How Saudi Arabia Became the World’s Richest Desert Kingdom | Full Documentary

Saudi Arabia, an enormous, almost uninhabited country. Endless deserts. In the olden days, only the Bedouin caravans traveled through here. Today, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries on Earth and an important religious hub for the Muslim world, a place of pilgrimage like no other. More than 2 million people visit these holy sites for their yearly pilgrimage. One family has been solely ruling this country for 300 years with an iron fist. One pact, once made between a religious zealot and a visionary sheik, is still in force to this day. The landscapes of Saudi Arabia seem to be from another planet, a world burnt by the sun approximately nine times the size of the United Kingdom, but with vast uninhabited areas. Mountains, deserts, and volcanoes, an inhospitable peninsula with extreme conditions to live in. The biggest continuous sand desert in the world, the Rub al-Khali, called the Empty Quarter, extends over the south. The north is dominated by the red sand dunes of another big desert, the Nafud al-Kabir. And yet, the Arabian Peninsula is an ancient cultural landscape. In a landscape where nature opposes life, some little paradises can be found. They owe their existence to the few springs and wells. Wherever water accumulates, life is blooming. Plants, animals, and people have adapted to the harsh conditions of their surroundings. For the desert dwellers, the oases were green islands in an endless sea of sand and stones. For thousands of years, the Bedouins have been traveling their ancient routes through the waterless wasteland to get from one oasis to the next. A mobile life. Everything they own has to be portable. The population had not settled, but they were Bedouins. Since they had always been wandering from one location to the next, the generations could not really build up on each other. Sometimes they had to start all over again. That is why this area was never a really advanced civilization, like Iraq or Syria, for example. And yet the north of the Arabian Peninsula has been populated by ancient advanced cultures for quite some time. Petroglyphs from the former inhabitants bear testimony to this. The oldest ones known to us were carved into stone 7,000 years ago. They reveal something unexpected. There were fertile regions here in the past. In prehistoric times, there were numerous lakes in this area that vanished over time due to dry spells. Their shores were definitely inhabited. The population was concentrated at these lakes, mainly in prehistoric times during the New Stone Age. That ultimately showed us that back then, the desert was actually green. But then Arabia's climate changes. The previously fertile savanna, with its rich wildlife, turns into an extreme desert. If people want to survive in this, they have to choose even their pets wisely. Dromedaries, for instance. Their physiology is perfectly suited for life in the desert. They are ideal transport animals for nomads and merchants like the Nabataeans. They settle around 500 BCE in the north of the Arabian Peninsula and specialize in trading frankincense. Frankincense is made from the resin of a tree that grows in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. In the whole ancient world, the fragment resin is used as a precious offering in religious cults and for healing purposes. It is even supplied all the way to Europe. The Nabataeans are controlling the trade on the Arabian Peninsula, from today's Yemen all the way to their settlements in the north. Their capital, Petra, in today's Jordan, is an impressive illustration of the wealth generated from trading. At the beginning of the Common Era, the city with its monumental tombs carved out of rock has a population of 40,000 people. The southernmost outpost of the Nabataean Empire is Madda in Salah in the northwest of today's Saudi Arabia, an important trading post in those days. It's over 100 monumental graves that were carved into rocks more than 2,000 years ago are a testimony to that. It is striking, however, that there are barely any depictions of people or gods. The graves are simply adorned by geometric stone reliefs. The religion of the Nabataeans remains a mystery to this day. One of the characteristics of this religion is that it is not just based on deities and depictions of deities as customary, but that it has also developed a cult that can be described as a stone cult. According to ancient traditions, the peoples of Arabia at the time were also worshipping holy stones that they mostly left unaltered, along with unusual stone formations found in nature. Religious influences from other cultures reached the Arabian Peninsula through the merchant caravans of the Nabataeans. The whole world of the Greek and Roman gods, as well as the one god of the Jews and the Christians. These religions coexist by and large peacefully together. At that time, a trade hub for the merchant caravans was located close to today's Mecca. For ages, the city has also been a religious center for the Bedouin tribes of the region. Legend has it that a sanctuary had existed in Mecca since the beginning of time. Long before Mecca becomes the center of the Islamic world, it is already a pilgrimage destination, a place where the divine becomes palpable. But it is a simple building in which the pilgrims offer their sacrifices and prayers. Already back then, a veritable pilgrim industry developed around the shrine. You have to imagine that people made a pilgrimage to certain places, or trees, or stones, or to the Kabbah cube because they expected a benefit from it. I'm going there. I'm performing certain rites. Maybe I'm making an offering also. And in return, I will be blessed or maybe helped by a deity. Inside the Kabbah, deities of very different cults were worshipped, whether gods and fertility gods of natural religions, the god of Jews and Christians, and early Christian saints. One black stone had enjoyed special worship for ages. It is said to be of divine origin. Mecca was multi-religious. There were different religions, or worldviews, as one would say today. But it was not religion that kept society together, but the loyalty to a certain tribe. There were different tribes, and each had its own individual tribal rules. There was no universal common law for everyone. The tribes also often went to war against each other as they were competing for supremacy on the Arabian Peninsula. In the 7th century BCE, a man emerged in Mecca who succeeded to ultimately unite the enemy tribes of Saudi Arabia, and who changed large parts of the world forever, Muhammad. An angel had delivered divine messages to him. This is the Muslim belief. Soon enough, the charismatic prophet is attracting more and more listeners. His teachings are not unknown in Arabia. He preaches the one God who rules the destiny of the world and mankind. The essential doctrine says that there is one sole God who created mankind and everything else. This is where we see clear similarities with the Jews and Christians. That one God is watching over them, expects obedience, judges them at the end of time, and then either sends them into hell or into paradise close to him. Muhammad opposes the polytheism in Mecca, which is not well received by the local priests and merchants. After all, they live off the pilgrimages, a controversy arises. The prophet and his followers are expelled from Mecca. He flees to Medina. This is where he allegedly dictated the texts of his divine revelation to his scribes. After his death, they get arranged in order and put together in a book, the Quran. Muhammad becomes the founder of a new religion. He is one of the most influential figures in world history. But first, Muhammad returns to Mecca eight years later with armed soldiers. They are seizing the city almost without a fight. He immediately starts to destroy all idol imagery around and inside the Kaaba. The cult figures have to also disappear from private homes. The prophet makes an offer to all residents of Mecca to either follow him or leave the city within a short period of time. The Kaaba becomes the center of his monotheistic beliefs. The Black Stone is also spared by the prophet. Legend has it that he installed it himself into a corner of the Kaaba. That is where it still remains today. The Muslims call the Kaaba the house of God. The ritual circles begin and end at the Black Stone. It is a mystery to this day what the stone is made of. There are a lot of hypotheses about this. Is it an agate, as was speculated before? Is it maybe a meteorite or simply a piece of lava or basalt? Or is it even made of glass? Its physical composition is completely unexplained to this day. That is part of the mystery that should be preserved because it is sometimes beneficial if things stay mysterious, like the idea behind the nature of things. The faith taught by Mohammed is a unifying power. But his religious movement develops into a political dynamic that changes the world. The successors of the prophet first conquer the Arabian Peninsula and then the adjacent regions of the world. Never before has a religious movement been expanding so quickly and with such lasting effects. One of the characteristics of Islam, which made it so very successful, is actually its flexibility. You don't have to do a lot to become a Muslim. You don't have to prove you have a lot of theological knowledge to belong to the community of Muslims. And in principle, anybody can join. That is ultimately the success story of Islam, which is similar, by the way, to the Roman Catholic Christianity, which can be so well applied to the local cultural circumstances in all parts of the world. The pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every Muslim is required to make this pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime. In earlier times, some pilgrim caravans took many months for this journey. The importance of Mecca as the Muslim spiritual center also manifests in all the faithful around the world, bowing in prayer towards the Kaaba and the