Saudi Arabian History

This article explores the development of Saudi Arabia during King Fahd's era through research which highlights the challenges and reasons behind the decline in achieving five year plans. Saudi Arabia is one of those Middle Eastern countries, based on a traditional Islamic Law system, where the process of innovation is extremely slow. The purpose of the study was to focus on the policy implementations and improvements effected during the era of King Fahd and how they changed the economy of the Kingdom. The study also uncovered some of the achievements and limitations of the initiative to educate women in their chosen fields. The impact of the innovative development plans were explored, with education, industrial development, and trade identified as core focuses during the King Fahd era. The focus on these three aspects essentially resulted in the development of Saudi Arabia's economic processes, although some failures suggested the need for further improvements through the application of new strategies. Moreover, there was a need for developmental procedures in education, industry and trade areas that ultimately affected the economy of the Kingdom.

The IDEA Research Lab aims to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and exploration in the Interior Design field in Saudi Arabia. The identified themes of the IDEA Research Group are directly related to the Saudi Vision 2030 (A vibrant society… with fulfilling lives). For instance, the group will focus on people and their behaviours, their national identity and ancient cultural heritage, their environment and landscape, protecting families and empowering their social and health system. One of the main topics connected to the Saudi context will be the role of women in architecture and design: as stated also in Saudi Vision 2030 in the goal (Providing equal opportunities), the IDEA research group will focus on the Saudi women's work within architecture, industrial and interior design professions of cultural and social relevance for contemporaneity. The research themes are opened to a wide range of different fields of studies that support the interior design discipline, like humanities, technologies, engineering, and social science. Lab Vision The vision of the IDEA Research Group (Interior Design Environment and Arts) is to promote and develop research and training, placing people and the community at the center. Mission Enhance the quality of life within the interior environment and promote an interdisciplinary research to be innovative and competitive in the Interior field in Saudi Arabia and at an international level. Lab Objectives The key objective is to constantly pursue innovation in design with regard to spaces, objects, methods and means of communication and enhancing and promoting the enjoyment of cultural and environmental heritage; and fostering innovation in social relations.

Dr. Rehab Aburas, Dr. Göze Bayram, Dr. Samaher Fallatah, Dr. Irene Pasina, Ms. Renad Al-Sekait, Ms. Noura Al-Fowzan

The Yemen, is the birth place and hub for a number of monotheistic religious convictions . In its North West region, just 243 kilometers away from San'aa, the official capital of the Republic of Yemen , lies a spiritual center, a holy metropolis known as Saa'da  .
It is to Zaidi Islam as Qum is to Shia Islam and Mecca is to Sunni Islam. It is where the scholars dwell, to read, learn and teach their disciples to carry on the doctrine and preserve the faith throughout history.
It is here that the Houthi phenomenon first appeared.
This study focuses on the very beginnings of Houthism as a phenomenon, it's source and affiliations. It is but the first part of a series of papers that will delve into the movement as it expands over time.

By studying metaphor, this monograph reveals the conflict between what (1.0)George Dodds refers to as the "good" and "bad" mimesis (copy)  or the difference between imitation and origination.  The former results in 1eclecticism while the latter in vernacularism.  Should, could, or need one or the other be more or less required is left for a reader's evaluation and his or her's circumstances.  But this kind of tautology exists at the basis of the "becoming" of Arabia's metaphor.  The metaphor is an agent for change and its' understanding and perspective-view of these complementarities can be enlightening.  The metaphor in this context is the commonality between eclecticism and vernacularism.  This monograph describes the current contradictions and complexities of this phenomena. There are both paraphrases and quotations from scholars and authors such as Edmund Husserl, Jarava Lal Mehta, Martin Heidegger, S. Gulzar Haider, Paul Weiss, Ismail Serageldin, Samir El Sadek, Keith Critchlow, Mohammed Arkoun, Christian Norberg Schulz, Jamel Akbar, Muhammad Arkoun, A.H. Hourani, S.M. Stern, Ira M. Lapidus, George Dodds, Hjelmalev and Dorfman.  All contribute to explicate the basis of the metaphor of Arabia.’

