In early February 2007, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the leaders of warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to the holiest site in Islam and told them to make peace.
The venue was the King’s palace in Mecca overlooking the Kaaba. The two Palestinian leaders, Khaled Meshaal of Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, entered the Holy Mosque together, draped in the robes of pilgrimage, to touch the black stone.
Within days, they walked away with an agreement.
This was classic King Abdullah, a man who, during his nearly 10 years as king and two decades leading the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, gained a reputation for patience, dialogue and unwavering religious faith. His leadership was a powerful blend mixing the soft power of symbolism, the hard power of generous state coffers, and the pragmatism of honest discussion.
King Abdullah died on Friday, January 23, 2015 – having seamlessly woven together the many roles that Saudi Arabia can and does play at home and in the region.
“Saudi Arabia sees itself as the leader of the Arab world, the Islamic world, and the energy world,” said Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute. “Although to the outside world, the energy predominates, to the Saudis generally and King Abdullah in particular, it was the Arab and Islamic leadership that was most crucial.”
King Abdullah was popular – even at the most trying of times for the kingdom and the region. And much of his charm had to do with the very fact of who he was to Saudi Arabia.
The son of a Bedouin woman from the Shammar tribe and the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, Abdullah was the personification of the very marriage that had wed the state of Saudi Arabia together — an improbable kingdom of landed and Bedouin who stretched across hostile desert terrain.
Over the decades that King Abdulaziz ruled, the kingdom’s founder wove together a nation of rural and urban, oil rich and poor, Sunni and Shiite, Bedouin and land owners. When King Abdullah was born, he was proof of that cohesion.
As monarch, he proved that the many threads of Saudi Arabia could stand the wear of time. King Abdullah oversaw a vast economic modernisation of the kingdom, loosening rules for foreign investment, expanding education and improving infrastructure.
But on the weekends and holidays, he preferred the desert, where he raised Arabian horses throughout his life. He once welcomed former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton – and her entire press corps – to his retreat in Radwat Khuraim, an elaborate network of chandeliered tents. With typical Saudi hospitality, the “buffet ran for yards”, one correspondent remembered.
His ability to balance the traditional and modern may be one reason why King Abdullah was known, even when he was crown prince, as a peacemaker of men.
“He has opened up the opportunity for dialogue to address some of the challenges that we have in the country,” said Hussein Shobokshi, a Jeddah businessman and columnist. “It is easier to address critical issues such as women, tolerance and education. These are all subjects that were not mentioned before now.”
King Abdullah brought new ideas to the kingdom, just as his predecessors had done. But he wanted them talked about.
When he pushed forward the Foreign Investment Act as Crown Prince, one of the keystones of his economy policy, he opened the draft up for discussion.
“[That] was a novelty: business elites were not a driver of the FIA, but the Crown Prince … allowed them to be part of the debate,” wrote Steffen Hertog in a study of the Saudi government bureaucracy.
Nor did King Abdullah shy away from difficult discussions. One of his first moves as ruler was to open a dialogue about the uneven national development that had left some parts of the country – particularly Saudi Arabia’s predominantly Shiite East – feeling left behind.
The role of women in the kingdom was also a priority. King Abdullah named the first female cabinet member to the education ministry in 2009. Then, in September 2011, he promised women the right to vote and stand for office in the Shura Council and municipal councils.
“All people know that Muslim women have had in the Islamic history, positions that cannot be marginalised,” he said upon making the announcement. “We reject to marginalise the role of women in the Saudi society, in every field of works, according to Shariah guidelines.”
Education, King Abdullah argued, was fundamental to his country’s development. He put his money on it; education represented an incredible 24 per cent of government spending in 2012. When King Abdullah opened his flagship research university, the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, in 2009, he called it “a dream of mine for more than 25 years”.
Overseas, King Abdullah took his role as a conciliator equally seriously. He engaged warring factions from Palestine and Darfur to Somalia and Iraq.
When he visited US president George W Bush as Crown Prince in 2004, he carried with him videos and tapes – he was determined to show the American leader what life was really like in Palestine.
He also began a drive toward inter-religious tolerance that won broad praise, meeting Catholic Pope Benedict XVI in November 2007 – the first time a Saudi leader had ever done so. King Abdullah’s gestures carried particular weight in the decade following the September 11 attacks.
“[The kingdom] has equally treated all ideologies, factions and sects forming other societies and called for dialogue, understanding and reconciliation in any region witnessing seeds of sedition and division,” he told the Shura Council that year, laying out his philosophy.
Toward the end of his life, King Abdullah’s concern over religious strife was evident again. Conflict in Iraq and Lebanon, he worried, had reopened sectarian rifts in the second half of the 2000s. As crisis enveloped Syria, the risk of “sedition”, he warned, was stronger than ever.
At a summit of all Islamic countries in August 2012, he urged “solidarity, tolerance and moderation” to solve a crisis there. His condemnation for the regime of Bashar Al Assad was outspoken, and at the time of his death Saudi Arabia was involved in training Syrian rebel forces.
“King Abdullah agonised about things,” said Mr Henderson. “He agonised about the Palestinians when the intifada was at its height, and he was now agonising about the people of Syria.”
His pragmatism helped him steer his country through the turmoil of the Arab Spring, using a blend of assertive foreign policy to support allies such as Bahrain, and dialogue to help others like Yemen through transitions of power.
In November last year King Abdullah, again chose compromise and discussion when he oversaw an agreement between Gulf Cooperation Council leaders that helped resolve one of the most serious disputes in the bloc’s history.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain had recalled their ambassadors from Doha earlier in the year over Qatar’s failure to honour a security agreement.
The personal involvement of King Abdullah was one of the main factors that encouraged GCC leaders to restore diplomatic relations.
“King Abdullah thought that you either have to compromise to maintain the unity of the GCC or to escalate the internal conflict,” said Mustafa Alani, the director of security and defence studies at the Gulf Research Centre.
In his absence, King Abdullah’s legacy will now shape what follows. His half-brother, former Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, ascended to the throne immediately after his death. The new crown prince is Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the youngest son of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud. As one of six royal decrees issued on Friday, King Salman named Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as Deputy Crown Prince.
But perhaps even more fundamentally than succession, King Abdullah leaves the kingdom in a region changing quickly – more intricately linked than ever by technology and the speed of news, but in other ways as divided as ever in its modern history.
As he once said: “We are passing startling days.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Elizabeth Dickinson is the former Gulf Correspondent for The National
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
MATCH INFO
Uefa Nations League
League A, Group 4
Spain v England, 10.45pm (UAE)
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
MATCH INFO
Karnatake Tuskers 114-1 (10 ovs)
Charles 57, Amla 47
Bangla Tigers 117-5 (8.5 ovs)
Fletcher 40, Moores 28 no, Lamichhane 2-9
Bangla Tiger win by five wickets
Results
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah – Group 2 (PA) $36,000 (Dirt) 1,600m, Winner: RB Money To Burn, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Turf) 2,410m, Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Trophy – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (T) 1,900m, Winner: Secret Protector, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 - Group 2 (TB) $293,000 (D) 1,900m, Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
8.50pm: Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Zakouski, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (T) 1,000m, Winner: Motafaawit, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Major matches on Manic Monday
Andy Murray (GBR) v Benoit Paire (FRA)
Grigor Dimitrov (BGR) v Roger Federer (SUI)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Gilles Muller (LUX)
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