holy city. The former caravan hub has turned into a massive pilgrimage center. Today, with an infrastructure equipped to accommodate more than two million people at the same time. If one observes Hajj, undertakes the pilgrimage to Mecca, and asks Allah for forgiveness of one's sins, one could be sure that God answers one's prayers. That is the belief of many. And also that praying here entails a 100,000 times bigger reward than a prayer in any other mosque. During Hajj, the faithful circle the Kaaba several times. This ritual is inspired by the story of Father Abraham. The pilgrimage is a reconstruction of the narrative of Abraham. Abraham, who had constructed the Kaaba in the first place, who had turned seven times around the Kaaba. Allegedly his footprint is still visible today beside the Kaaba in a small separate building. It is about the symbolism and the symbolic power. They make it possible to reconstruct an experience. The Quran adopted Father Abraham from the Judeo-Christian tradition. But different from what is passed on in these traditions, the Quran says that Abraham is moving to the desert with his wife Hagar and their son Ismael. God is supposed to have revealed himself to Abraham at the exact location of today's Mecca because this is supposedly where the first human, Adam, built a house of prayer. God is said to have told Abraham to leave Hagar and Ismael here. This tale of Abraham shows miraculously how Mohammed connects to biblical stories but tells them differently, presenting Abraham as the founding figure of Islam. Add to this his wife Hagar, who in this dramatic scene is concerned about her young child and who then receives divine help. So linked interestingly, done differently and individually used. When Hagar and her son almost die of thirst, the desperate mother is looking for water. According to the legend, she is running back and forth seven times between two hills in search of water. Then God comes to her rescue. At the exact location where she has left her child, a spring is starting. Legend has it that this is the well Zamzam, which is frequented by the faithful in the courtyard of the Grand Mosque in Mecca to this day. The hills Safa and Marwa, between which Hagar allegedly paced back and forth, are situated underneath the big group of buildings today. In memory of Hagar's quest for water, the pilgrims walked the distance in between the hills seven times. When I am walking back and forth between two hills, it is up to each individual to put this into a different context. Where am I now? What am I looking for in life? What is important? What is necessary today to survive in a spiritual sense? That is where spirituality comes in again. I'm moving back and forth, searching for myself, and the whole pilgrimage is a journey towards your own self. On the evening of the first day of Hajj, the pilgrims are leaving the city. Draped in white clothes, as is the rule, they move on foot into Mina. One valley east of Mecca, around five kilometers away. Here they spend the night in a gigantic tent city that can accommodate up to three million people. The next morning, the pilgrims move onto a hill in the plain of Arafat, 20 kilometers east of Mecca. In the Islamic tradition, this Hajj ritual is perceived as standing before God. The pilgrims recite the Quran, give blessings about the prophet, and offer prayers of petition. Popular belief has it that pilgrimage redeems all sins, and that is why many postpone their pilgrimage into old age. People tell themselves, I am living in the here and now. I do not want to miss out on alcohol or certain business practices, or I do not have time to pray right now. Life is too hectic. But later, later I will go to Mecca and start a whole new life. Shortly before dawn of the third day, the pilgrims return towards Mecca. The four to six days of Hajj, taking place only once a year, mean one of the biggest mass gatherings around the globe. This is why it is a source of income for the merchants in the desert country that never dries up. To ensure the safety of the pilgrims, elaborate logistics are necessary. That is because the pilgrims' paths have bottlenecks, like the Jamarat Bridge. Here, the faithful are performing the ritual of symbolically stoning the devil by throwing seven small stones onto columns. Only afterwards, the pilgrims return to Mecca. By obliging the faithful to pilgrimage, Muhammad created an effective mechanism. It visualizes the Muslim worldwide community. Nowadays, typically over one million pilgrims gather for the concluding prayer in the Great Mosque. The pilgrimage concludes with another walk around the Kaaba. It is covered with the Kizwa, a black cloth of raw silk embroidered with Quran verses made of gold and silver threads. Very privileged pilgrims receive a piece of the Kizwa, which is replaced every year. No less than 400 kilograms of gold and silver are woven into the covering. Today it is manufactured in Mecca, but up until 100 years ago, the covering was made in Cairo. Every year, a festive procession moved