Cet article tente de comprendre le wahhabisme et de suivre son évolution historique. En quoi Ibn 'Abd al Wahhab a-t-il rompu avec la tradition islamique ? Quelles sont les racines doctrinales du "jihadisme" ? Quelles mutations socio-culturelles le monde musulman a-t-il vécu au cours des trois derniers siècles qui expliquent que le wahhabisme est passé du statut de secte marginale à celui d'incarnation de l'orthodoxie islamique ? Tentative d'éclairage dans un entretien en 2 parties.
[Article paru initialement dans la revue "Querelles d'Orient"]

الطبيعة لا تقفز. هذه الحكمة المستخدمة من قبل الفلاسفة والعلماء منذ العصور القديمة تُعبّر عن الفكرة القائلة بأنّ كلّ تغيّر هو نتيجة مراحل متعاقبة وليس نتيجة تحوّل مفاجئ في الزمان والمكان.

وهذا ما تؤكّده بلا أدنى شكّ دراسة بنية وتاريخ الحنبليّة الوهّابية، فهذا العمل يطمح إلى إعادة بناء أصول هذا المذهب وتتبّع مساره التاريخي ووصف عقائده وممارساته وتحديد هويّته والوقوف عند الثوابت والمتغيّرات التي تخترقه.

فقد سمحت لنا دراسته في إطار تحقيب تاريخي طويل أن نُظهر المتغيّرات التاريخيّة والإجتماعيّة والسياسيّة التي أجبرت القيمين عليه أي العلماء على تكييف مدوّنتهم الفكرية وهياكلهم المؤسساتية بغرض الحفاظ على مركزية خطابهم الديني في المجال الإجتماعي السعودي وإشعاعه في مختلف أرجاء العالم وتكريس هيمنة العائلة الحاكمة على المعترك السياسي.

فالتحالف بين المرجعية الدينية والسلطة السياسية في المملكة العربية السعودية جعل المذهب الحنبلي الوهّابي أرثوذكسية الإسلام الجديدة والمستأمنين عليه علماء الإسلام الجدد.

The principal purposes of this paper are to report the preliminary results of analytical work conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; to evaluate the susceptibility of some Arabian rock art to direct dating techniques; and to evaluate its susceptibility to the application of a variety of other research methods. The authors have together studied more than forty rock art sites in northern, central and southern Saudi Arabia, and they secured preliminary age estimations from ten motifs at seven of these locations. These are the first scientific rock art dating results ever reported in the Middle East. The teams of the Deputy Ministry of Antiquities and Museums included also specialists in epigraphy and indigenous Bedouin custodians. They examined site complexes considered for tourist access in the context of associated resource management issues. In the Najran region of the country’s south, extensive research to test previously proposed stylistic chronologies of the petroglyph traditions of southern Arabia was conducted. These were found to be not only internally inconsistent, they were also decisively refuted by the results of dating work, superimposition sequences and precision colorimetric analyses.

* This is the 1st edition. The latest (3rd) edition is available on Academia.edu here:

https://www.academia.edu/88612822/An_Ocean_from_the_Desert_biography_of_Shaykh_Muhammad_al_Amin_al_Shanqiti_3rd_edition_

Translation of

A BIOGRAPHY OF THE SHAYKH MUHAMMAD AL-AMĪN AL-SHANQĪTĪ
(1325-1393 H / 1907-1973 CE),

AUTHOR OF THE MAGNIFICENT TAFSĪR,
ADWÂ’ AL-BAYÂN FĪ ĪDÂH AL-QUR’ÂN BI L-QUR’ÂN

(LIGHTS OF ELOQUENCE IN EXPLAINING THE QUR’AN BY THE QUR’AN)

LEADING SCHOLAR OF MAURITANIA
SENIOR JUDGE IN HIGH COURT FOR MURDER CASES, MAURITANIA

HEAD EXEGETE OF THE QUR’AN AT:

THE INSTITUTE OF KNOWLEDGE, RIYADH
HIGHER INSTITUTE FOR THE JUDICIARY, RIYADH
COLLEGE OF SHARIA, THE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY, MEDINA
THE MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PEACE BE UPON HIM), MEDINA

MAY ALLAH BESTOW HIS INFINITE MERCY UPON HIM

Biography by SHAYKH ‘ATIYYAH MUHAMMAD SÂLIM
Judge, Law Court of Medina, Saudi Arabia

This paper describes how the rise of Wahhabism entailed the transformation of religious culture in Central Arabia and the construction of a new one, defined in part by separation from the rest of the Muslim world and maintained by a set of discursive and coercive practices.

