Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia
I INTRODUCTION
Saudi Arabia: Flag and Anthem

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved./© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Saudi Arabia, monarchy in southwestern Asia, occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is
a land of vast deserts and little rainfall. Huge deposits of oil and natural gas lie beneath the country’s
surface. Saudi Arabia was a relatively poor nation before the discovery and exploitation of oil, but since
the 1950s income from oil has made the country wealthy. The religion of Islam developed in the 7th
century in what is now Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Abdul Aziz
ibn Saud, and it has been ruled by his descendants ever since.
Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, holds the holiest shrine of Islam, the Kaaba. As the birthplace of
Islam’s founder, the Prophet Muhammad, Mecca is considered a holy city. It is a pilgrimage point for Muslims
worldwide, who are expected to visit the city at least once if they are able to do so.
Mehmet Biber/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Saudi Arabia is bounded on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; on the east by the Persian Gulf and
Qatar; on the southeast by the United Arab Emirates and Oman; on the south by Yemen; and on the
west by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The country’s border with the United Arab Emirates is not
precisely defined. Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2,240,000 sq km (about 864,900 sq mi). The
capital and largest city is Riyadh.
II LAND AND RESOURCES

Geography of Saudi Arabia
Area 2,240,000 sq km
864,900 sq mi
Coastline 2,640 km
1,640 mi
Highest Jabal Sawdā’
point 3,207 m/10,522 ft
The Arabian Peninsula is essentially a huge, tilted block of rock, highest in the west and sloping
gradually down to the east. Most of this slab of rock is covered with the sand of several large deserts.
Saudi Arabia’s landscape also contains mountain ranges, flat coastal plains, and the rocky remains of
hardened lava flows. The country’s climate is hot and dry, and there are no permanent rivers or lakes.
A Natural Regions
Dunes near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

A vast desert covers most of Saudi Arabia. The country’s capital and largest city, Riyadh, lies among oases on a dry,
rocky plateau in the center of the country. Dunes near the city, shown here, are a feature of the central plateau
region, an area with little vegetation.
Ray Ellis/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Saudi Arabia can be divided into four natural regions. These are the mountainous western highlands;
the rocky central plateau; the more fertile, eastern low-lying coastal plain; and the sandy desert areas
of the north, east, and south.
A1 Highlands of Al Ḩijāz and ‘Asīr
A string of mountain ranges stretches along the western edge of Saudi Arabia. The northern segment
of these highlands, known as Al Ḩijāz (Hejaz), has a general elevation of 600 to 900 m (2,000 to 3,000
ft), with some mountains exceeding 2,000 m (6,500 ft). Rainfall here is infrequent, but streams flowing
down the west side of the highlands allow limited agriculture in valleys and on the narrow coastal
plain. On the eastern slopes of the highlands, prehistoric lava flows solidified to form vast, barren fields
of dark-colored, broken basaltic stone known as harras. South of Al Ḩijāz the highlands continue into
the region known as ‘Asīr. Here, the highlands are rugged and reach considerably higher elevations
than in Al Ḩijāz: Much of ‘Asīr lies between 1,500 and 2,000 m (5,000 and 7,000 ft). The highest point
in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Sawdā’ (3,207 m/10,522 ft), is located in this region, near the border with
Yemen. ‘Asīr receives more rainfall than Al Ḩijāz, allowing more widespread farming.
A2 Najd
An arid, rocky plateau known as Najd occupies the interior of Saudi Arabia. The western half of the
plateau is a desolate tableland of broken volcanic rock crossed by wadis (watercourses that flow only
after rains). In the eastern half numerous rocky ridges run north to south. Bordered on its north, east,
and south by desert areas, Najd itself also contains several deserts, including Nafūd ad Daḩy, a series
of sandhills and ridges that divide western Najd from eastern Najd.
A3 Al Aḩsā’
In the east, along the Persian Gulf, is the low-lying region of Al Aḩsā’, known for its vast petroleum
deposits, farms, and gulf ports. Here, natural springs made agriculture and large-scale settlement
possible long before the discovery of the region’s rich oil reserves. The agricultural oasis of Al Qaţīf is
noted for its large plantations of date palms. The coast consists of salt flats (called sabkhas), marshes,
lagoons, and sandy or rocky beaches. Offshore coral reefs, mud islands, and sand bars made
navigation difficult before channels to ports were dredged in the 20th century.
A4 Deserts
Saudi Arabian Desert
Saudi Arabia may be an arid country, but when rain falls it tends to come in violent torrents that can cause
considerable erosion. This landscape is created by the rainwater carving out deep channels, or wadis, in the earth
and the rocks being weathered by wind and dramatic daily temperature changes. The softer rock has been worn
away into sand while the harder rock remains and sharply rises from the deeply eroded tableland.
Considerably more than half the area of Saudi Arabia is desert. Some desert areas are covered with
shifting sand dunes, while others are more stable flat or rippled expanses of sand. Shaped and moved
by winds, sand dunes take the form of long ridges or tall hills. Sand, gravel, or bare rock basins lie
between the dunes. Few plants grow in these arid deserts, except in scattered oases supported by
springs or wells. Three large deserts lie on three sides of the country’s central plateau: An Nafūd to the
north, the Rub‘ al Khali to the south, and the narrow Ad Dahnā’ connecting these two on the east. The
Rub‘ al Khali, one of the largest deserts in the world, has an area of about 650,000 sq km (about
250,000 sq mi), nearly as large as the U.S. state of Texas.
An Nafūd is characterized by parallel sand ridges, most 6 to 15 m (20 to 50 ft) high, but some sand
hills rise as high as 30 m (100 ft). In some areas, wind has stripped the bedrock surface clean of loose
material. North of An Nafūd are the southern fringes of the Syrian Desert.
A belt of sand hills and ridges known as Ad Dahnā’ extends in an arc south from An Nafūd, separating
Najd and Al Aḩsā’. Ad Dahnā’, varying in width from 24 to 80 km (15 to 50 mi), connects the northern
desert regions with the Rub‘ al Khali in the south. A similar but discontinuous band of sand ridges lies
on the western edge of Najd, also connecting An Nafūd and the Rub‘ al Khali.
Rub‘ al Khali means “Empty Quarter” in Arabic, reflecting the barren and forbidding nature of the
southern Arabian desert. It is much larger and drier than the other Saudi deserts, contains no oases,
and can only be inhabited temporarily, in the cooler winter months, by camel-herding nomads called
Bedouins. The Rub‘ al Khali extends over much of southeastern Saudi Arabia and beyond the southern
frontier into Yemen and Oman. Like An Nafūd, the Rub‘ al Khali is a sea of sand ridges and hills, some
of which are as high as 150 m (500 ft). One of the world’s best-preserved meteor impact sites is
located in the middle of the Rub‘ al Khali, at a site called Wabar.
B Climate
Extreme heat and aridity are characteristic of most of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the few places in the
world where summer temperatures above 50°C (120°F) are common, while in winter frost or snow can
occur in the interior and the higher mountains. The average temperature range in January is 8° to 20°C
(47° to 68°F) in Riyadh and 19° to 29°C (66° to 83°F) in Jiddah. The average range in July is 27° to
43°C (81° to 109°F) in Riyadh and 27° to 38°C (80° to 100°F) in Jiddah. Precipitation is usually sparse,
although sudden downpours can lead to violent flash floods in wadis. Annual rainfall in Riyadh
averages 100 mm (4 in) and falls almost exclusively between January and May; the average in Jiddah is
54 mm (2.1 in) and occurs between November and January.
C Natural Resources
Some of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields lie beneath Saudi Arabia and its offshore waters,
representing the country’s most economically important natural resource. In 2006 Saudi Arabia’s oil
reserves were estimated at 1.5 billion barrels. Before the discovery and exploitation of these reserves
in the mid-20th century, Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its relatively small
population subsisted in a harsh environment with little agricultural land and limited water resources.
Saudi Arabia lacks permanent lakes and rivers, but considerable reserves of underground water have
been discovered across the country. These have been used to increase agricultural production and
provide water for the growing population. Desalination plants on the Persian Gulf and Red Sea coasts
provide important, if expensive, sources of water. In addition, a number of dams built across wadis
capture seasonal rainwater temporarily.
D Plants and Animals

Camel Race, Saudi Arabia
In many countries, camels are beasts of burden because of their endurance and strength. In Saudi Arabia, camels
are used in caravans crossing the desert for the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and in agriculture. Pictured
here, Saudis race camels for sport.
Various fruit trees, notably the date palm, and a wide variety of grains and vegetables thrive in desert
oases and in irrigated areas. Outside these areas, only sparse desert shrubs and trees survive. Large
animals such as ostriches, oryxes, mountain goats, gazelles, and leopards were once numerous.
However, hunters equipped with modern weapons and transportation have wiped out most or all of
these prized game animals. Among other local wild mammals are foxes, hyenas, ibexes, panthers,
wildcats, hedgehogs, sand rats, jerboas, hares, and wolves. Flamingos and pelicans are common on
Saudi shores, and bustards, pigeons, and quails are found across most of the country. Lizards and
snakes thrive in the arid desert and tableland, and the coastal waters are home to a wide variety of
marine life. In particular, the coral reefs of the Red Sea are home to a dazzling array of brightly colored
fish and other marine animals.
E Environmental Issues
The Persian Gulf oil industry has polluted the gulf for decades through unintentional oil spillage—from
tanker accidents and pipeline leaks—and through dumping of oil-processing waste. Spilled oil and
dumped waste have ruined bird habitats on the Saudi Arabian coast and killed countless fish and
marine mammals. The situation worsened dramatically during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when the
Iraqi assault on Kuwait resulted in the release of 910 million liters (240 million gallons) of oil into the
gulf. Kuwaiti oil wells set ablaze in the war also caused severe air pollution in Saudi Arabia. Beyond
pollution caused by the oil industry, Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing population has outpaced the
provision of sewage services, resulting in the contamination of underground water near urban areas.
The country has made some efforts to protect native species and preserve habitats. There is an
extensive system of protected areas, including a national park and a number of nature reserves. Some
protection has also been extended to sensitive marine habitats off the coasts.
Saudi Arabia participates in international environmental agreements pertaining to climate change,

hazardous wastes, and ozone layer protection. Regionally, the country has committed itself to the
cooperative protection of shared marine environments in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden.
III POPULATION
People of Saudi Arabia
Population 27,019,731 (2006 estimate)

Population density 13 persons per sq km
33 persons per sq mi (2006 estimate)
Urban population distribution 87 percent (2003 estimate)
Rural population distribution 13 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest cities, with population Riyadh, 3,180,000 (1999 estimate)
Jiddah, 1,490,000 (1995 estimate)
Mecca (Makkah), 770,000 (1995 estimate)
Official language Arabic
Chief religious affiliations Muslim (official, mostly Sunni Muslim), 94 percent
Christian, 3 percent
Hindu, 1 percent
Life expectancy 75.7 years (2006 estimate)
Infant mortality rate 13 deaths per 1,000 live births (2006 estimate)
Literacy rate 80.5 percent (2005 estimate)
In 2006 Saudi Arabia had an estimated population of 27 million and a population density of 12.6

persons per sq km (32.6 persons per sq mi). About 23 percent of the population (amounting to about
5.4 million people) is made up of foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia. The country’s population
growth rate is one of the fastest in the world, at 2.18 percent (2006). The rapid rate of population
growth and the large percentage of foreign workers and their dependents have significant political,
social, and economic implications on Saudi Arabia. Foreign workers play an important role in the
country, making up a large portion of the labor force and the consumer base. However, due mainly to
a series of economic downturns, the government has pursued a policy of Saudi-ization to reduce its
reliance on expatriates in the workforce. For more information, see the Labor section of this article.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia, as well as its most populous city. An infusion of wealth from petroleum sales
beginning in the 1940s helped transform Riyadh into a major metropolitan center, with a modern infrastructure and
transportation system.
Riyadh, in the central Najd region, is Saudi Arabia’s capital and largest city, followed by Jiddah, in Al
Ḩijāz. Also located in Al Ḩijāz are the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. Muhammad, the
prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca and first gained a large following in Medina in the early 7th
century. Once a year, close to 2 million Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca, a religious duty known
as the hajj. Other major cities include the ports of Ad Dammām and Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf; Al
Hufūf, in the oasis of Al Hasa in eastern Saudi Arabia; and Aţ Ţā’if, close to Mecca.
A Ethnic Groups and Languages
The Arabian Peninsula is the heartland of the Arab people and the Arabic language. The vast majority
of Saudi residents are Arabs, and many claim descent from ancient Bedouin tribes native to the
peninsula. However, there is some regional diversity. For centuries, the hajj has attracted Muslims
from around the world to western Arabia. Those who settled permanently and intermarried with the
local population have given rise to a diverse Muslim population in Al Ḩijāz. Some Saudi communities
have African roots, a legacy of the days when slave trading was permitted in the region. The large
foreign-born population of the kingdom consists mainly of Arabs from countries such as Bahrain, Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. In addition, many people from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the
Philippines live and work in Saudi Arabia.
Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia and is used by most of the native population. English is
an important second language, used in government, commerce, the media, and among the non-Arab
expatriate community.
B Religion
Pilgrimage to the Kaaba

Muslims consider the Kaaba—a small sanctuary near the center of the Great Mosque in Mecca— to be the most
sacred spot on earth. Muslim legend teaches that the ancient religious patriarchs Abraham and Ishmael built the
shrine using foundations first laid by Adam. Muslims all over the world orient themselves toward the Kaaba while
praying, and every able Muslim is expected to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba at least once in his or her lifetime.
This picture shows pilgrimage ceremonies, which consist of several days of rituals and festivals during the Islamic
month of pilgrimages, Dhu al-Hijja.
Islam is the country’s official religion. An estimated 89 percent of Saudis are Sunni Muslims (see Sunni
Islam), and about 5 percent are Shia Muslims (see Shia Islam). The government employs the Sharia
(Islamic law) as a guiding principle of rule. Consequently, Islamic tenets not only govern spirituality
and religious practice, but also guide practices of law, business, taxation, and government.
The form of Islam supported by the government is socially and theologically conservative. While Saudis

and foreigners may behave as they wish behind closed doors, they must observe many strict religious
requirements while in public. These include conservative dress for men and women, segregation of the
sexes, mandatory daily prayers for Muslim men, and the closing of offices and businesses during the
five daily prayer times. A government agency called the Committee to Prevent Vice and Promote
Virtue sends out official enforcers called mutawwa’in to ensure observance of these rules. Punishments
for transgressions can be summary and harsh, including public flogging.
Saudi Arabia’s conservative form of Islam is strongly influenced by a puritanical Islamic movement
formed in the 18th century. This movement is often referred to by Westerners and other non-Saudis as
Wahhabism, after its founder, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (see Wahhabis). However, the
movement’s adherents have never referred to themselves as Wahhabis, and within Saudi Arabia,
Wahhabi is often used by non-Saudis or reform-minded Saudis in reproach to refer to conservative
Muslims. In modern-day Saudi Arabia, strong adherents of the movement may call themselves
muwahhidun (unitarians, from al-muwahhid, Arabic for “those who proclaim the unity of God”) or ahl
al-tawhid (people of unity). Less strident followers—a significant portion of the population, including
some members of the royal family—may simply say they are part of the harakat al-salafiyya, roughly
translated as “the movement following the ways of the Prophet.”
The country’s Shia Muslims are concentrated around the oases of Al Hasa and Al Qaţīf in eastern Saudi
Arabia. Strict muwahhidun do not recognize the Shias as true Muslims. Therefore, historically, Saudi
authorities have subjected them to discrimination and oppression, arousing resentment and opposition
to the regime among the Shias. Other religions are represented among the expatriate population.
However, the government does not allow public practice of non-Islamic religions and prohibits
missionary activity.
C Education
The Saudi government has built an education system that provides free schooling at all levels to a
large portion of the population. School is not compulsory, but 67 percent of primary school-age
children are enrolled in school (2002–2003), as well as 67 percent of secondary school-age children. A
dramatic increase in literacy over the last decades of the 20th century is one indicator of the success
of the government’s efforts. According to a 1970 estimate, Saudis had one of the lowest literacy rates
in the Middle East: 15 percent for men and 2 percent for women. In 2005, 86 percent of all men and 73
percent of all women were literate. The government operates most primary and secondary schools,
but also permits privately owned schools. The Saudi curriculum heavily emphasizes the study of Islam.
Saudi Arabia has several universities and teacher training colleges, and a large number of other higher
education institutions. Major universities include King Saud University (1957) and the Islamic University
of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud (1953), in Riyadh; the Islamic University at Medina (1961); King Faisal
University (1975), with colleges in both Ad Dammām and Al Hufūf King Abdul Aziz University (1967), in
Jiddah; King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (1963), in Ad Dammām; and Umm Al-Qura
University (1979), in Mecca. The government funds university and graduate education abroad, and
many Saudi students attend educational institutions in the United States and United Kingdom. This has
helped create an English-speaking technocratic elite, some of whom are advocates of political reform
and social liberalization.
The government extended public education to girls in 1960, despite opposition from some

conservative religious leaders. Female education, now widely popular, is helping to transform the
traditional role of women in Saudi society. Nonetheless, the education system is segregated by gender.
In the past, women who wished to attend college were largely limited to the study of education or
nursing (as these were the principal types of work deemed acceptable for women). However, economic
and social pressures have forced universities to broaden the range of educational opportunities for
women.
D Way of Life
Traditional Saudi Garb