from Cairo to Mecca with the new Kizwa. But in 1926, a dispute between Egypt and Saudi Arabia rises. The centuries-old privilege to deliver the magnificent silk covering for the Kaaba is lost for the Egyptians. The argument began when the Kizwa was transferred from Egypt to Mecca in the usual procession on a certain frame called Mahma. Many followers of Ibn Saud were furious that horns were blown on that occasion. They considered that music, and music was banned. And on top of that, they claimed that this Mahma with the Kizwa was being worshiped by the Egyptians, making it somewhat of an idol. Islam as practiced in Saudi Arabia was stricter than elsewhere in the world already back at that time. This Islamic movement is tied to a name, Muhammad Ibn Abdel Wahab. He grows up on the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of the 18th century and soon makes a name for himself through his pursuit of scholarliness. Ibn Abdel Wahab was an exceptional person from an early age on, and that has mostly to do with his family background. His father and his grandfather were already among the most famous religious scholars in Central Arabia. And in Central Arabia, religious authority was passed on from one generation to another, actually to this day. It is presumed that the young boy had already memorized the Quran at the age of 10. At the age of 11, he goes on his first pilgrimage to Mecca and starts preaching. His main interest is the Hadith, stories about the life, words and acts of the Prophet, directing faithful Muslims in all aspects of life. Abdel Wahab develops his radical Islamic teachings as a reaction to crisis. Central Arabia during the 18th century is an immensely poor region, troubled by a number of very catastrophic crises. Drought periods, plagues of locusts. Many residents had to leave Central Arabia. It appears Ibn Abdel Wahab was looking for a solution. He was asking himself, what is the reason for God punishing us? And his answer was, at least after his return from Medina, that a return to the true Islam of the faithful forefathers of the 7th century would be the appropriate answer. Abdel Wahab's interpretation of Islam, the submission to God's will, is a radical devotion to the foundation of the religion, to the Quran and other sources considered genuine. Everything else is rejected. The essence of the teachings of Mohammed Ibn Abdel Wahab is to say there is one very clear Islamic doctrine that was watered down by Muslims. And this clear doctrine means there is just one God, one sole God and no one else. And that man is not allowed to do anything that Prophet Mohammed did not do during his time. That includes, for instance, the banning of music and tobacco and other things. That means a very strict doctrine. Whoever doesn't follow Abdel Wahab's strict rules renounces one's faith, according to him. For the residents of his village, however, this goes too far. They force him into exile. Abdel Wahab's place of birth is located in a central region of Saudi Arabia, Najd. The Jabal to Wake sprawls over almost 100 kilometers here, a steep slope out of limestone. During the rainy season, the valleys at the foot collect water, making traditional irrigated farming possible. Lush vegetation can form where fertile marshes sprawling. One of these oases is Diriyah, the home of the clan of the Al Saud. This is where Abdel Wahab finds refuge after repeatedly running into trouble elsewhere because of his radical teachings. The leader of this clan, Mohammed ibn Saud, becomes his best ally. Their encounter should change the world. These two men seemingly liked each other from the start. Both were determined, both were inspired missionaries, but both were also underdogs of sorts. Because of external conspiracies of dark powers, they had not yet been able to develop their full potential. And then these two forces form an alliance. One grants the other asylum, and the other provides him with authority in return. I think these two figures were both very charismatic, and they saw an extremely useful alliance in each other. Mohammed ibn Saud realizes clearly that he could utilize the teachings of Abdel Wahab for his own ambitions. Because the traditional Islamic point of view sees the world divided up into the house of peace ruled by Islam and the house of war, which is the world of the infidels. If all who do not follow the teachings of Abdel Wahab have been renouncing their faith, he is able to relentlessly take action even against Muslim enemies. That is his clever conclusion. The radical monotheistic teachings of Ibn Abdel Wahab certainly had political effects. He is of the opinion that only someone who strictly adheres to his rules, thus the rules of God, can be a true Muslim. And this interpretation means that the residents of important neighboring territories, but definitely the Ottomans and the Egyptians, are all looked upon as infidels. And needless to say that these infidels need to be fought in a holy war called jihad. This constitutes the enormous explosive power of a very religious