Over the last decades, a number of scholars have studied how historiography served to legitimize different Arab regimes. These scholars have, however, given little attention to the role of periodization. By contrast, this study suggests that periodization has been a central element of historiography in the monarchies. Many textbooks and other major works in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, and Morocco follow two broad tendencies in terms of periodization. The first tendency is to merge dynastic and national periods and to start the history of the country essentially with the rise of the contemporary ruling family. The second tendency is to integrate the contemporary dynasty into the history of a longer, sometimes perennial, monarchy. Nevertheless, official dynastic periodization has not determined all historical writing in the monarchies. Local and tribal historians often developed periodizations centered on specific cities or tribes and also imagined a much longer history than that of the contemporary dynasty.

I thank Pascal Ménoret for inviting me to give this presentation and generously hosting me in Princeton. I also thank Bernard Haykel for chairing the discussion and Joyce Slack for organizing the event. As always, I am very grateful to my audience, including Michael Cook, Nadav Samin, and Dan Stolz. Finally, I am indebted to my parents, Sibylle and Michael Determann, for sponsoring my trip from Vienna to Princeton.

In the wake of the oil boom that started in late 1973, a mass consumer society developed in Saudi Arabia. This chapter sets out to explore a period marked by unprecedented economic transition and surprisingly little socio-political change.  Inspired by recent literature on Consumption Studies, the chapter introduces the notion of Saudi “citizen-consumers” to discuss the confluence of citizenship and state-sponsored consumption. It also follows the “material-politics” that allowed the indirect negotiation of a unique material modernization into Saudi society. The chapter argues for a path-dependent transformation, which enforced older socio-political hierarchies, while allowing mass consumer society to develop. The state's ability to sponsor consumption, and the seductive nature of consumption itself, enhanced this neo-conservative order creating a citizen consumer nexus that would be hard to break.

This book offers historical and contemporary insights into the various problems that persist in haunting the Saudi state. Madawi Al-Rasheed brings together well-established historians and social scientists with deep knowledge of Saudi Arabia―its history, culture and contemporary politics―to reflect on Salman’s kingdom. They trace both policy continuities and recent ruptures that have perplexed observers of Saudi Arabia. This lucid and nuanced analysis invites serious reflection on the Saudi leadership’s capacity to withstand the recent challenges, especially those that came with the Arab uprisings. At stake is the future of a country that remains vital to regional stability, international security, and the global economy.

Book censorship has been a salient characteristic of the late Ottoman Hamidian Era (1878-1909) in which constitution and parliament were suspended for three decades against the backdrop of liberal nationalist dissidence. Research has accordingly focused on the authoritarian nature of censure, leaving out other features of ʿAbdülḥamīd II.’s caliphal governance that are manifested in this institution, such as concern for religious orthodoxy which lately received some attention by researchers.  Many books were in fact denied permission to be published for proselytizing heresy or containing errors as judged by the Meşīḫat (clerical high) council. While this would implicate the sultanate’s embracement of respective decrees as affirmative of a state sanctioned Sunni orthodoxy, caution is to be taken when evaluating government censure of print material that is subject to intra-Sunni divide, as in that period mainly concerns Sufism related debates. To which degree did the caliphal regime of ʿAbdülḥamīd II. sanction the orthodoxy promoted by its religious authorities and could there be a border discerned between worries of religious and political nature? As documented in several letters by the Ministry of Education, censure had a further objective barely emphasised in research; to forestall theological debates for the sake of unity not in religious, but political terms, as will be argued in this paper. Whereas in some cases the authorities make it explicit that a publication aroused conflict, it is to be reviewed whether a similar pattern may be recognised in the censure of other religious books. / Term paper in "Modern Syrian History", B.A. Islamic Studies course by Prof. Dr. Konrad Hirschler at FUB in summer 2020. Grade: 1,3.
***
Sükut içinde Vahdet: Sultan Abdülhamid II. döneminde tasavvufa dair münakaşaların sansürü. /// Araştırmanın ilk bölümde doksanlı yılların Rifai-Kadiri rekabeti ve hükumetin buna müdahalesi incelenmekte, Sultan Abdülhamid'in her iki tarafı da razı edici tarafsız bir siyaset sürdürmeye çalıştığı tasrih edilmektedir. Ardından 1) Selefi ve 2) Sufi neşriyatın sansürüne bakılarak, yine hükumetin siyaseti incelenmektedir. Burada Vehhabilik batıl bir mezhep olarak redde mahkum olmuş ise de, Selefi geleneğin bazı öğelerinin kabül gördüğü müşahade edilmektedir. Vehhabi neşriyat ile Kadızadeli çizgisinde tasavvuf karşıtı yazıların yasaklanmasıyla birlikte,  aynı zamanda bazı tasavvufi neşriyatın da halkın anlayışına müsait olmadığı gerekçesiyle men edilmesi bu izlenimi desteklemektedir.