Saudis in front of Musmak Fort in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wear traditional Saudi clothing. The men wear a white
cotton robe known as a thob and a colorful kerchief called a ghoutra on their heads. The women wear a black outer
robe called an abaya, and their heads are covered by black veils.
Jeremy Horner/Panos Pictures
As in other Middle Eastern societies, the family is the focal point of identity, loyalty, social status, and
economic prospects in Saudi Arabia. Households tend to be large; Saudi women bear 4 children on
average, according to 2006 statistics. The roles of men and women are sharply divided in many
respects, a reflection of conservative Islamic practice and local custom. Men are expected to lead the
household and provide for its financial well-being. Women are expected to marry, have children, and
raise them according to Islamic principles. Therefore, few Saudi women work outside the home. In
2004 women made up only 15 percent of the labor force, and most of these were expatriate workers.
Saudi women are not permitted to drive or to travel abroad without a male relative’s approval. Some
women and men have expressed opposition to these restrictions, and the government has on occasion
expressed a willingness to gradually provide more rights for women. However, opposition from
religious authorities, a lack of strong support from the ruling family, and the basic conservatism of
broad sectors of the Saudi population have made change very slow.
Influenced by the dictates of Islamic custom and the need for protection from a hot, dusty climate,
traditional Saudi clothing is designed to cover and conceal the body. Although there are regional
variations in the styles, colors, and materials used in traditional clothing, the customary garb of the
Najd region has come to predominate throughout Saudi Arabia as a result of government and social
pressure. Younger generations of Saudis, favoring blue jeans and baseball caps, are moving away from
wearing traditional garb.
Making Bread, Saudi Arabia

The scarcity of arable land and water reduce agricultural opportunities in Saudi Arabia, and the country must import
much of its food. Here, in the capital city of Riyadh, a man makes traditional bread.
Women traditionally use veils to cover their hair in public and a mask (called a burka or batula) to
cover their faces. At home, women usually wear a caftan (full-length, loose robe with long sleeves),
which may be ornamented with embroidery. When going outside the house, women add an outer
garment called an abaya, which is often made of dark, gauzy material that also can help cover the
head. For men, the most common garment is the thob, similar to the caftan in that it reaches the
ground and has long sleeves. It is typically made of white cotton, but men may wear thobs of dark
wool in the cooler months. Over the thob men may wear an aba or bisht, a coarser robe usually of
brown wool. Men also tend to cover their heads, first with a small skullcap, then with a large square
kerchief called a ghoutra. The ghoutra is often white but is also found in red or black checked patterns.
It is held in place with an igal, two intertwined black cords formed into rings.
A typical meal in Saudi Arabia could include mutton, chicken, or fish, with rice, bread, and vegetables.
Dates are a local delicacy. Coffee, tea, and fruit juices are the most popular beverages among all
segments of the population. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Food, especially sweets, takes on
special significance during the holy month of Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast (go without food or
drink) until the sun sets.
IV CULTURE
Bedouin society and Islam have shaped Saudi cultural expression. As in many parts of the Middle East,
Saudis view the nomadic Bedouin as the embodiment of core social and cultural values, including
honor, valor, chivalry, and hospitality. In pre-Islamic times called jahiliyya (Arabic for “time of
ignorance”), Bedouin poetry was one of the most developed and influential forms of cultural
expression on the Arabian Peninsula. Among these nomadic people, poetry was an oral tradition: Poets
recited or sang their works, and listeners memorized the poems and retold them to others. The
Bedouin poetical tradition influenced subsequent Arabian literature, and survives to the present day.
Islam developed in Arabia in the 7th century and soon came to influence nearly all aspects of Arabian
cultural life, including the arts, architecture, the Arabic language, and literature. Today, the kingdom’s
conservative religious authorities attempt to control cultural expression strictly, forbidding movie
theaters, and singing or dancing at religious observances.
A Literature
Poetry was the first form of Arabic literature to attain a high degree of refinement, and the poetry of
pre-Islamic Arabia is still admired and influential. The most notable type of poem was the qasida, an
ode that could have a number of often-complex rhyming patterns. These odes dealt with themes such
as love, beauty, courage in battle, and praise for noble leaders. The most influential poet of the pre-
Islamic period was Imru al-Qays. The Qur’an, revealed to Muhammad and recorded in Arabic, has had
a profound influence on Arabian literature and society. Not only a guide for living life according to
God’s will, the Qur’an is also considered by many to exemplify the perfect use of the Arabic language
and provide an ultimate literary model.
B Art and Architecture
A relatively poor region until the exploitation of oil began in the mid-20th century, Arabia’s artistic and
architectural heritage is small, particularly in comparison to centers of Islamic culture elsewhere in the
Middle East (see Islamic Art and Architecture). Because of Islamic prohibitions against idolatry (idol
worship), religious art has focused more on nonhuman subjects. Islamic artists in Arabia have explored
the artistic possibilities of geometric shapes and calligraphy (artistic writing) in pottery decoration,
mosaics, weavings, and illustrated manuscripts. Since the 19th century puritanical Muslims have been
responsible for the destruction of many historic structures, such as funerary monuments, associated
with figures from early Islam. They have viewed these structures as examples of idolatry or as
encouraging worship of saints, deviations from Islam considered unacceptable.
Few architectural artifacts survive from pre-oil times. Most buildings were made using local materials:
mud brick, stone, wood, trunks and fronds of palm trees, and plaster. Simple mud-brick structures of
one or two stories were the most common dwellings throughout the country. Nomads lived in tents
woven from sheep’s wool and goat hair. Since the mid-20th century, Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth has
enabled the construction of a number of significant buildings that have artistically married local styles,
materials, and influences with modern concepts of design. For example, the Hajj Terminal of King
Abdul Aziz Airport in Jiddah consists of numerous conical fabric structures reminiscent of the tents of
hajj pilgrims.
C Music and Dance
Traditional Bedouin song styles and melodies are enjoyed throughout Saudi Arabia. Saudi singers are
among the most popular in the Arab world, and their works fuel a vibrant recording industry. The
recordings of popular Saudi singers such as Mohammad Abdo and Abdul Majid Abdullah are commonly
played in many Arab countries. The Jenadriyyah, an annual two-week cultural festival held near
Riyadh, features performances of traditional music and dance from around the country, as well as
crafts such as weaving and woodworking.
D Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations
Oil revenues have funded the development of Saudi cultural institutions. The King Abdul-Aziz Historical
Center, which opened in Riyadh in 1999, contains facilities for research as well as the National
Museum, which houses exhibits depicting the history of Saudi Arabia, the rise of Islam, and the hajj.
Local museums are found in towns and cities across the country.
The King Fahd Library in Riyadh, one of the Middle East’s premier research facilities, has one of the
largest collections of rare manuscripts on Arabic and Islamic literature and arts. The King Abdul-Aziz
Public Library is another major library in Riyadh. Bookstores and libraries can be found in all major
Saudi cities. However, religious and political sensitivities govern what texts can be sold or read.
The Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, founded in 1972, sponsors Saudi artists and provides
sites to present their works. The society has also established a library, information center, and cultural
center in Riyadh. The King Faisal Foundation, founded in 1976, promotes Arab and Islamic culture
within the country and abroad. The Riyadh-based organization awards the annual King Faisal
International Prizes in the categories of service to Islam, Islamic studies, Arabic literature, medicine,
and science. These prizes are among the most prestigious in the Arab world.
V ECONOMY
Economy of Saudi Arabia
Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$) $251 billion (2004)

GDP per capita (U.S.$) $10,460 (2004)
Monetary unit 1 Saudi riyal (SR), consisting of 100 halalah
Number of workers 7,675,082 (2004)
Unemployment rate 5.2 percent (2002)
When the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 its economy was fragmented and small.
People in the Al Ḩijāz cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jiddah derived most of their income from the annual
influx of thousands of hajj pilgrims. Coastal settlements on the Red Sea relied on trade and fishing,
while those on the Persian Gulf grew dates and other produce. In the central Najd region, economic
activity revolved around trade between nomads—who raised camels, sheep, goats, and horses—and
settled groups, who grew crops and produced handicrafts. Principal Saudi exports were dates and
livestock, and imports included textiles, grains, other foodstuffs, and various manufactured products.
Oil revenue transformed the Saudi economy in the mid-20th century. In addition to bringing

tremendous personal wealth to the royal family and their merchant friends, oil money was eventually
channeled by government development programs into areas such as transportation, housing, health,
education, and defense.
A Labor
The Saudi government has used oil revenues to expand social services and build roads, schools,
telecommunications, and other infrastructural facilities. To carry out these improvements the
government hired large numbers of workers and professionals from abroad. Saudis occupy all middle-
and upper-level government-service positions, while nearly all clerical workers, laborers, and lower-
level service industry workers come from other countries. Professional and technical jobs are split
roughly evenly between Saudi citizens and expatriates. According to a 2004 World Bank estimate, the
Saudi labor force consisted of 7.7 million workers. In 2002 agriculture employed about 5 percent of the
labor force, industry about 21 percent, and services, 74 percent. Women made up only 15 percent of
the labor force in 2004, with Saudi women representing a tiny, but growing, portion of this percentage.
As the boom years of oil revenues came to an end in the 1980s, it became clear that the growing
foreign labor force was economically unsustainable. The Saudi government began making efforts to
reduce the country’s reliance on non-Saudi labor and to increase the number of Saudis in private
sector jobs, a policy referred to as Saudi-ization. During this period of Saudi-ization the government
cracked down on illegal immigrant labor, threatening to fine employers of illegal immigrants and
forcing about 100,000 illegal workers to leave the country. It also began encouraging the private
sector to reserve categories of occupations for Saudis and to hire Saudis for existing positions,
establishing quotas for employment of Saudis. Despite these efforts, by 2002 the expatriate labor force
had reached 5.4 million. Unions and collective bargaining are not permitted in Saudi Arabia.
B Oil, Natural Gas, and Mining

Oil Exploration in the Saudi Desert
A Saudi oil exploration team braves the desolate and vast desert of the Rub’ al Khali (or Empty Quarter). Oil was
first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938. One-quarter of the world’s petroleum reserves are believed to lie under the
country.
Anthony Howarth/Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc.
The oil industry is the most important sector of the Saudi economy. Saudi Arabia’s proven petroleum
reserves amount to one-fourth of the world total. The major oil fields are in the eastern part of the
country and offshore in the Persian Gulf. Because the country has relatively small internal demand for
oil, it exports most of its production. It is the largest exporter of petroleum in the world—in 2002 Saudi
Arabia exported about 6 million barrels per day—and has the power to influence world oil prices.
Commercial quantities of oil were discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938, but World War II (1939-1945)
delayed large-scale exports until the 1950s. Initial exploration and drilling were carried out by the
Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), the operating company of Standard Oil of California (Socal).
Several other U.S. oil companies acquired shares in Aramco in 1948. The Saudi government bought a
25 percent share of the company in 1973, then took complete control in 1980, after which the
company was called Saudi Aramco. Production rose steadily from about 1.3 million barrels per day in
1960 to 3.8 million barrels per day in 1970. The increased production coupled with rising oil prices,
especially in 1973 and 1974, brought huge revenues to the Saudi government. Another rapid increase
in revenues followed the Islamic Revolution of Iran (1978-1979), when Saudi Arabia increased
production to compensate for the drop in Iranian production, and prices rose due to the uncertain
market. Oil prices declined along with world demand for oil during the worldwide economic recession
of the early 1980s. In 2004 Saudi Arabia produced 8.8 million barrels of oil per day.
Saudi Arabia began producing natural gas liquids in 1962. In 1982 the first phase of the so-called
Master Gas System was put in place. This system was built to capture the natural gas that was
released as a by-product of oil production and distribute it to power petrochemical plants, steel
factories, and other manufacturing enterprises. By the late 1990s plans were put forward to exploit the
kingdom’s other gas fields. In June 2001 Saudi Arabia awarded concessions for the projects to several
foreign companies, marking the return of foreign companies for the first time since 1975. In 2003
Saudi Arabia produced 60 billion cu m (2.1 trillion cu ft) of natural gas.
The state-owned Saudi Arabian Mining Company controls Saudi Arabia’s significant nonpetrochemical

mineral resources. These other mineral products include limestone, gypsum, marble, clay, and salt. In
addition, smaller mining operations extract gold, silver, bauxite, copper, zinc, and iron ore.
C Services
About 74 percent of the Saudi labor force works in service industries such as education, health care,
transportation, communications, and commercial and financial services. The government employs
most of these workers. In addition to providing services for residents, the Saudi service sector is also
geared toward dealing with large numbers of travelers from abroad. These include the annual influx of
hajj pilgrims from around the world, as well as the guests and dependents of foreign workers. As a
result, there is a well-developed hospitality industry in Saudi Arabia, offering accommodations, food,
and transportation services. The Mecca-Medina region has accommodated some 2 million pilgrims
(including pilgrims from within the country) in recent hajj seasons. In 1996 Saudi Arabia constructed
several large coastal resorts and recreation facilities in an effort to promote internal tourism. Services
accounted for 37.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004.
D Manufacturing
Saudi Arabia’s initial manufacturing industries involved the refining and processing of crude oil and
natural gas. In recent decades, the Saudi government has sought to diversify its industrial sector,
recognizing that the country’s economy would be more stable and secure in the long term if its
reliance on oil were balanced by other forms of production. Consequently, the nation has developed its
nonoil manufacturing sector, producing goods for domestic and export markets. The state-owned
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), founded in 1976, has focused on building a petrochemical
industry and on steel production. In 1997 Sabic companies marketed 9.2 million tons of
petrochemicals, 2.85 million tons of steel, 2.8 million tons of plastics, 1.1 million tons of industrial
gases, and 140,000 tons of polyester products.
The government established the Saudi Industrial Development Fund in 1974 to provide loans to private
investors. To encourage private sector involvement further, in 1984 the government sold 30 percent of
Sabic’s holdings to private investors. As a result, Saudi Arabia now has a flourishing private industrial
sector, producing products such as cement, electrical equipment, synthetic rubber, plastics, processed
food, and soft drinks.
E Agriculture
Before the influx of oil money in the mid-20th century, agriculture was carried out in very few locations
in Saudi Arabia. The largest cultivated areas were in the eastern oases of Al Hasa and Al Qaţīf, and
these farms grew dates (in sufficient quantities for export), other fruits, vegetables, and grains. With
increased oil revenues, the Saudi government attempted to make Saudi Arabia more self-sufficient in
food production. At great expense, irrigation rapidly increased the amount of farmland available for
cultivating a wider variety of crops. While agricultural production temporarily rose, economic realities
eventually forced the government to cut back many farm subsidies.
Livestock products—mainly sheep, goats, and camels—have been important in the local economy for
centuries. Large poultry and beef and dairy cattle farm industries were established in the 20th century
to supply mainly domestic requirements. Nonetheless, domestic meat production has not kept pace
with demand, and the country imports a significant amount of meat.
F Fishing
Fishing was an important source of food along Saudi Arabia’s coasts before the oil era. However, other
food sources have supplanted fish due to the rapid rise of population and the contamination of Persian
Gulf fisheries (especially during the 1991 Persian Gulf War). Saudi fishers caught 57,385 metric tons of
fish in 2001.
G Energy
Saudi Arabia’s abundant supplies of oil and natural gas amply meet its energy requirements. In 2003
the country’s oil- or gas-burning power plants produced 145.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. The
government heavily subsidized utilities such as electricity until the 1990s, when tighter budgets led to
rate increases. In 2000 the country’s ten regional electric companies merged to form the Saudi
Electricity Company. The state-owned General Electricity Corporation funds the provision of electricity
to remote rural areas.
H Transportation and Communications
Historically, road networks have been centered in Al Ḩijāz, connecting the pilgrimage sites of Mecca
and Medina with the port of Jiddah. Since the dawn of the oil era, the rest of Saudi Arabia has benefited
from transportation developments. As of 2000 there were 152,044 km (94,476 mi) of roads in the
kingdom, and 30 percent were paved. Motor vehicle use is widespread, and buses and taxis travel the
country’s intercity highways. The region’s only railway line connects Riyadh with the Persian Gulf port
of Ad Dammām, by way of Al Hufūf. Major port facilities are located in Jiddah, Ad Dammām, and Al
Jubayl. Commercial airports are found across the country, and those in Jiddah, Dhahran, and Riyadh
are the busiest. The national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines, schedules regular domestic and
international flights.
Saudis have a variety of media options, including several television and radio stations, and numerous
newspapers and magazines. However, media outlets must conform to the vision of Islam held by the
religious authorities, and to the range of political views deemed acceptable by the government.
I Foreign Trade
Saudi Arabia’s exports—dominated by petroleum products—easily outweigh its imports of items such