teaching. In 1744, Abdel Wahab and Ibn Saud make a pact. Saud agrees to enforce the Wahabite teachings in his territory. And in return, the preacher grants him the authority to fight his enemies. It was a mutual instrumentalization, and as a result, both established a position of power, unfortunately at the expense of an enlightened Islam, at the expense of a spiritually ethical Islam. The aspiring Saud is determined to use the explosive power of Abdel Wahab's fundamentalist teachings for his own lofty plans. Up until now, he is just another small tribal chief among many others. That is about to change. Because Wahabism declares other tribes and their leaders to be infidels, he is justified in the name of God to mobilize against them and to subject them to his rule. This is how Muhammad Ibn Saud's conquering expeditions become a holy mission for his fighters, and they are willing to die for them. These are not simply mercenaries who were rounded up, but they underwent a formal Wahabite education. They had the Wahabite teachings forced down their throats, and that was unusual at the time. Previously, regions were conquered by looting and by simply looking for mercenaries and allies. That's what Ibn Saud did too. But what is added here is the fact that the soldiers, the fighters who called themselves al-Ikhwan, meaning brothers, had really been ideologically indoctrinated and sent out with the teachings of Wahabism. With the help of religion, Muhammad Ibn Saud accomplishes what no other clan leader before him had ever achieved, to unite Central Arabia under one rule. After 1745, he conquers region after region through faith and sword and enables Abd al-Wahhab to promote his teachings in compliance with their pact. Finally, his successors close in on Mecca and Medina. While reaching for the Kaaba in the heart of Mecca, the al-Saud are making a bid for the leadership of the Islamic world. They're willing to push through with the sword. A Muslim daring to attack the holiest sites of Islam, and even in the name of the prophet, that had happened only once before. However, two years earlier, the Wahhabites had vandalized mosques and Shiite shrines in what is now Iraq. They had killed thousands of people in the process. They still do not show any mercy this time around. Any resistance is mercilessly extinguished. In Medina, the crowds of Ibn Saud destroy early Islamic tombs of men worship the saints because they consider this blasphemy. Only the grave of the prophet himself gets spared. From now on, only their rules apply. The destruction of these tombs and the enforcement of the Wahhabite rules during the pilgrimage lead to a big discord in the Muslim world. Certainly not to the extent of the discord in the 20th century, but it is by all means a moment that turns the Wahhabites into a global political factor. Today, only a few monuments in Medina are still reminiscent of the time before the Wahhabites. The best known is the Prophet's Mosque with its green dome on top of the grave of Muhammad. The original construction was enlarged again and again. Today, it ranks among the biggest sacral buildings in the world. Yet still radical Wahhabites today demand to transfer Muhammad's mortal remains to a secret location. They are even critical of the honoring of the prophet and the sumptuous gravesite could tempt people to do so. At the beginning of the 20th century, the mosques of Mecca and Medina were still relatively modest buildings. Nowadays, they have mind-blowing dimensions and impress with modern technology like fully automated sunshades made in Germany. Each of them shades several hundred square meters. The Saudi royal family spent 5.3 billion euro on the construction in recent years. In 1950, Medina had only 51,000 residents. Today, 1.3 million people live here. The number of pilgrims grew similarly. To make room for them, more than 100 houses in the immediate proximity of the Prophet's Mosque had to yield. Today, the grounds are expected to hold up to 1.6 million. The Wahhabites cannot imagine a life agreeable to God to be compatible with many pleasures. Smoking, music, singing, extravagant clothing and jewelry are among such pleasures and especially dancing. All these things are being banned after the Wahhabites took over the holy sites at the beginning of the 19th century. Those who do not obey the rigid laws are at risk of lashing, mutilation or execution. The acquisition of the spiritual center of the Islamic world by a radical movement is a provocation for many Muslims, especially for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople, today's Istanbul. Like his predecessors, he is the ruler of large parts of the Arab world and nominally the Caliph, the successor of the Prophet and the leader of the Sunni Muslims. He deploys troops to Arabia. The leading power in the Arab world, by its own estimation at the time, was the Ottoman Empire. Having these holy sites so disdainfully taken by a sectarian movement that was fairly unknown at the time was a provocation that the Ottomans could not let go unpunished. The Al Saud and their Wahhabite army get defeated. The leader, Abdullah Al Saud, is awaiting his execution on December 17th, 1818 in Istanbul. The reasons for the death sentence are corruption on earth, division of Muslims and rebellion against the Caliph. Three generations after the pact between the Al Saud family and the Wahhabites, the triumph of the religious zealots seems to have stopped. The Al Saud empire disintegrates into tribal regions again. Many relatives of the family get executed or move into exile. But Mohammed ibn Abdel Wahhab's seeds are sprouting and growing further. The Al Saud will also continue to make history. Because it was not just a tribal movement with a ruler as the leader who can be eliminated and then it all goes up in smoke, but rather because it was a religious and political movement. It is not hard to imagine that something was consolidated there again in disputes with other local rulers on the Arabian Peninsula, which explains why it isn't a miracle that the Saudis are gathering once again. Their biggest enemy, the Ottoman Empire, is on the decline at the end of the 19th century. The former world power has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. Europe is talking about the sick man on the Bosporus. Sultan Abdul Hamid II is planning an ambitious project to reinforce his ruling authority for all Muslims. A railway line is supposed to link Damascus with the holy sites. The railway line is following an old pilgrim route for more than 1,300 kilometers, much to the dismay of the Bedouins who lived there. The tribes had been able to benefit extensively from the caravan trading and the pilgrimages. The pilgrim caravans were like today's tourists. They left money along the way. They went into restaurants, they stayed overnight, and they paid a pathway tax. At the very moment the Ottomans built this railway line, the Bedouins are literally standing next to it and see that the train has left the station. In 1914, the First World War erupts in Europe. The Sultan joins forces with the German Empire under William II, a decision with serious consequences. For some Arab tribes, this war is an opportunity to free themselves from the dominance of the Ottomans. They support the British and start a rebellion against the Turkish regime. Lawrence of Arabia's life memoirs are a literary monument of this rebellion. His autobiography makes the acts of sabotage and the raids of the rebellious Arabs world famous. But their dream of independence will not come true. The British probably did not expect at all that this Arab rebellion, brought into being by the Sheriff of Mecca together with Lawrence of Arabia and various other stakeholders, would be successful at all. They were quite surprised themselves about the good progress and the demands and expectations associated with this. So the British did what they have always done. They washed their hands of it and said, sorry friends, there must have been a misunderstanding. We did not mean it this way. In the years following the First World War, new borders are established in the Middle East. The future Syria and Lebanon are controlled by France. The future Iraq and Palestine are controlled by the British. Today's Israel, Jordan and the autonomous Palestinian territories all stem from the mandated territory, Palestine. Many Arabs perceive this division as a betrayal of the Muslim world. Another opportunity for another Al Saud. Abdelaziz Ibn Saud, a descendant of the founder of the first Saudi state, comes on stage like a thunderbolt. Abdelaziz shows his character basically with his very first big appearance in world history. He travels to Riyadh on horseback, allegedly with 40 followers and kills the local Ottoman governor by his own hand. That is obviously quite an entrance into world history. But the main characteristics of this figure were not only his extreme determination and his brutality, but also his dealings with international politics. Abdelaziz realizes the power void in his homeland. With his army of Wahhabite warriors, he is able to conquer the Arabian Peninsula again. In 1924, Mecca and Medina fall into his hands. In 1932, he proclaims himself king. From then on, his empire bears the name of his family, the Arabia of the Al Saud, Saudi Arabia. The national flag is a religious creed at the same time. Green is the color of the prophet. On green, it is written, there is no other God than God, and Muhammad is his messenger. Close to the oasis, Diriyah, where the pact between Ibn Saud and Abdel Wahhab has been made, a new capital is emerging, Riyadh. Today, it is a metropolis with about 7 million residents. It was a simple stroke of luck that facilitated the leap from medieval times to the modern age. In 1938, crude oil was struck, which is the fuel of the industrialized Western nations. Through their massive oil fields, the Al Saud are becoming a powerhouse in global politics. In 1945, King Abdelaziz meets the most powerful man in the Western world, the American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The cultural backgrounds of both men could not have been more different. But joint interests connect both nations to this day. The Saudi oil did play an important role in establishing America as a global power, but Saudi Arabia also has another role. Saudi Arabia was one of a few countries to be certain, this Wahhabite monarchy is not going to become a communist country. And if other countries in the region do become communist, then the Saudi Arabians will do anything in their power to make sure that this will not spill over to their country. Not only godless communism, but also capitalism and its temptation to consume holds dangers that need to be faced. While King Abdelaziz owns the most recent luxury cars, his sons are supposed to be aware of their origins in the desert. All his sons have to spend some of their earlier years with the Bedouins and swap the palace's luxury with the Spartan life in the Bedouin tent. The simple Bedouin way of life, culture and mentality fit in with the strict teachings of Wahhabism. The princes have to get used to walking barefoot and riding horses and camels. This is an adventure holiday with an educational component because this is also about toughening up and preparing for succession. In order to preserve the family's power, the king appoints his successor alone, thus breaking the tradition of the tribal elders having a say. The honorary title, Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries, is more important to him and his successors than the title of king because that is the true foundation of their power. The price of oil explodes in the 70s. The Saudis use oil as a bargaining chip for their politics. They are modernizing their nation with the aid of the petrodollar and are getting closer to the Western world. That causes criticism in their own country. The ruling family is accused of moving too far from the Puritan principles of Wahhabism. On November 20th, 1979, the discontent of the religious zealots erupts in a dramatic riot in Mecca. The military has to intervene because around 500 heavily armed rebels have occupied the Grand Mosque and taken the faithful gathered inside hostage. They are demanding a split from the Western world and deny al-Saud any authority. The assassins and their leader are defeated only with the help of a French special unit. They are executed, but they did accomplish something. The ruling family knows now that there is a problem with its power base and they react to that. They react to that with a conservative Wahhabite turnaround of sorts. As of 1979, they give free reign to the Wahhabite religious teachers throughout all levels of the Saudi Arabian society. New Islamic universities get established throughout the country. A young generation of Wahhabite fundamentalists get shaped here. They are supposed to promote their teachings. In fact, this ultra-strict Islamic doctrine is now being exported around the globe out of Saudi Arabia. It is ironic. Wahhabism, opposed to all pomp and luxury, made the al-Saud family immensely rich. They did not only enable the family to expand the holy sites to a size and splendor never seen before, but to also globally promote their own very Puritan version of Islam. The Saudis changed Islam mostly by giving tremendous significance to a reform movement that had originated on the periphery of the Islamic world. I would say that Wahhabism today has indeed gained a global political importance. That is only imaginable because in the 20th century, the state of Saudi Arabia, with all its money, strength, and newly won importance, ensured that the Wahhabite teachings will make it over into the 21st century. Riyadh's appearance as a 21st century city arrived a while ago. Even strict Wahhabism was not able to prevent the spread of modern temples of consumerism. But the goods of the Western world bring Western ideas with them. Calls for democratization, for political voices to be heard, and for more women's rights are growing progressively louder. The future of Saudi Arabia will also depend on how much its citizens will be able to identify with their nation. For many are still financially at the mercy of the immensely rich ruling family. It is still uncertain if Saudi Arabia will be able to implement change, not just superimposed from the top, but also a certain democratization of society and politics. Without democratization, this will all stay on shaky ground because a reform from the top can be turned around again from the top tomorrow. This is why I am hoping that democratic processes will slowly be established in Saudi Arabia in the near future. The fast and sometimes radical changes of modern times have left their marks on Saudi Arabia. Oil, the source of wealth for the Al Saud, is limited. The nation is in need of an independent economic alternative. The absolute monarchy of the Al Saud is under high scrutiny. Mecca will likely never lose its spiritual appeal, but Saudi Arabia offers many other treasures that the world is just starting to learn about.