somali Star
• South Korea:
• 60px First Class of the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit
• Spain:
• 60px Collar of the Order of Civil Merit
• Sudan:
• 60px Collar of Honour
• Syria:
• 60px Member First Class of the Order of Umayyad
• Taiwan:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of Brilliant Jade{{cite news|title=King Faisal meets President Chiang|url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4&post=5738|access-date=7 November 2020|work=Taiwan Today|date=1 June 1971|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110033512/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4&post=5738|url-status=live}}
• 60px Special Grand Cordon of the Order of Brilliant Star
• Tunisia:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of Glory
• 60px Collar of the Order of Independence
• Turkey:
• 60px Gold Red Crescent Medal
• Uganda:
• 60px First Class of the Distinguished Order of The Nile
• United Kingdom:
• 60px Royal Victorian Chain
• 60px Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
• 60px Second Class of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Zaire:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Leopard

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|Biography|Monarchy|Saudi Arabia|Middle East|Islam}}

• {{Wikiquote-inline}}
• {{Commons category-inline}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|House of Saud||1906||1975}}

{{s-reg}}

{{s-bef

| before = Saud

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = King of Saudi Arabia

| years = 2 November 1964 – 25 March 1975

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Khalid

}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-roy|sa}}

{{s-bef

| before = Saud

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

| years = 9 November 1953 – 2 November 1964

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Muhammad

}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-new

| rows = 1

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia

| years = 1930–1960

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel

}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-bef

| before = Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel

| rows = 1

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia

| years = 1962–1975

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Saud bin Faisal Al Saud

}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-bef

| before = Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

| rows = 2

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia

| years = 1954–1960

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia

| years = 1962–1975

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

}}

{{s-end}}

{{Navboxes

|title = King Faisal

|list =

{{SaudiKings}}

{{Saudi Crown Princes}}

{{Interior Ministers of Saudi Arabia}}

{{Sons of Ibn Saud}}

{{Saudi Arabia topics}}

{{Time Persons of the Year 1951–1975}}}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faisal of Saudi Arabia}}

Category:20th-century murdered monarchs

Category:20th-century kings of Saudi Arabia

Category:20th-century regents

Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 1970s

Category:1906 births

Faisal

Category:Assassinated Saudi Arabian politicians

Category:Politicians assassinated in 1975

Category:1975 deaths

Category:Burials at Al Oud cemetery

Category:Collars of the Order of Civil Merit

Category:Crown princes of Saudi Arabia

Category:Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

Category:Deaths by firearm in Saudi Arabia

Category:Finance ministers of Saudi Arabia

Category:Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia

Category:Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit

Category:Interior ministers of Saudi Arabia

Category:People of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:People of the Yom Kippur War

Category:Prime ministers of Saudi Arabia

Category:Saudi Arabian anti-communists

Category:Saudi Arabian Sunni Muslims

Category:Sons of Ibn Saud

Category:Time Person of the Year

Category:Recipients of the Collar of Honour

Category:Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta

Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour

Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour

Category:Recipients of the National Order of the Cedar

Category:Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star

Category:Abolitionists

Category:Recipients of Supreme Order of the Renaissance (Jordan)

Category:Recipients of the Order of Al-Hussein bin Ali

Category:Muslim abolitionists

Category:Pan-Islamism

Category:People murdered in Saudi Arabia

Category:Recipients of the Military Order of Oman