as foods, machinery, vehicles, textiles, and raw materials including plastics, chemicals, and rubber. In
2002 Saudi Arabia exported commodities amounting to $63.7 billion, while imports amounted to only
$37 billion. The United States is the country’s largest trading partner, followed by Japan, the United
Kingdom, and Germany.
J Currency and Banking
Saudi Arabia probably has the most developed banking sector in the Middle East. The unit of currency
is the Saudi riyal (SR), consisting of 100 halalah (3.75 Saudi riyals equal U.S.$1; 2004 average). The
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency issues currency, stabilizes the exchange rate, administers monetary
reserves, and regulates the banking system. There are a number of private Saudi-owned banks and
banks with joint Saudi-foreign ownership.
VI GOVERNMENT
Government of Saudi Arabia
Form of Monarchy
government
Head of state King
Head of King
government
Legislature None:
90-member Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) was established by the king in 1992, but it has
no legislative authority
Voting Adult male citizens age 21 or older (for municipal council elections)
qualifications
Constitution None; governed according to Sharia (Islamic law). The Basic Law of Government was introduced
in 1992.
Highest court Supreme Council of Justice
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. Governmental and legal systems are based on the Sharia, the sacred law
of Islam, which is interpreted according to the strict Hanbali rite by the learned religious elders, or
ulama. Beginning in March 1992, the king issued several decrees that established new political
structures and promulgated procedures for government. Known as the Basic Law of Government, the
decrees defined Saudi Arabia as a sovereign Arab, Islamic state whose constitution is the Qur’an and
the Sunna (traditions) of the prophet Muhammad. The law also stipulated that the country would be
ruled by the male descendants of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the kingdom. The principles of
government were stated to be justice, equality, and consultation, in accordance with the Sharia. The
law also states that the duties of the state are to protect Islam, protect human rights, and provide
public services and security for all citizens according to the Sharia. It also called for an independent
judiciary and provided for the establishment of the Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura), to be chosen
every four years by the king.
A Executive and Legislature
The chief government and religious official of Saudi Arabia is the king. Various rules of succession have
been developed since the founding of the kingdom in 1932. In 1992 King Fahd decreed that the king
could designate or remove the crown prince. Furthermore, the crown prince would not automatically
rise to the throne upon the death of the king, but would serve only as provisional ruler until fully
confirmed by religious and government leaders. The king is advised by a cabinet of ministers and
usually also serves as prime minister. The royal family and a few other prominent families provide
most higher government officials. The king’s power is absolute in theory. In practice, however, it has
been modified by factors such as the king’s personal political skills (or lack thereof) and the actions of
members of the royal family, influential ulama, and others with close links to the royal family, including
major merchant families and tribal leaders.
Saudi Arabia has no separate legislature and no political parties. Laws are issued by the king and his
ministers. In 1992 Fahd called for the creation of a Consultative Council, whose members would be
selected by him. The council was officially inaugurated in 1993 with a membership of 60. The council’s
membership was increased to 90 in 1997, and to 120 in 2001. The council has no legislative powers,
but it has the right to summon and question ministers, and to offer recommendations to the king.
B Judiciary
The laws of Saudi Arabia are based on the Sharia, which is derived from the Qur’an and the Sunna. The
Ministry of Justice is charged with operating the country’s Sharia courts, and the minister of justice is
the country’s chief judge. The principal tribunals of the country are the Supreme Council of Justice, the
Court of Cassation, general courts, and summary courts. The Supreme Council of Justice supervises the
operation of the lower courts, reviews legal questions it receives from the minister of justice, and
expresses legal opinions. In addition, it reviews sentences imposed for serious crimes. In Saudi Arabia,
punishments for serious crimes can include amputation and death by beheading, hanging, or, in rare
cases, stoning. The Court of Cassation deals with questions regarding personal status and penal suits.
C Local Government
Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 provinces, or emirates. Each is headed by a governor, or emir, who is
appointed by the king. In 1993 a royal decree defined the provincial system of government, setting out
the rights and responsibilities of governors. It provided for the establishment of provincial councils
(composed of citizens and officials) that would meet quarterly and provide supervision and advice.
Governors have historically tended to be members of the royal family. In keeping with traditional
norms, their form of rule included holding a regular majlis (council or petitioning session) where
citizens would come in person and present their problems to the governor. Large cities elect their own
municipal governments. Towns and villages are governed by councils of elders.
D Defense
Since the mid-1960s Saudi Arabia’s defense expenditures have increased dramatically. The country

maintains two separate armies. The first is the national guard, or the white guard, which is a
conglomeration of traditional tribal armies and has about 77,000 active members. In 2004 the regular
armed forces included an army of 75,000 soldiers, an air force of 18,000, a navy of 15,500, and an air
defense force. These forces, trained in part with U.S. assistance, are equipped with modern weapons
and advanced aircraft.
E Political Expression
Despite the absence of political parties and other representative groups, Saudi officials contend that a
wide range of opinions and interests are heard because the government operates by consulting with a
broad segment of the population. However, not all segments of the population have access to these
consultations, and some of those who are consulted feel that the government ignores or downplays
their legitimate demands. As a result, several forms of political dissent have appeared.
First is the religious, or Islamist, opposition. The Saudi state arose in part as a result of an agreement
between the ruling family and the ulama, but the interests of the two groups frequently have been at
odds. Historically, the ruling Saudi family has found ways to keep high-ranking religious officials
compliant. During some periods, however, Saudi rulers have felt compelled to succumb to the
demands of the ulama. In addition, conservative Muslim critics outside the religious establishment
have used the rhetoric of Islam to voice their opposition to the government. Another group at odds
with the Saudi government has been the Shia population in the eastern part of the country. Pushed to
the margins of Saudi society, Shia groups in Saudi Arabia point to a long history of oppression and
neglect as part of their grievances. Both radical Islamists and Shia groups have at times expressed
their opposition through the use of violence. Western-educated technocrats and women have
attempted to pressure the government for change in nonviolent ways. Many of them feel constrained
by the restrictions and limitations imposed by the country’s adherence to conservative Islamic
practices, and they chafe at the slow pace of political, economic, and social reforms.
VII HISTORY
Fossil remains of elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and other large animals found in parts of the
Arabian Peninsula indicate that the climate could support much more vegetation between 11 million
and 4 million years ago than it can today. The region’s arid climate, however, seems to date back at
least 5,000 years. Prehistoric flint tools and rock drawings in various parts of the peninsula provide
evidence of scattered habitation by Stone Age peoples.
A Ancient Arabia
Frankincense Tree
The frankincense tree grows in arid regions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia).
The tree’s amber-colored resin, collected through an incision in the bark, is used for incense.
Dave G. Houser/Corbis
Arabia served as a crossroads between the major ancient civilizations that rose and fell nearby:
Babylonia, in what is now Iraq; the Nile Valley kingdoms of Ancient Egypt and Kush; and the early
states of Yemen. By 4000 BC an advanced trading culture known as Dilmun developed on the Persian
Gulf islands of Bahrain and the nearby Arabian coast. Dilmun provided an important stop on trade
routes linking Mesopotamia to Oman and the Indus Valley civilizations of South Asia. Dilmun reached
the height of its power in about 2000 BC. It was occupied by the Kassites of Mesopotamia in about
1600 BC, and declined in importance over the next 1,000 years.
The next major Arabian power to develop was the Minaean kingdom, which was well established by
1000 BC in ‘Asīr and southern Al Ḩijāz along the Red Sea coast. Its capital was at Karna, also spelled
Qarnah (present-day Şa‘dah, Yemen). The Minaeans were nomads and herders who came to dominate
the Al Ḩijāz trade in incense—substances that were burned to honor gods in many of the region’s pre-
Islamic religions. The Minaeans withdrew from their trading post at Dedān (now Al ‘Ulá, in northern Al
Ḩijāz) in the 1st century BC; afterward the Nabataeans founded a commercial center nearby at Madā’in
Şāliḩ. The buildings of Madā’in Şāliḩ are carved from rock in the same manner as those of the
Nabataean capital of Petra, in present-day Jordan. In the 6th century AD the Lakhmid dynasty of Hira,
centered in southern Iraq, began to replace the Minaeans as the regional power of central Arabia.
By the 6th century Mecca was already an important city. It was a major stop on the main trade route
between Yemen and the civilizations of the Mediterranean, and was also a pilgrimage destination for
many Arab peoples who practiced polytheism (worship of multiple gods).
B Coming of Islam
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in about 570 to a family belonging to a branch of
the Quraysh, the dominant tribe of Mecca. His first attempts to preach the oneness of God met with
only partial success, gaining him both followers and opponents in his home city. Muhammad had more
success with tribes in nearby Medina, and he moved there in 622. Muhammad’s emigration, known as
the Hegira (hijrah in Arabic) marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. In 630 he returned with his
followers and conquered Mecca.
After Muhammad’s death in 632, the Islamic community (ummah) was guided by caliphs (khalifah,
Arabic for “successor”), who succeeded Muhammad in his role as Islam’s political leader. The first four
caliphs ruled from Mecca and Medina, overseeing the rapid expansion of an Islamic empire through
conversion and military conquest (see Spread of Islam). By 650 an organized Islamic state ruled a
newly unified Arabian Peninsula as well as the entire Fertile Crescent (what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
and Israel) and Egypt. The Umayyad dynasty of caliphs moved the seat of the caliphate to Damascus
in 661. The political center of the great Islamic empire would remain outside the peninsula from this
point onward, pushing Arabia to the fringes of Islamic culture and power until modern times.
After 1269 most of Al Ḩijāz was ruled by the Egyptian Mamluks. The Ottoman Empire gained control of
Al Ḩijāz when it conquered Egypt in 1517. Neither the Mamluks nor the Ottomans extended their
authority into the central Arabian Najd region, which remained the domain of Bedouin tribal chiefs.
C Abd al-Wahhab and the Rise of the Saudis
In the mid-18th century the Muslim leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab attempted to gain religious
influence in Najd. Abd al-Wahhab aggressively propagated an Islamic doctrine that he felt was as pure
and true as the one preached originally by Muhammad. His view of Islam emphasized the oneness of
God and forbade practices such as the worship of saints and holy men. In 1744 Abd al-Wahhab found
an ally in Muhammad ibn Saud, the leader of the tiny settlement of Ad Dir‘īyah in the central Najd
region. Thanks to Abd al-Wahhab’s strident religious convictions and Muhammad ibn Saud’s political
and military prowess, a powerful movement was born. Adherents, who called themselves muwahhidun
(referred to as Wahhabis by outsiders), quickly spread far and wide. Villagers and nomads joined the
movement out of either conviction or fear—the muwahhidun spread their message using soldiers as
well as preachers.
In the first years of the 19th century, muwahhidun forces conquered the main cities and towns of Al
Ḩijāz, including Mecca and Medina. In these cities, Abd al-Wahhab’s representatives attempted to
destroy the tombs of Muhammad and the caliphs, believing such edifices encouraged idolatrous
worship. The forces then advanced northward, plundering the Shia holy city of Karbalā’ and disrupting
the major Ottoman trade routes in what is now Iraq and Syria. Faced with this growing threat, the
Ottomans sent a force from Egypt to invade Arabia. Warfare raged across the peninsula from 1811 to
1818, when Egyptian forces defeated the muwahhidun and razed Ad Dir‘īyah.
After the Egyptian armies withdrew in 1824, the remaining forces of the Saudi family regrouped in the
town of Riyadh, near Ad Dir‘īyah, and began reclaiming the Najd lands they had lost. Throughout most
of the 19th century the Saudis and their followers faced opposition from several quarters: rival
emirates ruled by the Rashidis of Ḩā’il, to the north; the sharifs (descendants of the Prophet), who
ruled parts of Al Ḩijāz; and an Ottoman presence in Al Hasa, in the east. The Rashidis grew more
powerful than the Saudis over the course of the second half of the 19th century. In 1891 the Rashidis
seized Riyadh, took control of Najd, and drove the Saudi family into exile in Kuwait.
At the dawn of the 20th century, young Abdul Aziz ibn Saud began a campaign of reconquest, starting
in 1902 with the recapture of Riyadh. From there, his forces captured the region of Al Aḩsā’ in 1913,
the Jebel Shammar in 1921, Mecca in 1924, Medina in 1925, and ‘Asīr in 1926. The core of Ibn Saud’s
military forces was made up of townsmen from Najd as well as a zealous force called the Ikhwan
(brotherhood). The Ikhwan, former Bedouins who had taken up Abd al-Wahhab’s cause, had a keen
thirst for plunder and fought with a blazing ferocity. Ibn Saud proclaimed himself king of Al Ḩijāz in
1926, and in 1932, after unifying the conquered territories, he renamed his vast realm Saudi Arabia.
D Ibn Saud’s Reign
King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud

Abdul Aziz ibn Saud proclaimed himself king of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
UPI/Corbis
Saudi Arabia faced daunting challenges in the first years of Ibn Saud’s reign: chronic lack of finances,
political fragmentation, a tenuous security situation, little administrative capability, and a primitive
economic base. Ibn Saud solidified his control by taking away the power and autonomy of Bedouin
tribes, promoting members of his immediate family to positions of power, and marrying women from
several different political constituencies to bring them into his family. Oil was discovered in eastern
Saudi Arabia in 1938, but World War II disrupted trade and limited revenues from oil through the
1940s. Nevertheless, the gradual increase in funds from the 1950s onward permitted the initial
development of the country’s infrastructure and basic social services (as well as lavish expenditures on
palaces and other luxuries for the royal family).
In foreign affairs, Ibn Saud strengthened relations with other states of the Middle East and adopted a
friendly policy toward the United States and the United Kingdom. A supporter of the Allied cause in
World War II (1939-1945), he permitted construction of a U.S. air base in Dhahran but remained
officially neutral until March 1945, when he declared war on Germany and Japan. In 1945 Saudi Arabia
joined the United Nations (UN) and the newly founded Arab League, an association with the goal of
promoting the interests of Arabic-speaking nations. Saudi Arabia opposed the creation of Israel but
took only a minor part in the league’s war against the Jewish state in 1948 and 1949. In December
1950 a new agreement with the Arabian-American Oil Company (Aramco) provided that 50 percent of
the company’s net earnings should be paid to Saudi Arabia. Under this new agreement, Saudi oil
revenues increased dramatically, and wealth poured into the kingdom’s coffers. In June 1951 Saudi
Arabia agreed to allow the United States to continue using the Dhahran air base in return for U.S.
technical aid and permission to purchase arms under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act.
E Turmoil at Home and Abroad
Faisal
Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz became king of Saudi Arabia in 1964 after forcing his brother from the throne. He established
himself as an absolute ruler by abolishing the office of premier. He was assassinated in 1975.
Archive Photos
The death of Ibn Saud in 1953 ushered in a period of serious internal political strife. Saud, the
designated crown prince, took the throne, but his authority was challenged by Faisal and Talal, two of
Ibn Saud’s other sons. During his reign, Saud was criticized for fiscal irresponsibility and for episodes of
labor unrest in the oil industry. Meanwhile, Faisal was largely responsible for the development of the
government’s bureaucracy. Also during Saud’s reign, the first generation of Saudi technocrats who had
been educated in the West returned to Saudi Arabia. They played an important part in the country’s
subsequent development.
In foreign affairs, Saud advocated Arab neutrality in the Cold War (ideological and geopolitical struggle
between Western and Communist nations) and opposed the Middle Eastern Treaty Organization
(METO), formed in 1955 by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. Representatives from
Saudi Arabia attended the Bandung Conference held by nonaligned nations—those nations not allied
with major world powers—in April 1955, in Bandung, Indonesia. In October 1955 Saudi Arabia signed a
mutual defense pact with Egypt. A joint Israeli, British, and French attack on Egypt followed Egypt’s
nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 (see Suez Crisis). Saudi Arabia then severed diplomatic
relations with the United Kingdom and France, and cut off oil supplies to their tankers.
King Saud visited the United States in 1957. Shortly afterward it was announced that the United States
would sell arms and supply other aid to Saudi Arabia in exchange for permission to use the Dhahran air
base for another five years. Financial mismanagement brought on a crisis in 1958 in which Saud was
forced to transfer legislative and executive powers, formerly included among his own absolute powers,
to his brother Crown Prince Faisal, the prime minister. Saud reserved for himself the right of veto. A
royal decree in 1958 established a cabinet system. Although Saud reclaimed control of the
government in 1960, a family council supported by the ulama declared Faisal king in 1964. The Saudi
government declined to renew the Dhahran lease in 1962, and U.S. requests for reestablishing military
presence there were repeatedly turned aside until 1990.
At a conference held in September 1960 in Baghdād, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and Kuwait
founded the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to coordinate their policies and help
sustain oil prices. A steady increase in oil revenues during Faisal’s reign permitted him to fund long-
delayed projects of economic and social development. These were implemented through five-year
plans, the first of which covered the period from 1970 to 1975. During this time, the government
poured money into the improvement of transportation, utilities, education, and health care.
Saudi relations with Egypt deteriorated during the 1960s. In 1962 a revolution in Yemen overthrew

Yemen’s imam. Saudi Arabia supported Yemen’s deposed leader in his efforts to regain his throne,
while Egypt gave military support to Yemen’s new republican government.
F Arab-Israeli Conflicts
In 1967, as the Arab-Israeli conflict intensified prior to the Six-Day War, King Faisal expressed full
support for Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and dispatched 20,000 troops to Jordan to face
Israeli forces. In June all Saudi oil exports to Britain and the United States were suspended, but
diplomatic ties were not broken; oil trade was resumed after the Arab defeat. An Arab summit
conference later in the year resulted in Egyptian withdrawal from Yemen, and the Saudis extended
large-scale aid to Egypt to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the closing of the Suez Canal
during the war. King Faisal continued to call for pan-Islamic action against Israel and, under internal
pressures, criticized alleged United States involvement on Israel’s side. He remained unwilling,
however, to articulate a militant anti-Western position, and in 1971 Saudi Arabia and five other Persian
Gulf states concluded a five-year pact with 23 Western oil companies, including 17 U.S. firms. In July
1970 Saudi Arabia formally recognized the republican government of Yemen after seven years of
intermittent border fighting.
Saudi Arabia sent a small number of troops and weapons (notably aircraft) to aid the Arab states in the
Arab-Israeli War of 1973. In the aftermath of this conflict, the government played a leading role in
organizing a short-term oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel and in quadrupling the
international price of petroleum. The latter development, along with Saudi Arabia’s 1974 takeover of
controlling interest in the huge oil company Aramco, greatly increased government revenue, thus
providing funds for another massive economic development plan.
G Financial Strength and Military Preparedness
King Fahd
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy with no separate legislature or political parties. Fahd ibn Abdul Aziz (seated in the
foreground) became king of Saudi Arabia in 1982 and remained king until his death in 2005.
Jane Lewis/Tony Stone Images
In March 1975 King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew and was succeeded by his half brother Prince
Khalid ibn Abdul Aziz. Khalid, however, was in poor health and his half brother, Crown Prince Fahd,
became the power behind the throne. The country remained conservative, and its influence kept OPEC
from raising its prices to the extent most member countries wanted. In 1980 it was announced that the
Saudi government had taken full control of Aramco’s assets retroactively from January 1976. Much of
the petroleum money that poured into the country was reinvested in the West or spent on arms, but
domestic inflation and a barely manageable pace of development presented ongoing problems.
Saudi Arabia took a dim view of the conciliatory overtures by Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat to

Israel in 1977, and after the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979, Saudi Arabia
cut off financial aid to Egypt and severed diplomatic relations. The Islamic revolution in Iran that year
and the subsequent seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by some 250 armed Islamists jolted the
Saudi government, heightening awareness of its vulnerability to external and internal threats. The
kingdom joined five other Arab Gulf states in 1981 to establish the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
which focused on economic and collective security measures. Shared concerns about regional stability
helped warm relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States. In 1981 the United States agreed
to sell several Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes to the Saudis, an arrangement
that provoked heavy opposition from Israel, which feared an upset of the military balance in the Middle
East.
King Khalid died in June 1982 and was succeeded by Fahd. As king, Fahd sought to maintain Saudi
Arabia’s traditional Islamic values, while continuing the process of rapid modernization made possible
by the nation’s abundant oil resources. In 1986 he assumed the religious title “Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques” in an effort to safeguard the Western-friendly Saudi regime from opposition by Islamic
militants. Nevertheless, King Fahd faced difficulties within and beyond his country. In July 1987 at least
400 people were killed in Mecca when Iranian Shia pilgrims clashed with Saudi police. Relations
between Iran and Saudi Arabia became increasingly hostile. Iran expressed its displeasure at Saudi
restrictions on Iranian pilgrims by boycotting the hajj for several years. Relations between the
countries began to thaw gradually in the 1990s.
H Persian Gulf War and Developments in the 1990s
Persian Gulf War

United States Marines fire at Iraqi positions in January 1991, near the town of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, at the border
between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraqi forces temporarily occupied Khafji at the outset of the Persian Gulf War; the
forces of the opposing multinational coalition, led by U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf, heavily bombarded the
Iraqi infantry and recaptured the town. The Persian Gulf War began on January 16, 1991, after the Iraqi military,
under the command of the country’s political leader, Saddam Hussein, refused to comply with the United Nations
deadline to withdraw from Kuwait. The coalition forces quickly established air and ground superiority, prompting a
truce on March 3, 1991, and a permanent cease-fire on April 6.
REUTERS/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE
Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait in August 1990 had significant military, political, and economic consequences
for Saudi Arabia. Despite opposition from some religious leaders and their followers, the Saudi
government provided for temporary deployment on its own territory of hundreds of thousands of U.S.
and allied troops. It also contributed forces to the multinational coalition that fought Iraq in the Persian
Gulf War in early 1991. In order to allay some of the domestic opposition to non-Muslim forces
stationed in Islam’s holy land, the Saudi government emphasized that several other Islamic countries
had also sent forces to fight Iraq. Through the late 1990s Saudi Arabia allowed some U.S. forces to
remain in the country, mainly to enforce so-called no-fly zones over southern Iraq. Religious opposition
groups viewed the continued U.S. presence as a major point of contention with the government.
After the Persian Gulf War, Saudi Arabia increased its oil output to compensate for the loss of
petroleum supplies from Iraq and Kuwait. Economic problems became evident, however, in 1993. The
United States had insisted that Saudi Arabia pay for the costs of U.S. military protection during the
war, costing the country $51 billion. Meanwhile, the Saudi economy was feeling the effects of a budget
operating under deficit since 1983. War payments and declining oil prices forced the Saudi
government to cut social and defense spending and take out loans from international banks. Despite
these problems, in 1994 Saudi Arabia helped defeat a campaign by Iran and other OPEC member
countries to lower OPEC’s overall production ceiling so that limited supply would prompt a rise in
prices. As oil prices continued to fall in the late 1990s, Saudi Arabia reversed its position and led an
initiative for OPEC to reduce production in order to raise the price of oil. In March 1999 OPEC, along
with four independent oil-producing nations, approved a yearlong production cutback. Saudi Arabia
committed to the largest cutback, reducing production by 7 percent.
Political reforms decreed by King Fahd in 1992 established a consultative council to serve in an

advisory capacity, provided for a bill of rights, and changed the rules of succession. The Consultative
Council (Majlis al-Shura) was convened for the first time in December 1993. Social reforms were less
evident, however. Saudi men and women still were not permitted to attend public events together, and
workplaces remained segregated. Government officials in the United States voiced continuing concern
about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, particularly the abuse of prisoners by guards and police.
King Abdullah
King Abdullah became the ruler of Saudi Arabia in August 2005 following the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. As
crown prince Abdullah had been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia ever since Fahd was severely weakened by a
stroke in late 1995.
Santiago Lyon/AP/Wide World Photos
King Fahd remained an active sponsor of Islamic causes worldwide in his second decade as Saudi
leader. In 1992 he conducted an extensive campaign to end the bloodshed in the former Yugoslav
republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same year, Fahd’s government established diplomatic links
with the Muslim republics formerly included in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In 1994 Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasir Arafat visited
Riyadh to discuss with King Fahd the prospects for peace in the Middle East. The meeting represented
a significant rapprochement between the two leaders, whose relations had been strained since the
Persian Gulf War.
In 1995 the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to negotiate a settlement to a long-

standing dispute over their shared border; the agreement followed several months of small-scale
fighting in the border region. Five years later, in 2000, the two countries finally announced an
agreement settling the border dispute. Meanwhile, in 1998 Saudi Arabia began production in an oil
field lying in the disputed region of its border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia failed
to meet the UAE’s demand for a share of the oil and gas produced from the field. In 1999 the UAE
protested by boycotting an oil ministers’ meeting in Saudi Arabia that was to formally inaugurate the
field.
Meanwhile, after suffering a stroke in November 1995, Fahd gave control of the country to his half-
brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, in January 1996. Fahd reclaimed his authority the following month, but
actual power continued to shift to the crown prince because of the king’s overall poor health.
I Islamist Opposition and Reform
Expressions of opposition to government policies and to the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia continued
through the 1990s and beyond, creating tension in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. The Saudi government
clamped down on Islamist militants but at the same time was forced to make some concessions to
their demands. Islamist opposition stemmed from government-appointed religious leaders and from
Islamic groups or individuals inside and outside the kingdom. In September 1994 the government
arrested a large number of people—some of whom were religious officials or academics—for
demonstrating against the arrest of two conservative clerics. In October the government created the
Higher Council for Islamic Affairs, headed by a member of the ruling family, as part of an effort to
dampen radicalism among the ulama. Later, the government removed several university chancellors
and members of the Council of Ulama, replacing them with people deemed more moderate.
In November 1995 a car bomb killed seven people (including five Americans) at the offices of the Saudi
National Guard in Riyadh. In June 1996 terrorists set off a bomb attached to a petroleum tanker truck
at a housing center for U.S. military personnel in Al Khubar (Al Khobar), near Dhahran. The attack killed
19 U.S. servicemen and wounded more than 300 people (including many Saudis and Bangladeshis, as
well as Americans). Severe shortcomings in the Saudi law enforcement and criminal justice systems
came to light in the wake of these two episodes. United States officials expressed frustration with the
quality of the investigations, the lack of cooperation with their Saudi counterparts, and the Saudis’ use
of torture to extract confessions.
One of the most visible and strident opponents of the Saudi government was Osama bin Laden, the
son of a wealthy Saudi businessman. Exiled from Saudi Arabia in 1992 (and stripped of his Saudi
citizenship in 1994), bin Laden promoted violent opposition to the Saudi regime and to the U.S. military
presence in Saudi Arabia. The aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001
further complicated Saudi-U.S. relations. Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the attack, 15 were Saudi
citizens, and all were connected to bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. While Crown Prince Abdullah quickly
and firmly condemned the attacks, he refused to allow the United States to use facilities in the
kingdom in its subsequent war on terrorism. In 2002 the United States began transferring many
military facilities from Saudi Arabia to the neighboring country of Qatar.
Anthony B. Toth contributed the Population, Culture, and Economy sections of this article.
Reviewed By:
Anthony B. Toth
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Arabia
I INTRODUCTION
Arabia, great desert peninsula in extreme southwestern Asia, bounded on the north by Jordan and Iraq,
on the east by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the south by the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of
Aden, and on the west by the Red Sea. With an area of about 3 million sq km (about 1.2 million sq mi)
and a population (2000 estimate) of about 48 million, Arabia is one of the most sparsely inhabited
areas of the world. It comprises the independent states of Saudi Arabia (which occupies nearly three-
quarters of the peninsula), Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and the island state of
Bahrain.
II LAND AND RESOURCES

The peninsula is essentially a vast plateau, rimmed on the west and south by mountains and sloping
gently east to the Persian Gulf. It contains some of the largest sandy desert areas in the world, notably
the Rub‘ al Khali (Empty Quarter) in the south and An Nafūd in the north. The climate is extremely arid,
few places receiving more than 178 mm (7 in) of rain a year, and no permanent streams exist.
Summer temperatures reach as high as 54.4° C (130° F) in some areas. Various minerals, including
gold, silver, sulfur, and salt, are produced. The region, however, owes its modern economic life to the
vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas, found largely in the area around the Persian Gulf. Major
cities include Riyadh, Mecca, Aden, Jiddah, Sana‘a (Sanaa), Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait.
III HISTORY
Until comparatively recent times knowledge of Arabia was limited to that provided by ancient Greek
and Roman writers and by a few Arab geographers; a large part of this material was unreliable. In the
20th century, however, archaeological exploration has added considerably to the knowledge of the
area.
The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighboring areas.
About 3500 BC, Semitic-speaking peoples of Arabian origin migrated into the valley of the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, supplanted the Sumerians, and became the Assyro-Babylonians.
Another group of Semites left Arabia about 2500 BC and settled along the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea; some of these migrants became the Amorites and Canaanites of later times.
A Ancient Kingdoms
The better watered, higher portions of southwest Arabia supported three early kingdoms. The first, the
Minaean, was centered in the interior of what is now Yemen, but probably embraced most of southern
Arabia. Although dating is difficult, it is generally believed that the Minaean kingdom existed from
1200 to 650 BC. The second kingdom, the Sabaean (see Saba’), was founded about 930 BC and lasted
until about 115BC; it probably supplanted the Minaean kingdom and occupied substantially the same
territory. The Sabaean capital and chief city, Ma‘rib, probably flourished as did no other city of ancient
Arabia, partly because it was a focal point of caravan routes between seaports of the Mediterranean
and the frankincense-growing region of the Hadhramaut and partly because a large nearby dam
provided water for irrigation. The Sabaean Kingdom was widely referred to as Saba’, and it has been
suggested that the queen of Sheba mentioned in the Bible, who visited King Solomon of Israel in
Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, was Sabaean. The Himyarites followed the Sabaeans as the leaders
in southern Arabia; the Himyarite Kingdom lasted from about 115 BC to about AD525. In 24 BC the
Roman emperor Augustus sent the prefect of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, against the Himyarites, but his army
of 10,000, which was unsuccessful, returned to Egypt. The Himyarites prospered in the frankincense,
myrrh, and spice trade until the Romans began to open the sea routes through the Red Sea.
B From Nabataeans to Persians

