In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful**
From: Saad Al‑Husayn
To: His Eminence, the Secretary‑General of the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah), Riyadh
May Allah guide you to His obedience and to serving His religion.
Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.
After that:
I have learned that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques—may Allah preserve him as a righteous example—has ordered the organization of a symposium on King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may Allah have mercy on him, and that he has entrusted your esteemed institution with its execution. I wished, therefore, to remind you of some of his virtues:
A.
Just as Imam Muhammad bin Saud, his heir Imam Abdulaziz, and his heir Imam Saud were the first—alongside Imam Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab (may Allah have mercy on them all)—to raise the banner of religious renewal since the blessed early centuries, spreading tawhid and the Sunnah, combating shirk and innovation, and demolishing shrines and tomb‑idols from Iraq to the Arabian Sea and from the Gulf to the Red Sea (1158–1229 AH;
And just as Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Saud (1235–1249 AH) renewed the religion and the call after the Ottoman aggression and its mercenaries against the state and the da‘wah in 1234 AH—an aggression that Dr. Saleh Al‑Aboud, President of the Islamic University, likened to a Crusade in his introduction to The Call to Allah in the Arabian Peninsula, and which Dr. Zakariya Bayoumi, Professor of Modern History at Mansoura University, explicitly described as a Crusader war in Al‑Manar Al‑Jadeed (Issue 18, Muharram 1423 AH), for it was an assault on the true religion—
So too did King Abdulaziz and his heir Saud (1319–1384 AH), may Allah have mercy on them, renew the religion, the call, and the state, spreading tawhid and the Sunnah, combating shirk and innovation, and laying the foundations of the modern Saudi state.
B.
Among those who recognized King Abdulaziz’s reliance—after Allah—on his son and heir Saud in spreading the religion and the call was the Egyptian scholar of tawhid and Sunnah, Muhammad Hamid Al‑Faqi, who described Saud (may Allah have mercy on him) as:
“The Prince of Scholars and the Scholar of Princes”
in his introduction to the first edition of Jami‘ Al‑Usul, the first major hadith reference printed by the state of tawhid and Sunnah, and the first edition of the book in Islamic history.
C.
The state of da‘wah continued upon the Prophetic methodology during the reign of King Abdulaziz and his heir Saud, printing hundreds of volumes of major Islamic references for the first time in Islamic history, including: Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Al‑Mughni, Al‑Sharh Al‑Kabir, Al‑Insaf, and many others.
D.
Allah granted King Saud steadfastness upon his father’s renewing path in serving the sciences of Sharia—Qur’an, Sunnah, and the jurisprudence of the early imams—and in calling to Allah’s law and implementing it in creed, worship, and transactions without alteration or deviation. Among the most important of his achievements:
1) Laying the foundation of Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in the first year of his reign by opening the College of Sharia in Riyadh in 1373 AH, the oldest of the university’s colleges.
2) Continuing to support the College of Sharia in Makkah, housing it in his palace in Al‑Zahir, and placing it under the leadership of the scholar of tawhid and Sunnah in Makkah, Sheikh Abdullah Khayyat. This was the first Sharia college in the Arabian Peninsula, established by Saud in 1369 AH.
3) Funding and overseeing the first-ever compilation and printing of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Fatwas in 37 volumes—a monumental service to Islam and Muslims.
4) Establishing the Islamic University in Madinah for students of Sharia from around the world (85% non‑Saudi), and endowing it with 28 houses from his own palace. His palace and mosque remain the university’s central buildings.
5) Developing the institution of Hisbah (the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) into an independent governmental body with a budget, branches, and staff comparable to major ministries—yet surpassing them all in its grounding in Qur’an, Sunnah, and jurisprudence.
E.
Allah enabled King Saud to lead the state and society into a new era of civilization and modern administration unprecedented in the region. Among its most notable features:
1) Establishing the first university in the Arabian Peninsula: King Saud University in Riyadh.
2) Expanding the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque for the first time since the Abbasid era.
3) Paving the highway between Dammam and Riyadh, extending toward Makkah and Madinah.
4) Increasing the number of ministries to include essential modern services.
5) Appointing highly educated young ministers to new ministries.
6) Planning and constructing all ministry buildings along the airport road.
7) Establishing the first modern housing project for state employees in Riyadh (Al‑Malazz).
8) Implementing major water projects in Al‑Kharj, Al‑Aflaj, Tayma, Al‑Ahsa, and others for the first time in history.
9) Building major medical facilities, including the Central Hospital in Al‑Shumaisi, still among the Kingdom’s leading hospitals.
10) Issuing administrative regulations essential for a modern state—still in effect today.
11) Assisting his father in establishing and developing various military and security institutions.
12) Assisting his father in establishing civil aviation and the railway between the Eastern Province and Riyadh, entrusted to him since 1368 AH.
13) Being the first Arab leader to use economic boycott for Arab interests by halting oil sales to the nations participating in the 1956 Tripartite Aggression against Egypt.
14) Opening Saudi military airports to Egyptian aircraft during the aggression, despite the European and Israeli military threat.
15) Funding the schools of Sheikh Abdullah Al‑Qar‘awi in Jazan and surrounding areas.
16) His legendary generosity—earning him the title “Abu Khayrayn” (The Man of Two Bounties).
He visited Tayma, giving every man, woman, and child a personal gift.
He visited Tabuk, and upon hearing of a small island whose fishermen had no government employees, he ordered a monthly stipend for every family. A clerical error increased the proposed amount from 30 to 300 riyals. When informed, he said:
“This is Allah’s bounty—let it proceed.”
17) I visited him once in Al‑Hawiyah as part of a delegation from Dar Al‑Tawhid in Taif. After speeches by scholars and students, King Saud spoke—commanding obedience to Allah and His Messenger, forbidding disobedience, and emphasizing the importance of Sharia knowledge.
He informed us that he had ordered a plane to transport students at the end of the school year to Riyadh as his guests, then return each to his hometown. It was my first time flying.
18) King Saud built and achieved all this at a time when Saudi oil production—the sole source of income—did not exceed one million barrels per day, and the price per barrel did not exceed $1.80.
19) He had great ambitions in administration, economics, and politics. Much was achieved; some exceeded the capacity of the young state budget and institutions.
20) The Arabs of that era—like today—were lost in illusions of nationalism and socialism, failing to appreciate Allah’s blessing in King Saud or Allah’s favor upon him. But Allah does not waste the reward of the righteous.
O Allah, raise his rank among the righteous.
May Allah grant you success. Peace be upon you.
Written by: Saad bin Abdulrahman Al‑Husayn
May Allah pardon him
Letter No. 70 — dated 7/5/1427 AH