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Faisal bin Turki [1834-1834, 1843-1865]

In 1834 (1250 AH), Turki bin Abdullah was assassinated by a member of the Al Saud who had recently returned from Cairo. Turki's eldest son, Faisal, defeated the assassin and became Imam. The Egyptians supported a rival member of the family, Khalid ibn Saud, and with Egyptian assistance Khalid controlled Najd for the next four years. Faisal bin Turki refused to acknowledge the Viceroy of Egypt. The Viceroy, Muhammad Ali, was not prepared to see his earlier victories so quickly reversed.

Whereas the Al Saud were largely successful in handling the two great powers in the Persian Gulf, they did not do so well in managing their family affairs. The killing of Turki in 1834 touched off a long period of fighting. Turki's son, Faisal, held power until he was expelled from Riyadh by Khalid and his Egyptian supporters. Then, Abd Allah ibn Thunayan (from yet another branch of the Al Saud) seized Riyadh. He could maintain power only briefly, however, because Faisal, who had been taken to Cairo and then escaped, retook the city in 1845.

Muhammad Ali and the Egyptians were severely weakened after the British and French defeated their fleet off the coast of Greece in 1827. This prevented the Egyptians from exerting much influence in Arabia, but it left the Al Saud with the problem of the Ottomans, whose ultimate authority Turki eventually acknowledged. The challenge to the sultan had helped end the first Al Saud empire in 1818, so later rulers chose to accommodate the Ottomans as much as they could. The Al Saud eventually became of considerable financial importance to the Ottomans because they collected tribute from the rich trading state of Oman and forwarded much of this to the Sharifs in Mecca, who relayed it to the sultan. In return the Ottomans recognized the Al Saud authority and left them alone for the most part.

The peace and prosperity continued under Emir Turki and his successor Faisal bin Turki, who ruled for 26 years, during which time agriculture and trade flourished. Faisal bin Turki cemented the alliance with Abd Allah ibn Rashid of the Shammar Mountains by marrying his son, Talal, to Abd Allah's daughter, Nurah. Although this family-to-family connection worked well, the Al Saud preferred to rely in the east on appointed leaders to rule on their behalf. In other areas, they were content to establish treaties under the terms of which tribes agreed to defend the family's interests or to refrain from attacking the Al Saud when the opportunity arose.

Within their sphere of influence, the Al Saud could levy troops for military campaigns from the towns and tribes under their control. Although these campaigns were mostly police actions against recalcitrant tribes, the rulers described them as holy wars (jihad), which they conducted according to religious principles. The tribute that the Al Saud demanded from those under their control was also based on Islamic principles. Towns, for instance, paid taxes at a rate established by Muslim law, and the troops that accompanied the Al Saud on raiding expeditions returned one-fifth of their booty to the Al Saud treasury according to sharia (Muslim Law) requirements.

The collection of tribute was another indication of the extensive influence the Al Saud derived because of their Wahhabi connections. Wahhabi religious ideas had spread through the central part of the Arabian Peninsula; as a result, the Al Saud influenced decisions even in areas not under their control, such as succession battles and questions of tribute. Their influence in the Hijaz, however, remained restricted. Not only were the Egyptians and Ottomans careful that the region not slip away again, but Wahhabi ideas had not found a receptive audience in western Arabia. Accordingly, the family was unable to gain a foothold in the Hijaz during the nineteenth century.

This period of stability and tranquility was shattered by a renewed Ottoman campaign to extend its empire into the peninsula. In addition to sending armies into the interior of the peninsula, the Ottoman rulers set up and funded other rulers to confront and undermine the Saudi State.

In 1838 (1254 AH), Egyptian forces defeated Faisal bin Turki, retaking the Nejd. Faisal was taken captive and sent to Cairo. Later, when Muhammad Ali declared Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire and was forced to withdraw his troops stationed in Nejd in order to support his own position in Egypt, Faisal bin Turki escaped from Cairo (after five years of captivity) returning home and resuming his reign which lasted till 1865 (1282 AH). By then, the House of Saud once more controlled most of Nejd and Hasa.

Imam Faysal ibn Turki, ruler from 1834-38 and 1843-65, lent some stability to Arabia. Upon his death, however, fighting started again, and his three sons, Abd Allah, Abd ar Rahman, and Saud -- as well as some of Saud's sons -- each held Riyadh on separate occasions. The political structure of Arabia was such that each leader had to win the support of various tribes and towns to conduct a campaign. In this way, alliances were constantly formed and reformed, and the more often this occurred, the more unstable the situation became.

When Faisal died in 1865 two groups established territorial control. The first, the Ottoman Turks, occupied much of the eastern seaboard of the Arabian Peninsula and al-Hasa Oasis. The second was a rival dynasty, the House of Rashid. Although their capital was in Hayil, the family installed a deputy governor in Riyadh.

The Ottomans tried to expand their influence by supporting renegade members of the Al Saud. When Faisal's two sons, Abd Allah and Saud, vied to take over the empire from their father, Abd Allah enlisted the aid of the Ottoman governor in Iraq, who used the opportunity to take Al Qatif and Al Hufuf in eastern Arabia. The Ottomans were eventually driven out, but until the time of Abd al Aziz they continued to look for a relationship with the Al Saud that they could exploit.

One of the reasons the Ottomans were unsuccessful was the growing British interest in Arabia. The British government in India considered the Persian Gulf to be its western flank and so became increasingly involved with the piracy of the Arab tribes on the eastern coast. The British were also anxious about potentially hostile Ottoman influence in an area so close to India and the Suez Canal. As a result, the British came into increasing contact with the Al Saud. As Wahhabi leaders, the Al Saud could exert some control over the tribes on the gulf coast, and they were simultaneously involved with the Ottomans. During this period, the Al Saud leaders began to play off the Ottomans and British against each other.