First Saudi state

The first Saudi state (Arabic: الدَّوْلَةُ السُّعُودِيَّةُ الْأُولَىٰ, romanized: Ad-Dawlatul Sa'udiyyatul Uwlah), officially the Emirate of Diriyah (Arabic: إمارة الدرعية, romanized: Imāratul Dir'iyyah),^[3] was established in 1727, according to official Saudi government historical sources.,^[4][5][6] Older sources consider 1744 as the true beginning, when the emir of Diriyah, Muhammad I, and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab signed a pact to found a socio-religious reform movement to propagate the Wahhabi religious doctrine under the political leadership of the House of Saud.^[7][8]

Emirate of Dir'iyah إِمَارَةُ الدِّرْعِيَّةِ (Arabic)
1727–1818
Flag of the Emirate of Diriyah
The first Saudi state at its greatest extent, 1814[2][page needed][disputed – discuss]
Status	Emirate
Capital	Diriyah
Common languages	Arabic
Religion	Sunni Islam
History
• Reign of Muhammad I begins	1727
• Diriyah pact	1744
• Siege of Diriyah	1818
Currency	Diriyah Riyal
Preceded by Succeeded by Sheikhdom of Diriyah Hejaz Eyalet Bani Khalid Emirate Omani Empire Qasimid State Egypt Eyalet Mu'ammarid Imamate
Today part of	Saudi Arabia  Qatar  Kuwait  UAE  Bahrain  Yemen

History

Early establishment

The House of Saud and its allies quickly rose to become the dominant power in Arabia by first conquering Najd, and then expanding their influence over the eastern coast from Kuwait down to the northern borders of Oman. Saud's forces also captured the highlands of Asir, while Muhammad ibn Abd Al Wahhab wrote letters to people and scholars to join jihad. After many military campaigns, Muhammad bin Saud died in 1765, leaving the leadership to his son, Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad. Saud's forces went so far as to gain command of the Shia holy city of Karbala in 1801. Here they destroyed the shrine of the saints and monuments and killed over 5,000 civilians.^[9] In retribution, Abdulaziz was assassinated by a young Shia in 1803, having followed him back to Najd.

Muhammad bin Abd Al Wahhab died in 1792. In 1803, eleven years after his death, the son of Abdulaziz bin Muhammad, Saud bin Abdulaziz, sent out forces to bring the region of Hejaz under his rule.^[10] Taif was the first city to be captured, and later the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This was seen as a major challenge to the authority of the Ottoman Empire, which had exercised its rule over the holy cities since 1517.

Decline of sovereignty

The task of weakening the grip of the House of Saud was given to the powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, by the Ottomans. This initiated the Ottoman–Saudi War, in which Muhammad Ali sent his troops to the Hejaz region by sea. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, then led Ottoman forces into the heart of Najd, capturing town after town. Saud's successor, his son Abdullah I, was unable to prevent the recapture of the region.^[11] Finally, Ibrahim reached the Saudi capital at Diriyah. He placed it under siege for several months until it surrendered in the winter of 1818. Ibrahim then shipped off many members of the House of Saud to Egypt and the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (modren day Istanbul). Abdullah I was later executed in the Ottoman capital, with his severed head later thrown into the waters of the Bosporus, marking the end of what was known as the first Saudi state.^[11] However, both the followers of the Wahhabi movement and the remaining members of the House of Saud stayed committed. They founded the Second Saudi State that lasted until 1891. Before the unification of modern Saudi Arabia, several emirates and kingdoms were established in the region, eventually paving the way for the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.^[11]

Revision of the founding date and establishment of Saudi Founding Day

In 2022, a royal decree established Saudi Founding Day as an official public holiday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to be observed annually on 22 February. The date commemorates the founding of the First Saudi State in 1727, the year Imam Muhammad bin Saud assumed leadership in Diriyah.^[12]

This marked a departure from the previously recognized founding date of 1744, which had been associated with the Diriyah pact—the alliance between Muhammad bin Saud and the religious reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. That alliance played a significant role in shaping the religious and political identity of the Saudi state.^[13]

The updated founding date of 1727 highlights the emergence of the Saudi state as a political entity prior to the religious alliance. Official narratives emphasized this date as the starting point of Saudi statehood based on leadership and governance, rather than ideological alignment.^[14]

List of rulers

Main article: List of Saudi rulers

• Emir Muhammad bin Saud 1727–1765 (1139–1179 H)
• Emir Abdulaziz bin Muhammad 1765–1803 (1179–1218 H)
• Emir Saud bin Abdulaziz 1803–1814 (1218–1229 H)
• Emir Abdullah bin Saud 1814–1818 (1229–1233 H)

See also

• Saudi Founding Day
• List of Sunni dynasties