Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud ( ''ʿAbd Allāh bin Fayṣal Āl Suʿūd''; 20 June 1923 – 8 May 2007) was a Saudi Arabian businessman, politician, and poet who held multiple posts in the

Saudi government The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy, along traditional Islamist lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consult ...

throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Prince Abdullah was the eldest son of King Faisal and one of the grandsons of Saudi's founder

King Abdulaziz Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

. He served as the governor of

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

during the reign of his grandfather

, and as the

minister of health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

and interior during the reigns of his grandfather and his uncle

King Saud Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 a ...

. These positions made him one of the most powerful Saudi Arabian royals of his time.

Early life and education

Prince Abdullah was born in Riyadh in 1923. However, some sources list his birth year as 1921 or 1922. He was the eldest son of King Faisal. His mother was Sultana bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, sister of

Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi (; 1900–1969) was one of the wives of King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, with whom she had seven sons and four daughters. Her sons included two future Saudi kings, Fahd and Salman, as well as Sultan bin Abdulaziz and ...

. It is believed that Prince Abdullah was the second grandson of

after Faisal bin Turki who was born in 1918. The marriage of Prince Faisal and Sultana bint Ahmed was prearranged while Prince Faisal was travelling abroad. They never saw each other until the marriage and later divorced. Abdullah bin Faisal completed his education in Mecca in 1939.

Career

Abdullah bin Faisal assumed a number of government positions. He started his political career in 1945 when he disputed his half-uncle Mansour's appointment as acting viceroy of Hejaz and actually assumed the office one year later. Prince Abdullah was the first minister of health of Saudi Arabia and appointed to the post in 1950. Then, he was named minister of interior in 1951, being the first interior minister of the Kingdom. He served in this post during the reign of King Abdulaziz and also, of

. His appointment as minister of health and of interior was a move to make him equal in status to then-minister of defense Prince Mishaal. His term lasted until March 1959 when he resigned, and he was replaced by his father, Crown Prince Faisal, in the post of interior minister.

Business activities

Following his retirement from government jobs, Abdullah bin Faisal devoted his time to business and cultural activities. First, he dealt with real estate business in Jeddah. He established Saudi Arabian Agricultural and Dairy Company which was a joint venture with Lebanese businessmen. Abdullah bin Faisal was the founder of Al Faisaliah Group, which was established in Jeddah in 1971. He also owned the largest dairy farm in Saudi Arabia. In addition, he founded Abdullah Establishment for Trading and Industry in Jeddah in 1978 and the SIGMA (Saudi Investment Group and Marketing) company in 1979. The chairman and CEO of the latter was his son, Prince Saud. Prince Abdullah's business partners included the sons of Rashad Pharaon, Ghaith, and Mazen. He was one of the founders of the Dar Al Maal Al Islami Trust which was initiated by his half-brother

Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud (, ''Moḥammed bin Fayṣal Āl Saʿūd''; 1937 – 14 January 2017) was a Saudi prince and businessman. He was a son of Faisal of Saudi Arabia, King Faisal and one of the grandsons of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abd ...

in 1981.

Other positions

Abdullah bin Faisal was the founder of the King Faisal International Charity Foundation. He was the chairman of the

King Faisal Foundation The King Faisal Foundation (; ''KFF''), is an international philanthropic organization established in 1976 with the intent of preserving and perpetuating King Faisal bin Abdulaziz's legacy. The foundation was set up by the sons of King Faisal bi ...

. He was the cofounder and former chairman of Al Ahli football club.

Works

A composer of both classical and colloquial poetry, his works include the collection ''The Inspiration of Deprivation'' (Min Wahye al Hirman), 1980. Prince Abdullah's poems were put into music and sung by the Egyptian singer

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...

and many others. Some of them were translated into English, French and Russian.

Awards

Abdullah bin Faisal received a number of international honors including an honorary doctorate degree in humanities. He was rewarded with French State Acknowledgement Award for Literature in 1984. In May 1989, he was given honorary doctorate degree, doctorate of humane letters, from

Shaw University Shaw University is a private historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in the Southern United States. The school had its origin in the fo ...

Personal life

Prince Abdullah married three times. One of his spouses was Al Jawhara bint Khalid, a daughter of Khalid bin Muhammad and a granddaughter of

Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud ( ''Muḥammad bin ʿAbd ar Raḥman Āl Suʿūd''; 1877 – 25 July 1943) was an Arabian soldier and politician who played a role in the conquests of his half-brother Abdulaziz that led to the formation of the ...

, who was an uncle of Prince Abdullah's father King Faisal. Al Jawhara bint Khalid died at age 87 in 2005. Another spouse of Prince Abdullah was the granddaughter of Saad bin Abdul Rahman, another of King Faisal's uncles. His third spouse was the daughter of a Bedouin tribe leader. Prince Abdullah had ten children: * Prince Khalid (1941–1985) *

Prince Mohammed George Nooks, Prince Mohamed, Prince Mohammed, or George Knooks (born c. 1958) is a Jamaican reggae singer who initially found fame as a deejay. Biography Nooks started his musical career in the youth choir at his church, and moved on to perfo ...

(1943–2011) who married Nouf bint Khalid, a daughter of

King Khalid Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 13 February 1913 13 June 1982) was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 25 March 1975 until his death in 1982. Before his death, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the fifth son of King Abdulaziz ...

, and Noura bint Bandar, a daughter of Bandar bin Mohammed and Al Bandari bint Abdulaziz. * Prince Bandar (deceased) * Prince Abdul Rahman who is married to Nouf bint Faisal, a daughter of Luluwah bint Abdulaziz. * Prince Saud (1946–2020) * Prince Talal (deceased) * Prince Sultan * Prince Turki * Prince Faisal * Princess Sultana

Death

Prince Abdullah died on 8 May 2007. Funeral prayers were performed at the Masjid al Haram in Mecca. A number of royal family members attended the funeral, including his half-brothers Prince Saud and Prince Khalid and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,

Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (c. 5 January 1931 – 22 October 2011) (, ''Sulṭān ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Suʿūd''), called ''The generous Sultan'' (, ''Sulṭan al Khair'') in Saudi Arabia, was the Saudi defense minister from 1963 to 201 ...

. Prince Abdullah was buried in

Al Adl cemetery The Al-Adl cemetery () is one of the earliest and largest of the six cemeteries in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the second substantial cemetery in the city. History and location The graveyard was opened in 1926 and covers around 50,000 square metr ...

in Mecca next to his first wife, Al Jawhara.

Legacy

In November 2018, the International Prize Prince Abdullah Al Faisal for Arabic Poetry was launched.

Ancestry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saud, Abdullah Faisal 20th-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 20th-century Saudi Arabian poets 20th-century Saudi Arabian politicians 21st-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 21st-century Saudi Arabian poets 1923 births 2007 deaths Burials at al-Adl cemetery Health ministers of Saudi Arabia Interior ministers of Saudi Arabia Businesspeople from Riyadh Sons of Faisal of Saudi Arabia Real estate company founders