Several states are known to have existed in northern Arabia in the pre-Christian and early Christian
era. Earliest among these was the Nabataean Kingdom, which for a brief period (about 9 BC to AD40)
extended as far north as Damascus, in present-day Syria. The ruins of Petra, the Nabataean capital
city, attest to a high degree of culture. The Nabataean form of writing developed into the Arabic script
used in the Qur'an (Koran), the holy book of Islam. Rome gained control of the Nabataean Kingdom in
AD 106 and established most of it as the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, which lasted little longer
than a century. Other north Arabian states were established by other invading peoples.
In the 4th century the Abyssinians, who had adopted Christianity of the Monophysite type (see
Monophysitism), spread into Arabia, conquering a large part of it. Judaism, too, was introduced into the
region. Both religions were established and to a considerable degree supplanted the existing religious
beliefs, which were based mainly on astrology and occultism. Late in the following century, Persia,
under the Sassanid kings, assumed control of a substantial part of Arabia, particularly of the region
occupied by present-day Yemen.
C Islam and the Caliphate
The rise of Islam was the most significant event in the history of Arabia. Muhammad was born in Mecca
about 570 and died in Medina in 632. Mecca became the spiritual center of the new religion. From 632
to 661 Medina was the political center of a united Muslim state under the caliphs (vice regents) who
followed Muhammad. Arabian armies conquered Syria, Egypt, and Sassanid Persia. After Egypt fell in
642, the tide of Muslim conquest swept west over the whole of northern Africa and then over the
Spanish Peninsula. Upon the removal of the caliphate to Damascus in 658, Arabia became less
important. The shift of the center of Islam to Baghdād in 751 resulted in a further decline.
From the 8th to the early 10th century Arabia was merely a province under the Abbasid caliphs of
Baghdād. Then the rule of Baghdād was successfully contested by the Qarmatians, a new Muslim sect,
who controlled all of Arabia for a time during the 10th century. Toward the end of the 10th century the
Qarmatians lost their power to various Bedouin tribes, and Arabia, again completely disunited, was
divided among numerous petty governments. From 1075 to 1094, however, Arabia acknowledged the
spiritual leadership of the Abbasid caliph at Baghdād. In 1258 the Mongols conquered Baghdād, and
from that time on Baghdād had no influence over Arabia. In 1269 Mecca and Al Ḩijāz (the Hejaz) region
came under the control of emirs (Muslim princes) from Egypt. When the Ottomans conquered Egypt in
1517, they took control of Al Ḩijāz and thereafter exerted considerable power in the rest of Arabia.
D The Wahhabis
The history of Arabia from about 1750 to the present time is to a great extent the history of the
Wahhabis. Under the founder of this religious sect, the stern reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab,
not only was a great religious revival initiated in Arabia, but Arabian national spirit was aroused
against Ottoman domination. The Wahhabis took Mecca from the Ottomans in 1802 and Medina in
1804. In this period the Wahhabi empire extended to the boundaries of modern Yemen and Oman.
Under the leadership of the viceroy of Egypt, however, the Ottomans regained the two cities in 1812.
The conflict between the Ottomans and the Wahhabis endured until the end of World War I in 1918; in
the last quarter of the 19th century there was also considerable warfare between various Wahhabi
factions. By 1906 the Wahhabis had come under the leadership of the resourceful and intelligent Abdul
Aziz ibn Saud, sultan of Najd, and under his direction the Wahhabi state expanded greatly. In World
War I Ibn Saud cooperated with Great Britain in fighting the Ottoman Empire. Final Ottoman defeat
resulted in its expulsion from Al Ḩijāz, ‘Asīr, and Yemen. Six years of civil war followed between
adherents of Ibn Saud and followers of various other Arabian princes and chieftains. In 1924 and 1925,
Ibn Saud conquered Al Ḩijāz, becoming its king in 1926. In 1927 he proclaimed himself king of Al Ḩijāz
and of Najd and its dependencies, and in 1932 he gave his two dominions the name of Saudi Arabia.
His annexation of the principality of ‘Asīr to Al Ḩijāz in 1933 caused a war (March to May 1934)
between Ibn Saud and the imam of Yemen. The treaty signed by the two countries on May 20, 1934,
provided that ‘Asīr and the inland region of Najrān were to remain within Saudi Arabia.
For the subsequent history of Arabia and of its various political divisions and for other information on
these states, see Bahrain; Kuwait; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen, Republic
of.
Arabs
I INTRODUCTION
Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, holds the holiest shrine of Islam, the Kaaba. As the birthplace of
Islam’s founder, the Prophet Muhammad, Mecca is considered a holy city. It is a pilgrimage point for Muslims
worldwide, who are expected to visit the city at least once if they are able to do so.
Arabs, name given to the ancient and present-day inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and often

applied to the peoples closely allied to them in ancestry, language, religion, and culture. Presently
more than 200 million Arabs are living mainly in 21 countries; they constitute the overwhelming
majority of the population in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and the nations
of North Africa. The Arabic language is the main symbol of cultural unity among these people, but the
religion of Islam provides another common bond for the majority of Arabs. Language and religion are
united in the Qur'an (Koran), the sacred scripture of Islam.
II HISTORY
Arched Doorway, Zanzibar

Elaborately carved doorways adorning the facades of houses in the East African city of Zanzibar evidence the
influence of Arab cultures in the region. The rise of an Omani commercial empire during the 1800s established
Zanzibar’s importance in East Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Stephanie Colasanti/Corbis
Arabia was the site of a flourishing civilization long before the Christian era (see Arabia: Ancient
Kingdoms). In the centuries following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in AD632, Arab influence
spread throughout the Middle East, to parts of Europe, particularly Sicily and Spain, to sub-Saharan
Africa, to the subcontinent of India, and to Madagascar and the Malay Archipelago. The cultural and
scientific contributions of the Arabs to Western civilization during the Middle Ages was highly
significant, especially in astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy.
III MODERN ARABS
During the past two centuries of rapid world change, hundreds of years of cultural unity have been
disrupted, and the Arabs, led by the people of Egypt and Morocco, have moved more and more into
separate national traditions. In some countries, such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, minority
communities of Arabs retain only language, religion, and histories of their migrations to their present
locations.
A Religion
Sunni Muslim
A Sunni Muslim prays outside the entrance of his home in Quetta, in northwestern Pakistan. About 97 percent of the
people in the country are Muslims, of which about 80 percent are Sunni Muslims.
Arvind Garg
The Islamic religion, which originated in the western Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century,
predominates in most Arab nations. Forms of both major divisions of Islam—the Sunni and the various
Shia sects—can be found in the Arab countries. Almost everywhere, nationalism, which emerged in the
late 19th century, is an important force. Nationalists sometimes use the Islamic religious tradition as
an ideological tool to justify the power of the ruling class.
B Urbanization
Poverty in the Arab World

Religion, language, and geography have served as unifying forces among Arabic peoples throughout their long
history. Today, however, they live in at least 22 different countries. Geographic disunity has gradually diminished
the unique Arabic cultural association. Nationalism and economic disparity among the various Arab nations plague
their relations. The wealth of Saudi Arabia, based on the vast oil reserves discovered there, contrasts conspicuously
with the poverty found elsewhere in the Arab world, as shown in this photograph of a poor neighborhood.
Tordai/Hutchison Library
Dozens of large cities and hundreds of towns reflect the pronounced urban character of the Arab
world; in most of the countries about 40 percent of the people are urban dwellers. All Arab nations
suffer from conspicuous economic inequalities, especially the concentration of wealth and power in a
ruling elite. Most are also undergoing severe urbanization stresses as the failing rural economies drive
poverty-stricken, landless peasants to the cities. The growth of modern cities through rural migration
has caused serious problems in these urban centers, including unemployment, housing shortages, and
the proliferation of vast slums.
C Rural Populations
Most Arab countries have substantial agricultural, village-based populations. In the villages, the land,

the family, and religion are still the main influences on attitudes and behavior. The traditional
prosperous village cultures were altered and largely destroyed throughout the region during the late
18th and 19th centuries by European penetration and colonization. In most countries today, peasant
farming on a subsistence level is pervasive.
D Nomadic Arabs
Until the mid-19th century, vast semidesert areas in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula were
exploited by nomadic tribes. The camel-breeding Bedouins were well known as warriors and controllers
of the caravan routes. Other pastoral tribes specialized in sheep and goat husbandry. In present-day
Sudan, Somalia, and Djibouti, pastoral economies operating on subsistence levels remain the only
means of survival for many poverty-stricken Arab groups.
See also Arabic Language; Arabic Literature; Caliphate; Islam; Islamic Art and Architecture.
Saudi Arabia Facts and Figures

BASIC FACTS
Official name Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Capital Riyadh
Area 2,240,000 sq km
864,900 sq mi
PEOPLE
Population 27,019,731 (2006 estimate)
Population growth
Population growth rate 2.18 percent (2006 estimate)
Projected population in 2025 35,668,686 (2006 estimate)
Projected population in 2050 49,706,851 (2006 estimate)
Population density 13 persons per sq km (2006 estimate)
33 persons per sq mi (2006 estimate)
Urban/rural distribution
Share urban 87 percent (2003 estimate)
Share rural 13 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest cities, with population
Riyadh 3,180,000 (1999 estimate)
Jiddah 1,490,000 (1995 estimate)
Mecca (Makkah) 770,000 (1995 estimate)
Medina 608,300 (1992)
Ethnic groups
Arab (including Yemeni) 95 percent
Other 5 percent
Languages
Arabic (official), English (for business)
Religious affiliations
Muslim (official, mostly Sunni Muslim) 94 percent
Christian 3 percent
Hindu 1 percent
Other 2 percent
HEALTH AND EDUCATION

Life expectancy
Total 75.7 years (2006 estimate)
Female 77.8 years (2006 estimate)
Male 73.7 years (2006 estimate)
Infant mortality rate 13 deaths per 1,000 live births (2006 estimate)
Population per physician 716 people (2004)
Population per hospital bed 455 people (2001)
Literacy rate
Total 80.5 percent (2005 estimate)
Female 73.3 percent (2005 estimate)
Male 85.9 percent (2005 estimate)
Education expenditure as a share of 9.3 percent (1999-2000)
gross national product (GNP)
Number of years of compulsory 6 years (2002-2003)
schooling
Number of students per teacher, 12 students per teacher (2002-2003)
primary school
GOVERNMENT
Form of government Monarchy
Head of state King
Head of government King
Legislature None
90-member Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) was
established by the king in 1992, but it has no legislative
authority
Voting qualifications Adult male citizens age 21 or older (for municipal council
elections)
Constitution None; governed according to Sharia (Islamic law). The Basic
Law of Government was introduced in 1992.
Highest court Supreme Council of Justice
Armed forces Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard
Total number of military personnel 199,500 (2004)
Military expenditures as a share of gross 8.9 percent (2003)
domestic product (GDP)
First-level political divisions 13 regions
ECONOMY
Gross domestic product (GDP, in U.S.$) $250.6 billion (2004)
GDP per capita (U.S.$) $10,460 (2004)
GDP by economic sector
Agriculture, forestry, fishing 4 percent (2004)
Industry 58.9 percent (2004)
Services 37.2 percent (2004)
Employment
Number of workers 7,675,082 (2004)
Workforce share of economic sector
Agriculture, forestry, fishing 5 percent (2002)
Industry 21 percent (2002)
Services 74 percent (2002)
Unemployment rate 5.2 percent (2002)
National budget (U.S.$)
Total revenue Not available
Total expenditure Not available
Monetary unit
1 Saudi riyal (SR), consisting of 100 halalah
Agriculture
Wheat, dates, tomatoes, watermelons, barley, sorghum, onions, grapes, citrus fruit; dairy products, poultry
Mining
Petroleum, natural gas, limestone, gypsum, marble, clay, salt, gold
Manufacturing
Refined petroleum, petrochemicals, plastics, processed food, clothing, fertilizer, cement
Major exports
Crude and refined petroleum, petrochemicals
Major imports
Transportation equipment, machinery, basic metals, textiles, chemicals, and chemical products, food
products, animals and animal products
Major trade partners for exports
United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan
Major trade partners for imports
United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy
ENERGY, COMMUNICATIONS, AND TRANSPORTATION

Electricity production
Electricity from thermal sources 100 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from hydroelectric sources 0 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from nuclear sources 0 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from geothermal, solar, and wind 0 percent (2003 estimate)
sources
Number of radios per 1,000 people 321 (1997)
Number of telephones per 1,000 people 154 (2004)
Number of televisions per 1,000 people 256 (2000 estimate)
Number of Internet hosts per 10,000 7 (2003)
people
Daily newspaper circulation per 1,000 59 (1996)
people
Number of motor vehicles per 1,000 151 (1997)
people
Paved road as a share of total roads 30 percent (2000)
SOURCES
Basic Facts and People sections
Area data are from the statistical bureaus of individual countries. Population, population growth rate, and
population projections are from the United States Census Bureau, International Programs Center,
International Data Base (IDB) (www.census.gov). Urban and rural population data are from the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), FAOSTAT database (www.fao.org). Largest cities
population data and political divisions data are from the statistical bureaus of individual countries. Ethnic
divisions and religion data are largely from the latest Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook and
from various country censuses and reports. Language data are largely from the Ethnologue, Languages of
the World, Summer Institute of Linguistics International (www.sil.org).
Health and Education section
Life expectancy and infant mortality data are from the United States Census Bureau, International Programs
Center, International database (IDB) (www.census.gov). Population per physician and population per hospital
bed data are from the World Health Organization (WHO) (www.who.int). Education data are from the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) database (www.unesco.org).
Government section
Government, independence, legislature, constitution, highest court, and voting qualifications data are largely
from various government Web sites, the latest Europa World Yearbook, and the latest Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) World Factbook. The armed forces data is from Military Balance.
Economy section
Gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, GDP by economic sectors, employment, and national budget
data are from the World Bank database (www.worldbank.org). Monetary unit, agriculture, mining,
manufacturing, exports, imports, and major trade partner information is from the statistical bureaus of
individual countries, latest Europa World Yearbook, and various United Nations and International Monetary
Fund (IMF) publications.
Energy, Communication, and Transportation section
Electricity information is from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) database (www.eia.doe.gov).
Radio, telephone, television, and newspaper information is from the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) database (www.unesco.org). Internet hosts, motor vehicles, and road
data are from the World Bank database (www.worldbank.org).
Note
Figures may not total 100 percent due to rounding.
Customs of Saudi Arabia

