Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud

Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud (Arabic: عبد الله بن ثنيان آل سعود, romanized: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṯunayān Āl Suʿūd; died July 1843) was Emir of Nejd from 1841 to May 1843. He is the sole member of the Al Thunayan branch of the Al Saud who became emir.^[2][3]

Abdullah bin Thunayan Al Saud
Emir of Nejd
Reign	1841–May 1843
Predecessor	Khalid bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Successor	Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud
Died	July 1843 Riyadh
Burial	Riyadh
Issue	Abdullah bin Abdullah Al Saud
Names Abdullah bin Thunayan bin Ibrahim bin Thunayan bin Saud[1]
House	House of Saud
Father	Thunayan bin Ibrahim bin Thunayan bin Saud bin Muhammad Al Muqrin

Early years

Abdullah bin Thunayan was a great-grandson of Thunayan bin Saud, who was the brother of Muhammad bin Saud,^[4] founder of the Emirate of Diriyah.^[2] Therefore, he was a great-great-grandson of the founder of the Al Saud dynasty, Saud bin Muhammad.^[5]

Until 1841 Abdullah was in southern Iraq under the protection of the Muntafiq tribe.^[3] It was at that time that he first came to Hejaz and made several unsuccessful attempts to capture the Emirate of Nejd.^[6]

Reign

Abdullah's third cousin Khalid bin Saud, the Emir of Nejd, had been backed by the Egyptians and lost power when they had to leave Nejd in 1840.^[3] Finally Abdullah ousted Emir Khalid in December 1841.^[6][7] Abdullah's major supporter was the ruler of Al Hariq, Turki Al Hazzani.^[3] He was also supported by the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and other significant tribal leaders^[3] who regarded Khalid bin Saud as an illegitimate ruler due to his alliance with the Egyptians.^[8] As a result of this support Abdullah was titled as imam.^[9] He ruled the emirate from Riyadh.^[10]

In 1842 Bahraini royal Mohammed bin Khalifa asked help from Abdullah following his defeat at al Nasfah battle against the ruler of Bahrain, Abdullah bin Ahmad Al Khalifa.^[1] He was granted asylum, but not military assistance.^[1] In 1843 Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, another third cousin of Abdullah was released by the Egyptians in Cairo and managed to regain the rulership of the Emirate in May 1843.^[7][11]

Death and personal life

Abdullah did not endorse the leadership of Faisal and was imprisoned in Al Masmak fortress where he died of poisoning in July 1843.^{[5][6][12][13]} He was buried in Riyadh following the funeral prayers led by Imam Faisal bin Turki.^[14]

One of Abdullah's sons was born on the same day he died. Due to this, he was also named Abdullah.^[12] He was the father of Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Thunayan and paternal grandfather of Iffat bint Mohammad Al Thunayan.^[2]

References

1. Abdulaziz Mohamed Hasan Ali Al Khalifa (April 2013). Relentless Warrior and Shrewd Tactician: Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmad of Bahrain 1795-1849 A Case Study of Shaikhly Statecraft in the Nineteenth Century Gulf (PhD thesis). University of Exeter. pp. 190–192. hdl:10871/12461.
2. Joseph A. Kechichian (20 January 2012). "Self-assurance in the face of military might". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
3. Alexei Vassiliev (2013). The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-86356-779-7.
4. Simon Henderson (August 2009). "After King Abdullah". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. p. 2. Archived from the original (Policy Focus #96) on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
5. Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1997). Saudi Arabia under King Faisal (PDF) (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. pp. 43–44. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2019.
6. Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. pp. 23–24. ProQuest 303295482.
7. Nadav Safran (2018). Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest for Security. Cornell University Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780674789852.
8. David Commins (2006). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia (PDF). New York: I.B. Tauris. p. 49. ISBN 9781848850149. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2021.
9. Cole M. Bunzel (2023). Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 233. doi:10.1515/9780691241609. ISBN 9780691241609.
10. Madawi Al Rasheed (2002). A History of Saudi Arabia (PDF). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780521747547.
11. Valerie Anishchenkova (2020). Modern Saudi Arabia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-4408-5705-8.
12. Joseph A. Kechichian (2014). 'Iffat Al Thunayan: an Arabian Queen. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 10. ISBN 9781845196851.
13. Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1993). Political and religious origins of Saudi Arabia (PDF) (MA thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. p. 76. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2021.
14. R. Bayly Winder (1965). Saudi Arabia in the Nineteenth Century. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 147. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-81723-8. ISBN 9780333055410.

External links

Regnal titles
Preceded by Khalid bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	Emir of Nejd 1841–1843	Succeeded by Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud