Saud bin Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Saud

Saud I. ibn Abd al - Aziz ibn Muhammad Al Saud (Arabic سعود الكبير بن عبد العزيز بن محمد آل سعود, DMG Sa ʿ ūd al - Kabīr ibn ʿ Abd al - ʿ Azeez b Muhammad Al Sa ʿ ūd; . * 1759, † 1814) was Imam the Wahhabis ( 1803-1814 ).

Saud ibn Abd al- Aziz I. took over 55 years, the leadership of the Wahabitenreiches of his father Abd al - Aziz ibn Muhammad ( 1765-1803 ). Already in 1788 he had been appointed heir to the throne, and had ever since the campaigns of the Wahabis, among others waged against al - Hasa, Mecca and Karbala. After his government takeover in 1804 he occupied Medina and built in Yanbu on the Red Sea a fort, the Sherif of Mecca Ghaleb was of the Wahhabi vassals, the Emir of Asir severely beaten. In the aftermath Saud I. forced the submission of Ghaleb and consolidated the rule of the Wahhabis in Bahrain, as the Pirate Coast and Oman.

The unification of Arabia by the Al Saud, and especially the occupation of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, however, led to a backlash of the Ottoman sultan, who regarded himself as the Caliph of the Muslims. He therefore instructed Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt with the expulsion of the Wahabis of the holy places. 1811 Egyptian troops landed under Tusun Bey in Yanbu. In the following years it was concluded alliances with the Bedouins of the surrounding area, as well as negotiations with the Sherif Ghaleb in Mecca. Despite some setbacks, the Egyptians occupied in 1812 and 1813 Medina Mecca, which now also Ghaleb dropped by the Wahhabis.

Saud I. died on May 1, 1814 of fever. He was succeeded by his son Abdallah ibn Saud I. to the throne (1814-1818), who had led the fight against the Egyptian troops.