“Custom, then, is the great guide of human life,” wrote Scottish philosopher David Hume. Knowing the
customs of a country is, in effect, a guide to understanding the soul of that country and its people. The
following Sidebar is intended to provide a glimpse into the unique world of this nation’s customs: how
people marry, how families celebrate holidays and other occasions, what people eat, and how they
socialize and have fun.
Marriage and Family
Marriages are usually arranged, but a growing minority of young men and women in urban areas
are being allowed to choose their partners. A traditional Saudi Arabian wedding is a Muslim
ceremony involving the signing of a marriage contract negotiated by the families of the bride and
groom. Traditionally, men pay a dowry to their brides, who use a portion of it to set up their new
household. The wedding ceremony is followed by separate celebrations for the men and the
women. Although Muslim law allows a man to have up to four wives, most Saudi men have only
one wife. To have another wife, a man must receive the consent of his wife or wives and must
provide equally for each. Infidelity is considered a crime and is punished severely.
Although the Saudi Arabian family is traditionally a strong, male-dominated unit, women
exercise considerable influence in the home. Most families live as extended families, but nuclear
families are common in urban areas. Even so, sons and their families usually live in a
neighborhood close to their fathers’ homes.
The Qur’an holds that women are equal to men but may have different responsibilities. The
separation of males and females is a way of life in Saudi Arabia, reinforced by the country's
conservative interpretation of Islam. Rules governing the actions of women are based on Saudi
Arabian law and custom and are designed to respect and protect a woman’s modesty and honor.
Men and women have separate workplaces. Female doctors treat women and children; if they
treat men, the doctors are veiled. Women and men cannot socialize together in public, and
women must be accompanied by a male relative in public. A religious police force ensures that
people adhere strictly to Islamic laws and dress codes in public. Women are not allowed to
interact with men outside their family and are forbidden to drive cars or ride bicycles. These laws
also apply to foreigners.
Eating
Saudi dishes are composed mainly of rice with lamb or chicken and are mildly spicy. Kabsah,
which is rice and lamb, is a favorite dish throughout the country. Rice is also often served with
vegetables and a green salad. Fruit is frequently eaten for dessert, accompanied by Saudi coffee,
which is brewed with cardamom. Seafood is popular on the coast, and there are many varieties of
fish. Coffee or tea is served before all meals. Buttermilk is also a popular beverage. Observant
Muslims do not eat pork or drink alcohol, and these products are illegal in Saudi Arabia.
In general, food is eaten with the fingers of the right hand only. Bread may be torn with the left
hand but is eaten with the right. Hotel restaurants offer a variety of types of cuisine, including
Chinese, Indian, Italian, Japanese, and North American. Traditionally, the main meal of the day
is in the mid-afternoon (usually after 2 PM), when children are home from school and parents
from work. But those whose offices remain open in the afternoon now have their main meal in
the evening. Conversation is often minimal during the main course of a meal; people prefer to
talk before and especially after the meal, while they drink tea or coffee.
Socializing
There are several forms of greeting in Saudi Arabia. The most common is a handshake with the
right hand and the phrase As-salaamu ’alaykum (“Peace be upon you”). Frequently, males will
follow the greeting by extending the left hand to each other’s right shoulder and kissing the
other’s right and left cheeks. The greeting used depends on the individuals’ relationship to each
other and their status in society. When accompanied by a woman wearing a veil, a man will not
normally introduce her, and one does not expect to shake hands with her. The term for “Good
morning” is Sabah al-khair, and for “Good evening” it is Masah al-khair. A casual hello is
Marhaba.
In Saudi Arabia there is a long tradition of hospitality, which has its roots in the ancient custom
that any traveler in the desert who ran into difficulty could receive protection for three and one-
third days. Invitations to a Saudi Arabian home are often given to a man alone. If his wife is
invited, she may go to eat with the other women in a separate room or other quarters. Upon
entering a house, people often remove their shoes. It is inappropriate for a first-time guest to take
a gift to the woman of the house. Otherwise, gift giving is common. Dinner guests usually
present flowers, sweets, or other small items to the hosts as appreciation for their hospitality.
Hosts encourage guests to take second helpings and are pleased when they do, but a person can
also politely decline further helpings. An empty cup is always refilled, so when a person has had
enough tea or coffee to drink, the cup should be covered with the hand or shaken gently from
side to side. The word bas means “enough.” Coffee is served at the end of a gathering, just
before it is time for the guests to leave. Compliments are often given to the host, who will pass
them on to his wife.
Recreation
Soccer is the national sport, but only men are allowed to play or watch at the stadium. There are
private sporting clubs throughout the country. Saudi men also enjoy horse and camel races (no
betting is allowed, but winners receive prizes), as well as hunting and hawking (falconry).
Hawking involves hunting for small game with falcons and requires great skill in training the
birds. Young men enjoy volleyball, basketball, swimming, wrestling, and roller skating. The
coastal areas provide excellent locations for sailing, diving, and fishing.
Women are generally not involved in sports and do not participate in most other leisure
activities, but young women play volleyball and other sports at school. Women visit other
women, go on family outings to museums, playgrounds, and amusement parks, and do volunteer
work.
Videos are popular among all, but they are subject to strict censorship and are often severely
edited. There are no cinemas.
Holidays and Celebrations
Because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar month, a year in Saudi Arabia may be up to
11 days shorter than a year based on the Gregorian, or Western, calendar. Therefore, the Islamic
holidays fall on different days from year to year. The Islamic calendar begins at the year of the
Hegira, the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in the 7th century. The year 1999,
therefore, roughly corresponds to the Islamic year of 1419.
The most important holidays in Saudi Arabia include the three-day feast of ’Id al-Fitr, which is
enjoyed at the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan. Children receive gifts at this time, and
wear new clothing. ’Id al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) commemorates Abraham’s willingness to
sacrifice his only son at Allah’s behest. This feast also celebrates the annual haji, or pilgrimage
to Mecca, during which it occurs. The birth of the prophet Muhammad and the Islamic New Year
are also celebrated.
National Day, a secular holiday, is observed on 23 September of the Western calendar.
Source: Encarta Interactive World Atlas

“Custom, then, is the great guide of human life,” wrote Scottish philosopher David Hume. Knowing the
customs of a country is, in effect, a guide to understanding the soul of that country and its people. The
following Sidebar is intended to provide a glimpse into the unique world of this nation’s customs: how
people marry, how families celebrate holidays and other occasions, what people eat, and how they
socialize and have fun.

Marriage and Family
Marriages are usually arranged, but a growing minority of young men and women in urban areas
are being allowed to choose their partners. A traditional Saudi Arabian wedding is a Muslim
ceremony involving the signing of a marriage contract negotiated by the families of the bride and
groom. Traditionally, men pay a dowry to their brides, who use a portion of it to set up their new
household. The wedding ceremony is followed by separate celebrations for the men and the
women. Although Muslim law allows a man to have up to four wives, most Saudi men have only
one wife. To have another wife, a man must receive the consent of his wife or wives and must
provide equally for each. Infidelity is considered a crime and is punished severely.
Although the Saudi Arabian family is traditionally a strong, male-dominated unit, women
exercise considerable influence in the home. Most families live as extended families, but nuclear
families are common in urban areas. Even so, sons and their families usually live in a
neighborhood close to their fathers’ homes.
The Qur’an holds that women are equal to men but may have different responsibilities. The
separation of males and females is a way of life in Saudi Arabia, reinforced by the country's
conservative interpretation of Islam. Rules governing the actions of women are based on Saudi
Arabian law and custom and are designed to respect and protect a woman’s modesty and honor.
Men and women have separate workplaces. Female doctors treat women and children; if they
treat men, the doctors are veiled. Women and men cannot socialize together in public, and
women must be accompanied by a male relative in public. A religious police force ensures that
people adhere strictly to Islamic laws and dress codes in public. Women are not allowed to
interact with men outside their family and are forbidden to drive cars or ride bicycles. These laws
also apply to foreigners.
Eating
Saudi dishes are composed mainly of rice with lamb or chicken and are mildly spicy. Kabsah,
which is rice and lamb, is a favorite dish throughout the country. Rice is also often served with
vegetables and a green salad. Fruit is frequently eaten for dessert, accompanied by Saudi coffee,
which is brewed with cardamom. Seafood is popular on the coast, and there are many varieties of
fish. Coffee or tea is served before all meals. Buttermilk is also a popular beverage. Observant
Muslims do not eat pork or drink alcohol, and these products are illegal in Saudi Arabia.
In general, food is eaten with the fingers of the right hand only. Bread may be torn with the left
hand but is eaten with the right. Hotel restaurants offer a variety of types of cuisine, including
Chinese, Indian, Italian, Japanese, and North American. Traditionally, the main meal of the day
is in the mid-afternoon (usually after 2 PM), when children are home from school and parents
from work. But those whose offices remain open in the afternoon now have their main meal in
the evening. Conversation is often minimal during the main course of a meal; people prefer to
talk before and especially after the meal, while they drink tea or coffee.
Socializing
There are several forms of greeting in Saudi Arabia. The most common is a handshake with the
right hand and the phrase As-salaamu ’alaykum (“Peace be upon you”). Frequently, males will
follow the greeting by extending the left hand to each other’s right shoulder and kissing the
other’s right and left cheeks. The greeting used depends on the individuals’ relationship to each
other and their status in society. When accompanied by a woman wearing a veil, a man will not
normally introduce her, and one does not expect to shake hands with her. The term for “Good
morning” is Sabah al-khair, and for “Good evening” it is Masah al-khair. A casual hello is
Marhaba.
In Saudi Arabia there is a long tradition of hospitality, which has its roots in the ancient custom
that any traveler in the desert who ran into difficulty could receive protection for three and one-
third days. Invitations to a Saudi Arabian home are often given to a man alone. If his wife is
invited, she may go to eat with the other women in a separate room or other quarters. Upon
entering a house, people often remove their shoes. It is inappropriate for a first-time guest to take
a gift to the woman of the house. Otherwise, gift giving is common. Dinner guests usually
present flowers, sweets, or other small items to the hosts as appreciation for their hospitality.
Hosts encourage guests to take second helpings and are pleased when they do, but a person can
also politely decline further helpings. An empty cup is always refilled, so when a person has had
enough tea or coffee to drink, the cup should be covered with the hand or shaken gently from
side to side. The word bas means “enough.” Coffee is served at the end of a gathering, just
before it is time for the guests to leave. Compliments are often given to the host, who will pass
them on to his wife.
Recreation
Soccer is the national sport, but only men are allowed to play or watch at the stadium. There are
private sporting clubs throughout the country. Saudi men also enjoy horse and camel races (no
betting is allowed, but winners receive prizes), as well as hunting and hawking (falconry).
Hawking involves hunting for small game with falcons and requires great skill in training the
birds. Young men enjoy volleyball, basketball, swimming, wrestling, and roller skating. The
coastal areas provide excellent locations for sailing, diving, and fishing.
Women are generally not involved in sports and do not participate in most other leisure
activities, but young women play volleyball and other sports at school. Women visit other
women, go on family outings to museums, playgrounds, and amusement parks, and do volunteer
work.
Videos are popular among all, but they are subject to strict censorship and are often severely
edited. There are no cinemas.
Holidays and Celebrations
Because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar month, a year in Saudi Arabia may be up to
11 days shorter than a year based on the Gregorian, or Western, calendar. Therefore, the Islamic
holidays fall on different days from year to year. The Islamic calendar begins at the year of the
Hegira, the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in the 7th century. The year 1999,
therefore, roughly corresponds to the Islamic year of 1419.
The most important holidays in Saudi Arabia include the three-day feast of ’Id al-Fitr, which is
enjoyed at the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan. Children receive gifts at this time, and
wear new clothing. ’Id al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) commemorates Abraham’s willingness to
sacrifice his only son at Allah’s behest. This feast also celebrates the annual haji, or pilgrimage
to Mecca, during which it occurs. The birth of the prophet Muhammad and the Islamic New Year
are also celebrated.
National Day, a secular holiday, is observed on 23 September of the Western calendar.
Source: Encarta Interactive World Atlas
Islamic Art and Architecture

I INTRODUCTION
Córdoba Mosque Courtyard

This mosque and courtyard with its repeated horseshoe arches was built between the 8th and 10th centuries in
Córdoba, Spain. The mosque was made into a cathedral in the 13th century.
Richard Bryant/Arcaid
Islamic Art and Architecture, the art and architecture of those territories—the Middle East, North Africa,
northern India, and Spain—that fell under Muslim domination beginning in the 7th century AD. See also
Islam.
II ORIGINS AND CHARACTERISTICS
Two dominant features of Islamic art and architecture, the importance of calligraphic ornamentation

and the form of the mosque, are intimately related to the Islamic faith and were developed in the early
days of the religion.
The Prophet Muhammad was a wealthy merchant of Mecca who underwent a profound series of
revelations when he was about 40 years of age and began to preach a new faith. These revelations,
which to Muslims are the word of God, are contained in the Qur’an (Koran), the sacred book of Islam.
The rich linguistic and poetic heritage of the Arabs (see Arabic Language; Arabic Literature)
contributed to the feeling of deep respect given to the Qur'an. Its centrality in Islamic culture and the
particular gracefulness of the Arabic writing system led to the use of the written word, especially
Qur'anic passages, as inscriptions on mosques and to the development of calligraphic styles and
ornament in all branches of Islamic art.
In AD622, the year that established the Islamic calendar, Muhammad made his flight (Arabic hijrah) to
the city of Yathrib (later Medina). There, a community of believers developed who worshiped in
Muhammad's house compound. The common prayers of the new community in this simple setting—an
enclosed oblong courtyard with huts (the houses of Muhammad's wives) along one side wall and a
rough portico (the zulla, originally for shade) at one end for the poorer followers—established the
mosque form. Almost all mosques, therefore, repeat the plan of Muhammad's house, being composed
essentially of an enclosed courtyard (sahn), a building at one end for prayer, and arcades (riwaqs) on
the sides.
The first followers of Muhammad, coming from the Arabian Peninsula, had no native artistic traditions
comparable to those of the empires they subsequently conquered, which they then took as their
starting point. As Islam spread, its art forms developed, modified by the different climatic conditions
and available materials in the lands of Islamic conquest, and absorbing and adapting indigenous art
styles. Motifs from one area soon became universal in the vast Islamic world.
Islamic art thus developed from many sources. Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine styles were
taken over in early Islamic architecture; the influence of Sassanian art—the architecture and
decorative art of pre-Islamic Persia under the Sassanids—was of paramount significance; Central Asian
styles were brought in with Turkic and Mongol incursions; and Chinese influences had a formative
effect on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles.
III HISTORICAL SEQUENCE
The sequence of the development of Islamic art—from the 7th to the 18th century—may be classified

in three periods. The formative period of Islamic art was roughly coexistent with the rule of the early
leaders of Islam, the Umayyad caliphs (661-750), who extended Islam from Damascus, in Syria, to
Spain. The middle period spans the time of the Abbasid caliphs (750-1258), who ruled Islam from
Baghdād, in Iraq, until the time of the Mongol conquest. This caliphate, famed for its promotion of
learning and culture, was the most illustrious in Islamic history. It was in this middle period that the
influence of Iranian art forms became significant. The period from the Mongol conquest to the 18th
century may, for convenience, be termed the late period of Islamic art. See also Caliphate.
Within this sequence, distinctive art styles can be defined in different parts of the Islamic world,
associated with various dynasties of rulers. Styles mentioned in this article—besides Umayyad and
Abbasid art—include those of the Seljuk Turks, who ruled Iran from the mid-11th century to 1157; the
Il-Khanids, a Mongol people who controlled eastern Iran from 1256 to 1349; the Timurids, the greatest
patrons of Iranian culture, who ruled western Iran from 1378 to 1502; and the Safavids, rulers of all
Iran from 1502 to 1736. Art also flourished under the Ottoman Turks, rulers of Turkey from 1299 to
1922, who extended their empire to Egypt and Syria in the 16th century. Earlier in Egypt (and Syria),
distinctive styles were associated with the Fatimid reign (909-1171) and that of the Mamluks, who
established control in 1250.
IV ARCHITECTURE
Süleymaniye Mosque
The Süleymaniye Mosque in İstanbul was built in 1550. The architect, Sinan, based his design on Byzantine
churches, in particular the Hagia Sophia. The large central dome above a square opens to smaller spaces vaulted
by buttressing half-domes. The four tapering minarets with balconies are characteristic of the architectural style of
later Islamic mosques.
Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY
The few and relatively simple rituals of the Islamic faith gave rise to a unique religious architecture,
comprising the mosque (masjid), a place of community gathering and prayer, and the madrasa, or
religious school. Important among the various characteristic forms of Islamic secular architecture are
palaces, caravansaries, and cities, the elaborate planning of which shows concern for the all-important
access to water and for provision of shelter from heat. A third type of building important in the Islamic
world is the mausoleum, serving both as an actual tomb for a ruler or holy man and as a symbol of
political power. All these structures, religious and secular, share many organic and decorative features.
A Mosques
Layout of a Mosque
Mosques are laid out in accordance with Muslim prayer. They are generally organized around a courtyard, a
reminder of the courtyard of Muhammad’s house, which served as the first mosque. Muslims pray facing the holy
city of Mecca, a direction known as the qibla. A mihrab, or prayer niche, indicates the qibla, and the main prayer
hall stands on the qibla side. Worshipers, called to prayer by a crier from the minaret, may hear a sermon delivered
from the mimbar near the mihrab. A mosque that has a vaulted hall, or eyvan on each side of its courtyard, as this
mosque does, is known as a four-eyvan mosque.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Muslims call the direction in which they pray the qibla, and for his first two years at Medina, the
Prophet prayed facing toward Jerusalem. He then received a revelation that the true qibla lay in Mecca,
and this has been the qibla for prayer ever since, determining the orientation and spatial organization
of all mosques throughout the world. The qibla is marked by a decorative mihrab, or niche, within the
mosque.
A1 Mihrab
When the Muslims conquered Syria in 636, they took over for use as mosques many of the basilican
churches that abounded there. These basilicas were long, triple-arched buildings with pitched roofs
and with the altar at the eastern end (see Basilica). The new worshipers placed the mihrab on the
southern wall and made new entrances in the northern wall. Thus, the congregation prayed across the
aisles.
A2 Courtyard
The Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the earliest surviving works of Islamic architecture. Built by Caliph Abd
al-Malik, the mosque was completed between 691 and 692. The building is octagonal in shape and surmounted by a
large golden dome. Its surfaces, inside and out, are decorated with marble and glazed ceramic tiles in mosaic
patterns. The Dome of the Rock sits in the middle of a large courtyard on Temple Mount, considered to be one of
the holiest sites in Jerusalem.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
When such an adapted basilica was combined with an enclosed courtyard having arcades at the side,
it contained all the basic features of the Prophet's house at Medina. The first Mosque of Al Aqsa at
Jerusalem (before 670) was adapted in this way from the Royal Stoa of Herod, a ruined basilica. In later
examples, more long aisles were added to the end of the courtyard—as in the great 8th- to 10th-
century Mosque of Córdoba, Spain—and any resemblance to churches with their focus at the narrow
end disappeared. Such additions were made in response to population growth, but the process of
adding on is analogous to a feature characteristic of all Islamic art: the infinite repetition of patterns.
A3 Minaret
Minaret of the Great Mosque at Sāmarrā’

