Hafiz Wahba
{{Short description|Egypt-born Saudi government official (1889–1967)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image =
| imagesize =
| birth_date = 15 July 1889
| birth_place = Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt
| death_date = {{death year and age|1967|1889}}
| death_place = Rome, Italy
| alma_mater = Al Azhar University
| spouse =
| nationality = Egyptian / Saudi Arabian
| children =
}}
Hafiz Wahba ({{Langx|ar|حافظ وهبة}}; 15 July 1889 – 1967) was a Saudi diplomat. Fuad Hamza and he were the first ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the former in France and Hamza in the United Kingdom.{{cite book|author1=Bernard Lewis|author1-link=Bernard Lewis|author2=Buntzie Ellis Churchill|title=Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian|location=New York
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ly6qYFt9pUC&pg=PT58|year=2012|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-57523-9|page=58}} In addition, they were among the advisers whom King Abdulaziz employed to improve the decision-making process of the state.{{cite journal|author=Joseph Kostiner|title=On Instruments and Their Designers: The Ikhwan of Najd and the Emergence of the Saudi State|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|date=July 1985|volume=21|issue=3|page=315|doi=10.1080/00263208508700631}}
Early life and education
Wahba was born in Cairo in 1889.{{cite thesis|author=Jorg Matthias Determann|title=Globalization, the state, and narrative plurality: historiography in Saudi Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7e6qoAEACAAJ|location=SOAS, University of London|degree=PhD|year=2012}}{{cite thesis|author=Khalid Abdullah Krairi|title=John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953
|location=University of Birmingham|degree=PhD|url=https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/7675/|date=October 2016|page=355}} He was a graduate of Al Azhar University.{{cite thesis|author=Michael Farquhar|title=Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy|date=November 2013|degree=PhD
|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3289/|location=London School of Economics}} He also attended Muslim Jurisprudence College where he obtained a degree in Islamic law.{{cite journal|title=Aramco Announces New Board Chairman, President, Directors
|journal=Sun and Flare|date=27 May 1959|page=1|volume=XV|issue=21|publisher=Arabian American Oil Company|location=Dhahran
|url=https://imgsrv2.aramcoexpats.com/sun_flare/1959/Sun21_05271959.pdf}}
During the British occupation of Egypt, Wahba was sent to exile in Malta due to his alleged involvement in the 1919 revolt against British forces.{{cite book|author=Alexei Vassiliev|publisher=Saqi|title=The History of Saudi Arabia|year=2013|pages=15,299|location=London
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lEIhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT15|isbn=978-0-86356-779-7|author-link=Alexei Mikhailovich Vasiliev}} Then he joined the pan-Islamic Khilafat movement in India. He worked as a school principal in Kuwait.{{cite book|author=D. van der Meulen|title=Wells of Ibn Saud|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJMECwAAQBAJ&pg=PT195|year=2018|page=195
|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-84766-3|location=Abingdon; New York}}
Career
Wahba's first official task in Saudi Arabia was that of being a tutor to Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz in 1916.{{cite book|author=C.H.H. Owen|title=The Naval Miscellany|volume=VI|year=2020|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxEIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA433|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-00-034082-2|page=433|editor=Michael Duffy|location=Abingdon; London|chapter=On royal duty: HMS Aurora's report of proceedings 1945}} He also taught Prince Saud, another son of Abdulaziz.{{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}} In 1923 Wahba was appointed by Abdulaziz as his representative in Egypt. However, Wahba's attempts in Egypt failed. He was part of the Abdulaziz Al Saud's Hejaz campaign against Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz.{{cite thesis|author=Mohamed Zayyan Aljazairi|title=Diplomatic history of Saudi Arabia, 1903-1960's|year=1968|degree=MA|location=University of Arizona|url=https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/318068|page=45|hdl=10150/318068}} When Mecca was captured in 1924 Abdulaziz sent him there together with his two other advisors, Abdullah Suleiman and Abdullah Al Damluji, before he himself entered the region.{{cite thesis|author=Mansour Alsharidah|title=Merchants without Borders: Qusman Traders in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean, c. 1850-1950|url=https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3719/|location=University of Arkansas|degree=PhD|date=July 2020|page=230}} The same year Wahba was appointed civil governor of Mecca, a position that he held until 1926. At the same time he was part of the eight-member political committee at the Saudi royal court.{{cite book|author=Madawi Al Rasheed|title=A History of Saudi Arabia|year=2010
|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=83|isbn=978-0-5217-4754-7|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511993510|author-link=Madawi al-Rasheed
|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511993510|edition=2nd}}
In 1928 Wahba was made the head of the education directorate which was responsible for educational activities in Hejaz. During his term the directorate sent fourteen Saudi students to Al Azhar in Cairo for higher education.{{cite thesis|author=Ahmed Ibrahim Shukri
|title=Education, manpower needs and socio-economic development in Saudi Arabia|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10019171/
|location=University of London|degree=PhD|year=1972}} The same year Wahba suggested King Abdulaziz establish a body to control and eliminate the violent attacks of the Ikhwan on pilgrims which had negative effects on the income of the country.{{cite book|author=Madawi Al Rasheed|title=A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmafWmVNJAAC&pg=PA43|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-76104-8|page=59|location=Cambridge}} This body laid the basis of the Committee for the Promotion of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong. Wahba accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Amir Faisal, King of Iraq, in February 1930.{{cite news|title=Meeting of Arab Kings|issue=45415|access-date=11 August 2023|work=The Times|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS186589748/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=bce6d53d|date=20 January 1930|location=Baghdad}}
Wahba was made Saudi envoy to Vatican City. He was assigned for the mission of ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 10 November 1930{{cite web|title=Freedom of Information Act Request|work=Foreign and Commonwealth Office|date=28 February 2014 |access-date=25 November 2020|url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/199781/response/497961/attach/html/3/0236%2014%20reply%20260314.pdf.html}} and held the post until 1956.{{cite web|title=Hafiz Wahba|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp140847/hafiz-wahba|access-date=9 February 2020
|work=National Portrait Gallery}} In 1955 King Saud asked Wahba to return to Riyadh when the relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain became very tense because of the Buraimi dispute.{{cite thesis|author=Haya Saleh Alhargan
|title=Anglo-Saudi Cultural Relations: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Bilateral Ties, 1950-2010|location=King’s College, University of London|page=125|url=https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.677228|degree=PhD|year=2015}} The reason for the end of his term was the diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Britain following the Suez crisis.