طاعة الخليفة في ترك النقاش المهيجة: سياسة السلطان عبد الحميد الثاني في إدارة الصوفية والسلفية
يستقرئ هذا البحث سياسة الحكومة العثمانية في منع طبع الكتب والرسالات المثيرة للجدل بين المسلمين. القسم الأول يتابع اختصام طريقتي القادرية والرفاعية في تسعيمات القرن التاسع عشر ويقيم السؤال حول رشد السلطات في حل النزاع ومعاملة كلا الطرفين بالقسط، حيث يظهر أنها وفقت إلى هذا الأمر. يليه البحث عن المنشورات السلفية والصوفية في عهد السلطان عبد الحميد وتعامله مع الفريقين. يظهر هنا حرص السلطان على إرضاء الكل لنيل طاعة الرعية السنية، فبينما ترفض الوهابية التي اعتبروها العثمانيون مذهبا باطلا، يعامل أتباعها حسن المعاملة ولا يمنعون من المناصب التدريسية، كما هو في حال محمود شكري الآلوسي. يلاحظ أيضا أن بعض كتابات الصوفية منعت نشرها بسبب تشويشها لأذهان العوام، كما أكدته رسائل وزارة المعارف

The Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) as an actor in foreign and security policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has grown of increasing significance in the last eighteen months having held a strong role in operations in the Yemen war. Yemen is, effectively, the southern flank of the Saudi sphere of influence in the Middle East and entry point to NorthEast Africa across the Red Sea. Ensuring the Yemeni government is well disposed to the KSA is of substantial importance to the Saudi strategic position. The conflict has continued longer than had been predicted and appears to have no likely resolution in the short to medium term. The conflict has become more than a local war and is now part and representative of a broader Sunni-Shia clash of ideas over which ethno-religious culture and identity should predominate in the Middle East whether under Saudi (Arab) or Iranian (Persian) leadership. Countering the influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Gulf and wider Middle East is in part reliant on the strength of Saudi maritime forces as the Iranian navy is itself large with a variety of capabilities: submarines, fast missile boats, a strong conventional surface fleet and supported by the Iranian strategic missile forces. The RSN's integration as part of KSA armed forces' deployments in southern Arabia is suggestive of the more prominent role which it will come to hold in future Saudi foreign and defence policy. Until the start of the Yemen war the RSN had not been utilised on a large scale in line with the Saudi security agenda since the 1990/1991 Gulf War.

Saudi Arabia is generally and justifiably viewed as a country with some of the fewest democratic institutions and the weakest traditions of pluralism. It is therefore surprising to learn that at least in one corner of the Saudi world, there can be found a plurality of opinions and lively debate. Jörg Matthias Determann brings this element to light by analyzing an important field of cultural activity in Saudi Arabia: historical writing. Since the 1920s local, tribal, Shi'i and dynastic histories have contributed to a growing plurality of narratives. Paradoxically, this happened because of the expansion of the Saudi state, including state provision of mass education. It was also due to globalizing processes, such as the spread of the internet. In challenging the widely-held perception of Saudi Arabia as an irredeemably closed and monolithic society, Historiography in Saudi Arabia provides a deeper understanding of modern Arab historiography, the Saudi state, and education and scholarship in the Middle East.