This spiral minaret, where the muezzin once called the faithful to prayer, is the only surviving feature of the Great
Mosque at Sāmarrā’, Iraq. At the time of its construction (848-852), the Great Mosque at Sāmarrā’ was the largest
Islamic mosque in the world.
SEF/Art Resource, NY
During the lifetime of the Prophet, the call to prayer at Medina was made from a rooftop, in imitation of
the Jewish practice of blowing the shofar (ram's horn) or the early Christian use of a clapper to
summon worshipers. It seems likely that a Syrian tradition of marking the corners of a building by four
short towers was the origin of the minaret—a tower at the corner of the mosque courtyard (or, as at
Sāmarrā’, Iraq, freestanding)—from which, after Muhammad's lifetime, the call to prayer was
customarily sounded. The Umayyad Mosque, or Great Mosque, at Damascus (705-15), built around an
earlier basilican church, is the best-preserved example of an early courtyard mosque with a minaret. A
dome, of later construction, in the sanctuary, or prayer hall, marks the main one of the four mihrabs on
the qibla wall.
A4 Dome
Dome of the Rock

The oldest extant Islamic structure, the Dome of the Rock stands on the sacred rock in Jerusalem where the Prophet
Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. Caliph Abd al-Malik built the mosque during the late 7th
century. The mosque’s basic octagonal design encloses a central space topped by a dome. A rich mosaic decoration
covers the outer walls.
Israel Ministry of Tourism
Domes, a great feature of all Islamic architecture, developed both from Sassanian and Early Christian
architectural sources. The earliest surviving mosque is the Dome of the Rock (late 7th century) at
Jerusalem, one of the great religious structures of the world; it marks the spot where, according to
tradition, Muhammad ascended to heaven. This mosque has a dome set on a high drum and a
centralized or annular (ringlike) plan with two ambulatories or corridors; the design is derived from
Roman architecture, possibly in emulation of the 4th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also in
Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock, therefore, does not conform to the basic mosque plan. Its dome is
gilded, and all its other surfaces are covered inside and out by colorful tile mosaic.
Influences from Turkic peoples were increasingly felt as Islam spread and developed. Thus, the
mausoleum built at the beginning of the 10th century for the ruler of Bukhara, in Central Asia (the
place of origin of the Seljuk dynasty), was of great architectural significance. This square brick building
had a dome resting on squinches (small arches that span the corners of the square) instead of on
pendentives (spherical triangles, or rounded triangular sections of vaults) as used in the Byzantine
world. Squinches ultimately were derived from Sassanian Iran; they are more easily built than
pendentives, and the device thus led to the spread of domed mosques, mausoleums, and other types
of buildings throughout the Islamic world.
Under the Ottomans, mosques were built reflecting the Byzantine heritage of Turkey. Thus, the
magnificent Selimiye Cami Mosque (1569-1574) built by the great Turkish architect Sinan at Edirne,
Turkey, has a colossal dome ringed with smaller ones and with half domes, the same arrangement as
Hagia Sophia in İstanbul, Turkey—a Byzantine church later converted to a mosque. Although also
similar to Hagia Sophia in breadth, the Edirne mosque has many windows, providing much more light.
This form—which Sinan also employed in two famous İstanbul mosques—influenced the design of
mosques throughout Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, and North Africa.
A5 Eyvan
In the Abbasid mosques of Iraq, an eyvan, an open, vaulted, two-story passageway or hall, was

introduced into each side of the arcades surrounding the mosque courtyard. The eyvan had its roots in
the architecture of Sassanian Iran.
A6 Pointed Arch
Although the horseshoe arch is more typical of Islamic architecture, especially earlier examples, the
pointed arch was also known. Probably of Syrian origin, adapted by the Umayyads, it was also
characteristic of Abbasid mosques, and from Iraq it was carried to Egypt in the 9th and 10th centuries.
In later Egyptian mosques, built under the Mamluks (from the 13th century), the pointed arches have a
Gothic profile, showing the influence of European architectural motifs transported by the Crusaders.
A7 Mimbar and Maqqsura
The first known use of a mimbar, or pulpit, was in the mosque of Medina; originally used as a seat, it
soon became a true pulpit for preaching. Another structural detail typical of some but not all mosques
is the maqqsura, a screen or enclosure placed around the mihrab to protect the leaders of the
community during services; this structure was developed after three early caliphs were murdered.
B Madrasas
Courtyard, Madrasa, Eşfahān

A madrasa is a place for learning and prayer. This view into the courtyard of the Madrasa Chahār Bāgh in Eşfahān,
Iran, shows the domed mosque, central pool, and rooms around the courtyard for study and accommodation. The
madrasa was built from 1706 to 1714.
Art Resource, NY
Under the Abbasids, in the middle period, a new kind of religious building, the madrasa, or religious
seminary, was introduced in eastern Iran. Its form, based on Sassanian architecture, was taken over
into a new kind of mosque that soon spread to many countries. The madrasa and madrasa-mosque
have eyvans on four sides (with a larger one in front of the qibla), connected by two-story arcades. In
the madrasa these arcades lead to dormitories; in the mosque they are simply niches. In some late
madrasas the courtyard is covered by a dome. The 11th-century Friday Mosque (the generic term for a
mosque accommodating large congregations of worshipers) at Eşfahān (Isfahan), Iran, is an early,
great example of a madrasa-mosque. In this building, as in tombs of the period, the muqarna motif,
the stalactitelike ornamentation of vaulted roofs, was developed; a typically Islamic style of decoration,
it consists of a honeycomb of niches with small projections, set into a vaulted roof or dome.
Later examples of madrasa-mosques, both in Eşfahān and both of the 17th century, are the Masjid-i-
Shah with its high, pointed, tiled dome behind the main eyvan, and its interior surfaces and stalactites
covered with tile; and the Masjid-i-Shaikh Lutfullah, with an even more extravagantly tiled dome.
C Secular Architecture
Court of the Lions, Alhambra
The Court of the Lions is in the center of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The rooms surrounding the court are
famous for their intricately detailed stucco reliefs. The Islamic palace fortress was built for the Moorish kings during
the 13th and 14th centuries.
Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York
During Umayyad and early Abbasid times, princes of the caliphs' families built a number of desert
palaces in Syria and Iraq. Some of these had hunting parks—like those of late Sassanian kings—or
domed baths, derived from late Roman types of buildings. Thus, these palaces demonstrate the
synthesis of the Western and Eastern artistic heritage that characterized early Islamic art, and also
demonstrate its relative freedom before the traditional proscriptions against figural art were codified,
not in the Qur'an but in the Hadith (Traditions) in the 9th century. The Umayyad palaces featured
mosaics, wall paintings, and plaster relief sculpture showing courtiers, animals, and even the caliph
himself; much of this ornament was derived from Sassanian tradition.
In the middle period, the Islamic world produced the greatest flowering of urban civilization yet seen.
With the coming of the Mongols, however, many such cities were destroyed or reduced to villages, and
the water systems on which they depended were also demolished.
Under the Abbasids, an entire administrative city, Sāmarrā’, was started—but never completed—in the
desert near Baghdād. Within Sāmarrā’ was an enormous walled building, 175 hectares (432 acres) in
extent and containing many gardens, which was a city in itself. It comprised offices, a mosque, baths,
and living quarters. Some of the residential buildings had painted figural decorations, but the finest
decorative work was of carved plaster in overall geometric patterns based on Turkish (Central Asian)
motifs. Planned cities such as Samarra and Al Fustat (near Cairo, and known through excavation) are
notable for their efficiently designed aqueducts and sewers; all the houses had baths and latrines.
Another Abbasid city-building project was the construction of the Round City (762) at Baghdād, known
primarily from written descriptions because its site lies under the modern city. The Round City
contained a series of concentric rings, with the caliph's residence, mosques, and household in the
center. The conception of the plan has its roots in Sassanian Iran.
Palace complexes, similar to that of Sāmarrā’, were built in later times at Cairo, at Madinah al-Zahra
(Spain), in North Africa, and in İstanbul, where in 1459 the Ottomans began the Topkapı Sarayı, now
the Topkapı Palace Museum. The tradition was continued also in the 14th-century Alhambra Palace of
the Moorish kings at Granada, Spain. Of particular note here is the Court of the Lions with a fountain
surrounded by stone lions spouting water. These Alhambra lions have their counterparts in animal-
shaped bronze and pottery vessels; although figural, their function keeps them within the category of
decorative art. (See Decorative Art below.)
In Iran, the last great buildings were those erected by the Safavids, whose contributions to secular
architecture included bridges, polo grounds, and palaces built with wooden kiosks from which the ever-
present fountains could be appreciated or polo matches observed. An art gallery, intended by Shah
Abbas I for his collection of Chinese porcelains, was also part of the palace.
The caravansary (or, in Turkish, han) was the particular contribution of the Seljuks. These rest houses
for travelers, built along the caravan routes, had an aisled hall and a courtyard for animals. Other
types of buildings that were prominent in the history of Islamic architecture were public baths, bazaars
(marketplaces), gardens as well as garden pavilions, and ribats, or frontier garrisons, extant examples
of which are now found only in Tunisia.
D Tombs and Mausoleums
Tomb of Emperor Jahangir, Lahore

Built in the 17th century, the tomb of the Emperor Jahangir, in Lahore, Pakistan, is intricately decorated with a
variety of patterns and colors. Seen here is the outer wall and one of the four minarets that surround the garden in
which the emperor's tomb is located.
Christine Osborne Pictures
Despite Islamic strictures against the building of elaborate tombs, mausoleums, erected as symbols of

the power of departed leaders, became the most important structures of Islam, after mosques and
palaces. Examples include the necropolis of domed tombs built outside Cairo by the Mamluk rulers of
Egypt in the 15th century. In Samarqand (now in Uzbekistan), the Timurids constructed a necropolis,
the Sah-i-Zindeh (15th-16th cent.), an impressive group of buildings with elegantly patterned
brickwork and high tiled domes on drums. In Iran, under the Mongol conquerors, a special kind of tomb
was developed. The large 14th-century mausoleum at Sultaniyah has a dome of double construction,
giving greater height without added weight, on an octagonal base (originally with a tower at each
corner). The most outstanding example of this form, it is the predecessor of one of the most famous of
all Islamic mausoleums, the Taj Mahal (mid-17th cent.), in Āgra, India, built by two Iranian architects.
E Architectural Decoration
Mosaic Decoration
The use of colored tile in architectural decoration has a long history in the Middle East. This intricate design was
adjusted to the complex shape of the niches in the interior of a madrasa, or religious seminary in Eşfahān, Iran.
SEF/Art Resource, NY
Plaster, patterned brickwork, and tile were used as decorative media in and on Islamic buildings; to
this repertoire the Seljuks added glazed brick and tiles—the latter often luster painted like their pottery
(see Pottery below). The city of Kāshān, Iran, specialized in this production. Whole molded mihrab
facings, composed of columnar bands of Qur'anic inscriptions, were made in luster faience, one of the
earthenware styles used for tile. Tiles in various shapes, such as stars, were fitted together into wall
panels. Timurid architecture featured mihrab coverings of brilliant tile mosaic, in which the individual
colors were fired separately to achieve their fullest intensity. In the 15th century, tile ceramicists from
Iran, which was still an important center, established tile production in Turkey. With the development
of workshops at İznik, the Turks had their own superb source of tiles. In Safavid Iran, most new public
buildings received splendid tile sheathings, and many older buildings were redecorated in the same
way. These tiles included ones in gold and green, colors not previously used; the different colors were
applied and fired together in patterns, rather than separately as before. The effect was different, and
the individual colors were less brilliant. See Mosaics; Tile.
Other Islamic architectural decoration included wood carving, occasionally inlaid with ivory—used on

maqqsuras, mimbars, windows and doors, and various structural elements. Stone reliefs and marble
inlays are found in buildings in Spain, Turkey, and Egypt (from the Mamluk period). Although not part
of the building itself, mosque lamps and colorful prayer carpets may also be considered architectural
decorations that veil and transform the building by introducing light and color.
V DECORATIVE ART
Islamic dicta on the permissible in art, collected in the Hadith, were similar to those of the iconoclastic
movement (see Iconoclasm) during the time of the Byzantine Empire.
The idea behind the condemnation of making images of prophets and saints, and of adoring these

images and tombs, was that such practices materialized worship, which belongs to God alone.
Likewise, the creation of representational images by artists was condemned because only God is able
to give life to creation. These prohibitions were always observed in religious contexts—in mosques, on
mosque carpets, in the decoration of Qur'ans and Qur'an boxes—but irregularly in the secular
decorative arts, depending on the degree of orthodoxy usual under a particular ruler. At one Syrian
Desert palace, Mshatta (early 8th cent.), which has richly carved stone reliefs on its walls, there is a
sharp distinction between the reliefs on the mosque part of the complex, which are completely
ornamental, and those on the other areas, which are figural representations of both fantastic and real
animals. The effect of these prohibitions, even when figures of human beings and animals were
represented, was to keep such figures within a decorative framework; unlike European artists,
therefore, Muslim artists did not develop an understanding of anatomy, musculature, and perspective.
On the other hand, instead of depriving artists of their ability to express their talents, these limitations
on what was generally acceptable channeled their energies into the development of decorative
patterns; based on geometric forms, Arabic script, and foliate shapes (later stylized as arabesques),
this repertoire embodies the unique decorative genius of Islamic art.
The other main proscription from the Hadith that profoundly affected the development of the Islamic
decorative arts was the condemnation of luxurious and precious materials. Thus, where the decorative
art of other cultures may make lavish use of gold, silver, or precious gems, Islamic art is focused on
ceramics, decorated bronze vessels, and wood carvings. Another reason for the attention given to
unpretentious materials and fundamentally utilitarian objects was the rise of a large urban middle
class whose developing connoisseurship yet practical needs were to be considered.
A Pottery
16th-Century Turkish Mug

This mug was made in 16th-century Turkey during the period of Ottoman dominance. It is earthenware with a white
underglaze and blue, purple, and red overglazes. The floral and calligraphic designs are similar to those found in
most art of the Islamic world, which forbids the graphic depiction of animals and humans. This piece is part of the
collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Perhaps the finest expression of the Islamic artistic impulse is found in pottery, which displays a

degree of innovation and creativity comparable to that producing fine art in other cultures. Pottery was
apparently collected by the prosperous middle class much as the Dutch middle class avidly collected
portraits and genre paintings in the 17th century.
The first period of ceramic innovation can be defined from pottery found in the excavations at

