Rashidi dynasty

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

House of Rashid
Muhammad bin Talāl
TitlesEmir of Jabal Shammar
Estate(s)Jabal Shammar
Dissolution1921

The Rashidi dynasty, also called Al Rashid or the House of Rashid (

Abdullah bin Rashid
, founder of the dynasty.

History

The Rashidi dynasty derived their name from their forebear

Ha'il. The Rashidi emirs co-operated closely with the Ottoman Empire. However, that co-operation became problematic as the Ottoman Empire lost popularity.[1][2][3]

In 1890, Al Rashid occupied Riyadh and then defeated the Saudi tribes, who fled into exile, first to Bahrain, then to Qatar, and finally to Kuwait.[4]

As with many other Arab ruling dynasties, the lack of an accepted rule of succession was a recurrent problem for the Rashidi. The internal dispute normally centered on whether succession to the position of emir should be horizontal (to a brother) or vertical (to a son) and often were resolved violently. Six Rashidi leaders died violently in the last years of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the Rashidi still ruled and fought together during the

Saudi–Rashidi Wars.[citation needed
]

During the first two decades of the 20th century, the Arabian Peninsula saw a long-running series of wars as the Saudis and their allies sought to unite the peninsula under their rule. By 1921, Ha'il was captured by

]

Some members of the Rashid family left the country and went into voluntary exile, mostly to the Kingdom of Iraq, Pakistan, Oman, Kuwait, and the UAE. By the 1990s, only a handful were still inside Saudi Arabia.[citation needed]

Emirs of the House of Rashid

  1. ʿ
    Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud to be assigned officially and takeover the Emirate of Hail instead of the current Emir, Muhammad bin Ali al-Jaafar al-Shammari. Abdullah bin Rashid came to the picture after leading a revolt (together with his brother prince ʿUbayd Al Rashīd) against the ruler of Ha'il, Muhammad bin Ali, who was a fellow member of the Jaafar al-Shammari lineage. As a leader, Abdullah was praised for bringing peace and stability both to Ha'il and to the surrounding region. Abdullah demanded from his brother prince ʿUbayd an ahd (covenant) according to which succession to the office of emir would remain in Abdullah's line. Where it was supported by their cousin and close friend Zamil Bin Sabhan from Al Sabhan
    Family who supported both brothers for the succession.
  2. Sunni, doubly hated by the Wahabees. But Telal [sic] affected not to perceive their religious discrepansies, and silenced all murmurs by marks of special favour towards these very dissenters, and also by the advantages which their presence was not long in procuring for the town". (William Gifford Palgrave 1865: 130.)

    In the 1860s, internal disputes in the House of Saud allowed a Rashidi/Ottoman alliance to oust them. The Rashidi occupied the Saudi capital of Riyadh in 1865 and forced the leaders of the House of Saud into exile. Talal later died in a shooting incident which has been termed "mysterious". Charles Doughty, in his book Travels in Arabia Deserta
    , writes that Talal committed suicide. Talal left seven sons, but the oldest, Bandar, was only 18 or 20 when his father died.
  3. Arabic: متعب بن عبدالله), (1868–9). A younger brother of Talal, he was supported by senior members of the Rashid family and the sheikhs of the Shammar sections. After less than two years of reign,[5] he was shot and killed in the Barzan Palace by his nephew and next emir, Bandar. Doughty's version of the events is that Bandar and Badr, the second-oldest son, cast a silver bullet to kill their uncle because they knew he wore an amulet that protected him against lead. Henry Rosenfeld also stated that Mutaib bin ʿAbdullah was killed by Bandar and Badr.[5]
  4. Arabic: بندر بن طلال), (1869). Ruled for only a short time before he was killed by his uncle, Muhammed, the brother of Mutaib. Bandar reportedly married his uncle's widow and had a son by her.
    Saud bin Abdul Aziz Rashid
  5. ʿAbdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud left Riyadh. The Saud family, including the ten-year-old Ibn Saud, went into exile in Kuwait
    .
  6. Rawdat Muhanna
    with ibn Saud in 1906.
  7. Mutʿib bin ʿAbd al ʿAzīz (
    Arabic: متعب بن عبدالعزيز), (1906–07). Succeeded his father as emir. However, he was not able to win support of the whole family, and, within a year, he was killed by Sultan bin Hammud.
    Abdullah bin Mutʿib
  8. Sultān bin Hammūd (
    Arabic
    : سلطان بن حمود), (1907–08). A grandson of Ubayd (the brother of the first emir), he was criticized because he ignored the ahd (covenant) between his grandfather and the first emir. He was unsuccessful in fighting Ibn Saud, and was killed by his own brothers.
  9. Saʿūd bin Hammūd (
    Arabic
    : سعود بن حمود), (1908–10). Another grandson of Ubayd. Saʿud was killed by the maternal relatives of Saʿud bin ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, the 10th emir.
  10. Fahda bint Asi bin Shuraim Al Shammari of the Abde section of the Shammar tribe became Ibn Saud's ninth wife and the mother of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
    .
  11. ʿAbdullah bin Mutʿib (
    Arabic
    : عبدالله بن متعب), (1920–21). A son of the 7th emir, he surrendered to Ibn Saud, he was 20 years old. Despite of that, he was one of the key factor of Hail Emara deterioration.

There has been a tendency to attribute the development of the House of Rashid to trading and commercial expansion, but documents have come to light which emphasise the significance of external pressures and the Rashidi's interaction with foreign governments and leaders, but Al Sauds are equally said of the same thing which catapulted them to power.[8]

See also

References

Further reading

Many foreign travellers visited the Rashidi emirs at Ha'il and described their impressions in journals and books, including:

  • Georg August Wallin. (1854). Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca, by Suez, Arabia, Tawila, al-Jauf, Jublae, Hail and Negd in 1845, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 24: 115-201. (Reprinted in Travels in Arabia, New York: Oleander Press, 1979.)
  • William Gifford Palgrave. (1865). Personal Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-1863), vol. I, Macmillan & Co., London,
  • Lady Anne Blunt. (1881). 'A Pilgrimage to Nejd, The Cradle of the Arab Race: a Visit to the Court of the Arab Emir and `our Persian Campaign. (reprinted 1968)
  • Gertrude Bell. (1907). The Desert and the Sown (republished 1987)
  • D. G. Hogarth. (1905). The Penetration of Arabia: a Record of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula.
  • Zahra Freeth and H. V. F. Winstone. (1978). Explorers of Arabia from the Renaissance to the End of the Victorian Era, Allen & Unwin, London.

External links

  • Al Rashid on hukam.net, with pictures and flags. (in Arabic)