Unlike other areas of law, where rules have either been borrowed from Western regimes or only apply to certain segments of society, Saudi family law touches every member of Saudi society, from ordinary citizens to royalty, and originates in an Islamic legal tradition that predates most modern legal systems by several hundred years.  Nonetheless, most writers on Saudi Arabia (the Kingdom) have largely neglected the role of Saudi family law in influencing the Kingdom’s royal family and policymaking, despite the dominance of family businesses, tribes, and family offices in the Saudi economy and state.  This Article outlines how Saudi family law produces economic incentives that, without reform, make the maintenance of political stability in the Kingdom unlikely past three generations.

Accordingly, this Article can be understood as an alternative and supplement to the dominant political science theory for understanding Saudi policymaking, Rentier State Theory (RST).  Specifically, this Article demonstrates how the incentives produced by Saudi family law can more accurately predict Saudi policymaking and disruptive political events than RST, including, but not limited to, the Kingdom’s Ritz-Carlton purge and building of largescale commercial real estate projects, which might otherwise appear irrational to outside observers.  The Article begins with a discussion on the mathematics of polygamy in the Kingdom and ends with a discussion of how the incentives produced by Saudi’s family law system produce far-ranging implications for both the Kingdom’s neighbors and its current allies, including, but not limited to, the United States and Israel.  The Article concludes with legal reforms that the current Saudi state may wish to undertake, should it wish to avoid a similar fate to the previous two Saudi states, both of which collapsed in under three generations (1744–1814; 1824–1891).  Additionally, reforms suggested over fifty years ago by Saudi prince Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are analyzed, as well as various legal customs found within Jordan, which Saudi policymakers may wish to borrow from and modify to provide the Kingdom increased political stability in the longer term.

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti-Suudi Arabistan ilişkileri, geçmişten gelen iki taraflı önyargıların ve karşılıklı hassasiyetlerin şekillendirdiği bir zeminde, Büyük Savaş sonrasının karşılıklı müttefik arayışını ön plana çıkaran şartları ve liderler düzeyindeki iyi niyetle temellendirildi. 1915 Arap İsyanı ve –müşterek hasım mahiyetindeki- Şerif Hüseyin ailesinin yarımadadan tasfiye edilmesi sonrasında Atatürk ve genç cumhuriyetin, İbn Suud’un Necid ve Hicaz Krallığı’nı 1926’da, Suudi Arabistan Krallığı’nı da 1932’de ilk tanıyan devlet olması ve Cidde’de ivedilikle diplomatik temsilcilik açması son derece önemli adımlardır. Bu sayede Britanya ve Fransa’nın bölgedeki etkinliği de bir ölçüde azaltılabilmiştir. 1939’da başlayan II. Dünya Savaşı’na her iki ülkenin de girmemesi, keza bir önceki savaştan edinilen çıkarımları göstermesi bakımından önem taşımaktadır. Bu ilişki düzeyi, her ne kadar sonraki yıllarda aynı ölçüde yakın mahiyette devam ettirilemese de ilişkilerin sağlam temeli sonraki yönetimlere miras bırakıldı.

The Southern Red Sea Region (SRSR) is an environmentally unified geographic area whose natural features historically supported a closely-linked, multifaceted socioeconomic. The SRSR is currently divided between Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia (Somaliland), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. In the seventeenth century, the SRSR entered a two-hundred-years-long mega-drought that precipitated a protracted food crisis. Since states traditionally played key roles in the redistribution of food resources in the SRSR, this food crisis resulted in a region-wide political crisis at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Centralized states in Sudan and Ethiopia collapsed. The Yemeni Imamate lost control of the rural countryside. In Arabia, the drought facilitated the first Saudi-Wahhabi military conquest of Ottoman territory, which resulted in the first period of Saudi-Wahhabi control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This far reaching political crisis fundamentally changed the SRSR socioeconomic system.

SOCOTRA
Socotra’s name is traced to the Sanskrit dvipa-sakhadara, “island abode of bliss.” The island is mentioned in various legends. The inhabitants long were Christians, but that religion disappeared from the island in the 17th century. Socotra was long ruled by the Mahra sultans of southeastern Yemen. Their rule on Socotra was interrupted by Portuguese occupation between 1507 and 1511. In 1834 the British tried and failed to purchase the island; in the 1880s, however, the sultan accepted British protection for the entire sultanate. The sultanate came to an end in 1967, when Socotra became part of independent South Yemen, and later, unified Yemen.