On 7 November 1933 the Saudi-American Treaty was signed by Robert W. Bingham, the American ambassador to Great Britain, on behalf of the United States and Hafiz Wahba on behalf of Saudi Arabia.{{cite thesis|author=Fahd M. Al Nafjan|title=The Origins of Saudi-American Relations: From recognition to diplomatic representation (1931-1943)|location=University of Kansas|year=1989|id={{ProQuest|303791009}}|page=118|degree=PhD
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303791009}} Wahba accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.{{cite news|title=Charles Claftin sees History in the making|work=Acton Beacon|date=17 August 1945|access-date=3 January 2021
|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/acton-beacon-aug-17-1945-p-14/|page=7}} The same year Wahba was part of the Saudi Arabia's delegation at the San Francisco meeting of the United Nations. He represented Saudi Arabia at the Palestine Conference held in London in October 1947.{{cite news|title=Palestine Talks in London|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS68109369/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=08ef44bf|access-date=19 September 2023|work=The Times|issue=50668|date=25 January 1947}} Wahba was named one of two representatives of the Saudi government as directors of the Arabian American Oil Company in May 1959.{{cite journal|author=William E. Mulligan|title=A Kingdom and a Company|url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198403/a.kingdom.and.a.company.htm
|date=May–June 1984|volume=25|issue=3|journal=Aramco World}} The other one was Abdullah Tariki. They were the first Saudi directors of the company.{{cite news|title=Two Sheiks Join Aramco Board; Named to Represent the Government of Saudi Arabia
|work=The New York Times|date=22 May 1959|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/22/archives/two-sheiks-join-aramco-board-named-to-represent-the-government-of.html}}
Wahba served as the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom for a second term from 15 November 1962 to 13 July 1966.{{cite web
|year=1966|author=Roderick Parkes|title=Notes on the Main Characters|work=Bloomsbury Collections|access-date=2 January 2021
|url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/buraimi-the-struggle-for-power-influence-and-oil-in-arabia/notes-on-the-main-characters}} It was his last office, and he retired from public posts.{{cite news|title=وَهْبَة.. نَفَتْهُ بريطانيا من مصر فعاد إلى لندن سفيراً|url=https://www.okaz.com.sa/local/na/1580147|access-date=7 August 2022|work=Okaz|date=13 October 2017|language=ar}}
Personal life and death
Wahba married several times, including a Kuwaiti woman.{{cite news|title=عاش مع الطريقي طفولة الكويت، السيد مصطفى حافظ وهبة لـ"إيلاف" : لم يكن الطريقي متعالياً ولا مغروراً، وعلى طاشكندي أن يراجع كلامه!!|url=https://elaph.com/Web/Archive/1056434797410822700.html|access-date=7 May 2021|work=Elaph|date=24 June 2003|language=ar}} One of his children with his Kuwaiti wife was Mustafa Wahba who was the long-term secretary general of the Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (CPSA).{{cite journal|author=Mohammed Turki A. Al Sudairi|title=Marx's Arabian Apostles: The Rise and Fall of the Saudi Communist Movement|journal=The Middle East Journal|year=2019|issue=3
|volume=73|pages=455–456|doi=10.3751/73.3.15|s2cid=210378439}} Hafiz Wahba also had two daughters from this marriage and another son, Ali, from his other marriage.
Wahba settled in Rome following his retirement in 1966. He died there in 1967.{{cite news|title=نفته بريطانيا من مصر فعاد إلى لندن سفيرًا للسعودية|url=https://www.alayam.com/Article/courts-article/407449/Index.html|access-date=7 May 2021|date=13 October 2017 |language=ar|work=Al Ayam}}{{cite book|author=Nabil Mouline|title=The Clerics of Islam. Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia|year=2014|doi=10.12987/yale/9780300178906.001.0001|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300178906|location=New Haven, CT
|page=110}} He published various books, including Fifty Years in Arabia (1962) and Arabian Days (1964) both of which were published in London.
References
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External links
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Category:20th-century Saudi Arabian diplomats
Category:20th-century Saudi Arabian politicians
Category:Al-Azhar University alumni
Category:Egyptian expatriates in Saudi Arabia
Category:Naturalised citizens of Saudi Arabia