Sāmarrā’. Imported Chinese porcelain in the Baghdād area stimulated the interest of Abbasid
connoisseurs and potters, but the local clay could not produce such technically perfect works. Colorful
green-and-yellow Tang (T’ang) wares were imitated successfully, but to achieve a porcelainlike effect
the Abbasid potters invented the tin glaze, which gave the pot a creamy covering. Some of these tin-
glazed pots were overpainted with blue decorations (simple borders and one-word inscriptions), and
this new ware is believed to have inspired the earliest blue-and-white porcelain of China (itself imitated
by later Islamic potters). The new technique of luster painting was also developed at Sāmarrā’. This
involved painting with a metallic solution on a pot that had already been fired. It was then refired at a
low heat, producing a shiny metallic pattern—brown, greenish, or red—that seemingly transforms the
pot into one of (prohibited) gold. This technique traveled to all parts of the world.
İznik Tiles from Topkapi
Topkapi Palace in İstanbul, Turkey, was the residence of the Ottoman sultans for hundreds of years. Today, it is a
museum where the artistic treasures of the sultans are on view. Many of the rooms are lined with exquisite ceramic
tiles like these from İznik, which was the center of Turkish pottery.
Arthur Thévenart/Corbis
In northeastern Iran, in the late 8th to the 11th century, Neyshābūr (Nishapur) and Samarqand
produced other notable wares, in this case slip decorated. Slip is a thin layer of clay spread over the
pot to make a ground for painted decoration; these potters rediscovered a technique that had a long
history. Some of these pots, influenced by the Sassanian heritage, were decorated with figures of
horsemen and a crowded field of ornament and calligraphy. On others the decoration was restricted to
monumental Kufic inscriptions with small decorative motifs. Other important Iranian wares of this
period are of the gabri type—on which the background or decoration is engraved to create a low relief
effect—and the related sgraffito type, both imitating techniques known in metalwork. Like the lustered
pottery, this ware can be understood as an acceptable substitute for a more costly material.
Under the Fatimids of Egypt, a large amount of important luster-painted pottery and other wares was
made at Al Fustat. In Seljuk Iran, the potters made thin vessels with pierced walls covered in glaze in
imitation of delicate Chinese porcelain, and another porcelainlike group with applied decorations in
high relief. Other types of painted pottery were made in Iran at this time, including the famous luster-
painted pottery and tiles of Rayy and Kāshān. Some of these pots, and a special min'ai, or seven-color,
enameled pottery, feature illustrations of poems and heroic scenes similar to Persian miniature
paintings (see below). Pots were sometimes given charming animal shapes; a ewer, for example,
might be decorated with a cock's head. Occasional small stools and boxes were also made of pottery.
In Iraq, in the years before the Mongol conquest, Raqqa was the center for the production of fine
underglaze-painted pottery. Important ceramics were produced at İznik and Kütahya, in Ottoman
Turkey, well into the 18th century. Much of this was influenced by Chinese blue-and-white ware, but
pots were also produced with typically Turkish floral patterns in turquoise, green, purple, brown, and
black. The Safavid potters of Iran, also influenced by Chinese wares, produced beautiful blue-and-white
ceramics that were exported to the West. Here, too, the production of polychrome and lustered ware
continued into the 18th century.
B Glass
Muslim artists also worked in glass, first with techniques used in Byzantium and Sassanian Iran, and
then in new ways. Fatimid-cut glass, luster-painted glass, and stamp-decorated glass are of
exceptionally high quality. In this period were also made a small number of exquisite carved rock-
crystal vessels, comparable in quality to the cut glass. The enameled glass of 12th-century Syria,
chiefly goblets and lamps, has never been surpassed in beauty; the decoration, in the form of
inscriptional and patterned bands, is like that of contemporary bronzes. The Syrians retained their
mastery of this glass craft in the late period and are known particularly for tapered and enameled
mosque lamps. See Glass.
C Wood Carving and Ivory Carvings
Wood carving as architectural decoration has been mentioned above in connection with mosques.

Exceptional woodwork was also done in Fatimid palaces, from which openwork figural panels with
courtly scenes survive; some of this work echoes the Coptic (Christian Egyptian) heritage. Small pieces
of furniture were also decoratively carved.
Carved ivory boxes and carved elephant tusks were favored at the Fatimid court, and the tradition was
continued in Arab Sicily. This delicate style of carving represented courtiers, animals, and foliage.
D Bronze Work
Because of the stricture against precious metals, bronze was a favored material. Some of the finest
pieces of Islamic bronze work have survived as parts of European church treasures. At first, Sassanian
forms were adopted for bronze objects, but the Fatimid period produced some of the finest animal-
shaped containers ever made, as well as candlesticks and plates. Important bronzes, engraved and
inlaid with copper and silver, were made in eastern Iran, but the finest Islamic bronzes were the
product of the workshops of Al Mawşil (present-day Mosul, Iraq) in the 50 years before the Mongol
conquest. Ewers, basins, and candlesticks were inlaid with silver and gold and contained bands of
decorations, figures, and inscriptions of the most intricate workmanship. The fine inlaid Mosul bronzes
of the 14th century tended to be even more purely decorative; Syrian workshops, however, continued
to produce figural designs. See Metalwork.
E Manuscripts
Kufic script, a heavy monumental Arabic script suited to stone carving, appears in the earliest
surviving Qur'an manuscripts. In these, the diacritical marks over the letters are sometimes painted in
red, and the gold decorations between suras (chapters) contrast handsomely with the heavy black
script. In the Seljuk period, a more cursive flowing script, Naskhi, developed. The two styles were often
used for contrast in architecture and decorative contexts.
F Leatherwork
Leather bookbindings with geometric patterns were also an important form of the decorative arts. The
earliest examples were tooled and in relief; later bindings were stamped and gilded and, in the 16th
century, enamel painted.
G Painting
Laila and Majnun at School

Laila and Majnun at School (1494) was painted by Bihzad, one of the great Persian miniature artists from Herāt
(now in Afghanistan). The flat, layered perspective shows the influence of Chinese landscapes. The gold background
is unusual for a painting done before the 16th century, and the faces are drawn with a sense of grace not often
seen in such work. The juxtaposition of inside and outside and the way in which parts of the picture spill over the
borders is particularly notable.
As in other Islamic art forms, where the Western concept of art for art's sake did not exist, painting too
served definite purposes. Rather than an art of easel painting, it was an art of book illustration. The
earliest Islamic paintings to survive in any number are miniatures illustrating manuscripts of Greek
scientific texts translated into Arabic (Arabic learning was the vehicle by which the learning of the
classical world was transmitted to the West), the fables of Bidpai (flourished AD300), and the Maqamat
of al-Hariri (1054-1122), the narrative of a traveler's adventures. All of these paintings were derived
from the 13th-century Baghdād school of manuscript illustration. The scientific illustrations are line
drawings based on classical models, and the colorful secular paintings have a charming naivete, with
only two or three monumental figures represented and landscape elements shown decoratively.
Persian miniature painting of the Mongol, or Il-Khanid, style flourished in 14th-century Tabrīz, in Iran.

Chinese influence in landscape details, the expression of emotion, and a complexity of composition
characterized the new school. Many Persian epic poems were illustrated in this style, the greatest
example being the 14th-century Demotte Shah nameh, a manuscript of Firdawsi's great national epic.
Miniature painting continued to develop in the 15th century in Herāt (now in Afghanistan) under
Timurid patronage. Bihzad, one of the notable Timurid miniaturists, was a master; many of his
dramatic scenes are not confined within formal borders, and his figures have a psychological realism
rare in this tradition.
The Prophet Muhammad and His Companions

Many Muslims believe that it is improper to depict Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in art. When he is represented,
his face is traditionally veiled, as in this 16th-century Persian miniature.
SuperStock
The Ottoman rulers also patronized the art of the book; starting with the 14th-century artists from
Tabrīz, a Turkish school of miniature painting developed that recorded courtly and military life in a
distinctive decorative manner. Safavid artists produced beautifully illustrated classics in their own style
and, in response to European influence, broadened their scope to include figure drawing and portraits.
Miniature painting in Muslim India had its own special development from the 16th to the 19th century;
it was much influenced by indigenous Indian art and often depicted individual rulers and ceremonial
events. See also Illuminated Manuscripts.
H Textiles
Textiles were highly valued as objects of luxury, and the finest medieval ones were made in workshops
called tiraz, which were controlled by the caliph. The tiraz system, which imitated imperial Byzantine,
Coptic, and Sassanian institutions, ended with the Mongol conquest. A gift from such a tiraz (often an
inscribed robe of honor) was a most valuable possession. Tiraz—the word was also used for the textiles
themselves—were often inscribed with the name of the workshop, the date, and the ruler's name.
In Egypt, many tiraz were of linen, and, under the Fatimids, beautiful silk tapestry bands containing
gold threads were woven into them. Silk textiles were also manufactured in much of the Islamic world,
and some were produced in official tiraz. Among the finest are 9th- to 10th-century silks from the
Bukhara region, and 10th- to 11th-century silks from Iran, Baghdād, Egypt, and Spain. Despite
Byzantine shipping blockades, such silks made their way to Europe with embassies. These silks had a
profound influence on later Islamic, Byzantine, Sicilian, and Italian weavers and embroiderers. Even
present-day words for textiles are often derived from the Islamic world, such as damask from
Damascus. The coronation mantle of the Holy Roman emperors was embroidered by Islamic artists in
Sicily, and Sicilian silks continued to be an influence in the 14th century, after the establishment of
European silk workshops.
After the Mongol conquest, Chinese silks influenced Islamic weaving; this influence is seen in the first
Islamic gold-brocaded silks and in specific decorative details. The Ottoman Turks produced new kinds
of large-scale silk patterns featuring representations of carnations, tulips, palmettes, and the Chinese
cloud-band motif. The patterned silk velvets and brocades of the Safavids are among the most
beautiful textiles ever woven. See Textiles.
I Rugs and Carpets

Ardabīl Carpet
This carpet was made for the tomb-mosque of Shah Tahmasp at Ardabīl, Iran, in 1539 to 1540. Because it was
made for a mosque and because the Koran forbade representations of human and animal figures, the imagery is
floral, with a large medallion design in the center and an intricate border. The carpet is now part of the collection of
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
The earliest surviving Islamic knotted carpets are from Konya, in Turkey, made in the 14th century.
These Konya carpets of blue, green, and red have an overall pattern based on natural forms; the
border has an inscriptional band. Other distinctive geometrically patterned carpets were made under
the Mamluks in pale blue, red, and yellow. Several kinds of 16th-century Turkish and Egyptian carpets
—Ushak, “Holbein,” Cairene—survive; these occasionally were depicted in contemporary European
paintings. Carpet weaving reached new heights under the Safavids of Iran, whose design repertoire
included hunting scenes and garden motifs. A dated (1539-40) and signed example with floral designs,
measuring nearly 12 m (40 ft) long, was woven for the Ardabīl mosque and is now in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London. Safavid carpets of silk, in pastel tones with gold and silver areas, were woven
specifically for the European market; although very beautiful, they mark the end of the purely Islamic
tradition of carpet weaving. See Rugs and Carpets.
See also Indian Art and Architecture; Iranian Art and Architecture.
Contributed By:
Deborah L. Thompson
Mosque
Mosque, a building that serves as the main place of worship for Muslims. Mosques are of various sizes
and types; the Friday mosque—in which the entire congregation assembles to perform the ritual Friday
prayers—is by far the largest and most important. The great age of mosque building extends from the
7th century, when Islam was founded in Arabia, to the 16th century.
The first mosque was the courtyard of Muhammad's own house in Medina ( AD622), in present-day
Saudi Arabia. The wall of the courtyard facing in the direction of the holy city of Mecca—called the
qibla wall—was provided with a roofed area where prayers were recited; the other three walls were
lined with shallow arcades. This scheme became the basic plan for all later mosque design, of which
the three main elements continued to be the courtyard, the qibla wall, and the roofed prayer hall. In
the center of the qibla wall is the mihrab, or prayer niche, that indicates the direction of Mecca. Next to
the mihrab is the mimbar, a pulpit from which the Friday sermon is preached.
In religion-dominated Islamic societies, mosques serve social and political needs as well as religious
ones. The mosque became a forum for many public functions, serving as a law court, school, assembly
hall, and even as a parade ground. Adjoining chambers often house libraries, hospitals, or treasuries.
As Islam spread outside Arabia, mosque design gradually incorporated elements adapted from the
architecture of conquered territories. Basilica-type mosques, such as the Great Mosque in Damascus
(8th century), were based on Early Christian church design, which in turn was derived from pagan
basilicas (see Basilica). In the basilica style, the prayer hall of the mosque was enlarged and expanded
to accommodate an impressive flat.roofed nave and two parallel side aisles. The columns supporting
the roof of the prayer hall often feature row upon row of round or lobed (horseshoe) arches (see Arch
and Vault), as in the Mosque of Córdoba (8th to 10th century) in Spain. Decoration proliferated in the
form of carving, inlay, tile, and painting. Islam forbade the representation of human or animal forms,
however; hence these decorations took the form of geometric designs, birds, foliage, and arabesques.
In the earliest mosques, the call to prayer was given by the muezzin, or crier, directly from the roof of
the mosque itself. The use of a minaret for the same purpose began with the Mosque of Al Qayrawān
(8th century) in Tunisia; the minaret is thought to have been an adaptation of the square towers of
Early Christian churches in pre-Islamic Syria. Minarets became a common feature of nearly all later
mosques; they are either round, square, spiral, or octagonal and range in shape from short and squat
to tall and slender.
Mosques on the cruciform (cross-shaped) plan evolved in Iran during the 12th century, while domed
mosques—the last and greatest innovation in mosque design—originated in Turkey after the Ottoman
conquest of Constantinople (present-day İstanbul) in 1453. The inspiration for the great Ottoman
mosques was the vast Christian church of Hagia Sophia (532-37; Church of the Holy Wisdom) in
Constantinople, whose innovative arch-and-dome structure made possible the use of large, light-filled
domes to roof enormous spaces. Turkish mosques usually feature a prayer hall surmounted by a large
central dome, in turn surrounded by smaller domes and half domes. As in Iranian mosques, the
traditional courtyard often was eliminated entirely. The greatest Turkish mosque designer was the
architect Sinan, who was credited with over 300 buildings. His masterpiece is the Süleymaniye Mosque
(1550-57) in İstanbul; its square central mosque, topped with a soaring light-filled dome, is supported
on a complex system of arches, semidomes, and arcades, with four slim minarets set around the
dome.
See also Islamic Art and Architecture.

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Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Flag and Anthem

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

II LAND AND RESOURCES

Dunes near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

D Plants and Animals

Saudi Arabia participates in international environmental agreements pertaining to climate change,

Population 27,019,731 (2006 estimate)

In 2006 Saudi Arabia had an estimated population of 27 million and a population density of 12.6

A Ethnic Groups and Languages

Pilgrimage to the Kaaba

The form of Islam supported by the government is socially and theologically conservative. While Saudis

The government extended public education to girls in 1960, despite opposition from some

Traditional Saudi Garb

Making Bread, Saudi Arabia

B Art and Architecture

D Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations

Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$) $251 billion (2004)

Oil revenue transformed the Saudi economy in the mid-20th century. In addition to bringing

B Oil, Natural Gas, and Mining

The state-owned Saudi Arabian Mining Company controls Saudi Arabia’s significant nonpetrochemical

H Transportation and Communications

Saudi Arabia’s exports—dominated by petroleum products—easily outweigh its imports of items such

J Currency and Banking

A Executive and Legislature

Since the mid-1960s Saudi Arabia’s defense expenditures have increased dramatically. The country

C Abd al-Wahhab and the Rise of the Saudis

D Ibn Saud’s Reign

King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud

E Turmoil at Home and Abroad

Saudi relations with Egypt deteriorated during the 1960s. In 1962 a revolution in Yemen overthrew

G Financial Strength and Military Preparedness

Saudi Arabia took a dim view of the conciliatory overtures by Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat to

H Persian Gulf War and Developments in the 1990s

Persian Gulf War

Political reforms decreed by King Fahd in 1992 established a consultative council to serve in an

In 1995 the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to negotiate a settlement to a long-

I Islamist Opposition and Reform

Anthony B. Toth contributed the Population, Culture, and Economy sections of this article.

II LAND AND RESOURCES

B From Nabataeans to Persians

C Islam and the Caliphate

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Arabs, name given to the ancient and present-day inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and often

Arched Doorway, Zanzibar

III MODERN ARABS

Poverty in the Arab World

Most Arab countries have substantial agricultural, village-based populations. In the villages, the land,

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Saudi Arabia Facts and Figures

HEALTH AND EDUCATION

ENERGY, COMMUNICATIONS, AND TRANSPORTATION

Customs of Saudi Arabia

Customs of Saudi Arabia

Marriage and Family

Holidays and Celebrations

Customs of Saudi Arabia

Customs of Saudi Arabia