But there is one plant, the Dragon Blood Tree of Socotra, that has spurred a number of legends and myths into existence. This is what this place is renowned for.
According to one of many legends, the Creator made a beautiful new world out of nothing in the middle of a big, deep blue ocean and made fascinating forms of life to exist in it. But the most bizarre of them all was the Dragon. It was a strange and powerful creature with an elegant body. The legend says its top was covered in scale-like skin and rows of small fan-like growths that run down its spine. Combined with restless azure eyes delicately placed within a long, thorny skull, this gave the creature a very ominous appearance.
But in contrast to its frightening exterior, this creature wasn’t dangerous. It was calm and graceful by nature, or so seemed to be the case. It would do nothing but lay on the rocks on top of this new world, taking in the warmth through its scales from the summer sun and doze serenely for hours and hours, day after day. It was how the dragon felt happy, resting just so, gazing far out at the horizon. The Creator made this peaceful but powerful creature the king of everything that lived in his world; its designated protector while he was gone.
But then, when the Creator returned after so many years of absence, he didn’t see the magnificent world he left behind, but a world ravaged and burned to the ground. He found not one of the other beautiful creatures he had created not so long ago. Only the dragon, still perched on top of the highest mountain, resting as per usual, and nothing but a dead marshland around. God was furious. The dragon must have eaten them all and destroyed his paradise. So he turned the dragon into a tree and made it suffer. Whenever the bark of this tree is cut, the dragon bleeds in pain.
This strange tree, according to legend, is the Dragon Blood Tree, only it doesn’t bleed really and it’s not Dragon’s blood of course — although we must admit it is a pretty fascinating story and it sure looks like it does.
The strange mushroom-like umbrella tree that looks like an inverted root system with a densely packed green leaf cover sprouting on top is Dracaena Cinnabari, a slow-growing evergreen flowering tree that in actuality releases a thick red sap, that colloquially grew to be referred to as dragon’s blood.
The plant can grow up to 15 to 20 feet in height. It was first found described in 1835 by Lieutenant Wellsted who became intrigued by its unusual appearance during a survey organized and conducted by the British East India Company, the largest trading company in the world at the time. He called it Pterocarpus Draco.
The natives used its red sap, the dragon’s blood, as a wonder drug, a cure for all ailments. They have used it to cure everything from diarrhea, fevers, viruses, and dysentery all the way to treat ulcers, lesions, and various skin disorders and rashes, like eczema. They’ve been using it as such for centuries.
As a matter of fact, a stone handcrafted tool dating back to 1.5 million years BC found in the vicinity of Hadibo, today’s largest human settlement on Socotra, suggests that the island could be one of mankind’s birth cradles, and locals from the island believe in a legend that in the past, around 1000 years BC, it was of great importance to the ancient Egyptians.
According to them, it was mainly because the Phoenicians held a firm belief that Socotra was sacred, for it was home to the legendary Phoenix bird. Aside from that, it was abundant in some unique ingredients that they craved so much — frankincense, myrrh, and aloe, to name a few.
Dragon’s blood was among these healing mystic potions as well. It was a real paradise for Druidic herbalists, and the island soon enough grew to be a go-to place for shamans and spiritual healers. Even some historical linguists state that translated from ancient Arabic, the word Socotra means Suq (market) and Qutra (dragon blood.)

Historically, Iran has dominated the regional politics in several aspects, but after the Second World War, Saudi Arabia emerged as a significant player in regional politics. Both states have several differences; Saudi Arabia is Sunni dominated state with monarchical system of governance while Iran has a Shia dominated population and Islamic republic nature of governance. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been in a conflict with each other for several decades and there have been a number of issues that have intensified the Saudi-Iran rivalry for the several decades and created instability in the region. Iranian nuclear programme and capital punishment of Shia cleric by Saudi government have also further increased their rivalry. But, their recent enmity has had a drastic impact on the West Asian region. Therefore, regional conflicts have been becoming very complex and affecting the regional politics as well as international politics. The main aim of this paper is to examine the causes of Saudi-Iran rivalry and how does it impact on regional politics.