Riyadh is currently witnessing a series of significant cultural events. In the north of the city, the Cultural Week is being held at Al‑Yamamah College; in the west, the Tunisian Cultural Days are taking place; and in the city center, a series of seminars and scholarly sessions on King Saud bin Abdulaziz are being organized. This symposium will undoubtedly enrich our local historiography by examining the life and legacy of King Saud, who was born in the very year his father recaptured Riyadh—the ancestral seat of his forefathers. King Saud would go on to become both a witness to and a contributor to this illustrious history, participating in the later unification battles and undertaking numerous initiatives and achievements, beginning with his tenure as Crown Prince and continuing through his reign as King. His era saw notable economic, administrative, social, military, educational, and health‑sector developments.
King Saud bin Abdulaziz was the first Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, a position created by directive of the founding monarch during the final months of his life. Through the successive governments formed under this council, a number of distinguished administrators emerged—figures whose contributions left a clear imprint on the evolution of Saudi administrative practice. Some served in their ministries for extended periods or moved between portfolios, their names and accomplishments remaining well‑known. Others, however, left office early, such as Ibrahim al‑Suwayl, Ahmad Shatta, Hasan Nasif, Abdullah al‑Tariqi, Abdullah al‑Dabbagh, Muhammad al‑Shubayli, Abdulrahman Aba al‑Khail, Muhammad al‑Zughaibi, and Hamid Harasani—names that risk fading from the memory of the present generation.
Among the prominent administrative figures of the 1950s and 1960s was Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mu‘ammar. He received his early education in Cairo as part of the first cohort of students sent abroad by King Abdulaziz. He later continued his studies at the American University of Beirut, graduating with distinction in 1948 with a specialization in physics and mathematics. Upon returning to Saudi Arabia, he worked as a translator in the Royal Court of King Abdulaziz.
In 1953, when Aramco workers submitted demands for improved working conditions, King Abdulaziz ordered that their requests be studied. After the King’s death, King Saud appointed Ibn Mu‘ammar to head a committee tasked with examining the workers’ demands and producing recommendations that would safeguard their rights and regulate relations between them and the company. The committee ultimately recommended the establishment of the Labor and Workers Office in Dammam as a neutral body to oversee the affairs of workers and employees. The recommendation was approved, and the Office became the nucleus from which the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs later emerged.
King Saud entrusted Ibn Mu‘ammar with the presidency of the Office and authorized him to design its structure and recruit its staff. This was Ibn Mu‘ammar’s first position outside the Royal Court, and it introduced the public to his administrative vision and ideas. He began recruiting a number of young Saudis who had studied abroad—some of whom were associated with particular intellectual currents. In 1379 AH, King Saud issued a decree appointing Abdulaziz bin Mu‘ammar as a Special Advisor in the Royal Court with the rank of “Excellent Grade.” Although some articles and reports have mistakenly described him as a Minister of State and member of the Council of Ministers, the accurate account is that he served as an advisor in the Royal Court of King Saud, later becoming Ambassador to Switzerland. He eventually returned to Saudi Arabia and settled in Dammam, where he remained until his death in 1984.
Ibn Mu‘ammar was also an active figure in the local press during the late 1950s, particularly in writing economic analyses. Among his most notable works was the series published in Al‑Yamamah magazine under the title “Oil and the State in the Middle East.”