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Hafiz Wahba

Hafiz Wahba (Arabic: حافظ وهبة; 15 July 1889 – 1967) was a Saudi diplomat. Fuad Hamza and he were the first ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the former in France and Hamza in the United Kingdom.[1] In addition, they were among the advisers whom King Abdulaziz employed to improve the decision-making process of the state.[2]

Hafiz Wahba
Personal details
Born15 July 1889
Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt
Died1967 (aged 77–78)
Rome, Italy
NationalityEgyptian / Saudi Arabian
Alma materAl Azhar University

Early life and education

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Wahba was born in Cairo in 1889.[3][4][5] He was a graduate of Al Azhar University.[4][6] He also attended Muslim Jurisprudence College where he obtained a degree in Islamic law.[7]

During the British occupation of Egypt, Wahba was sent to exile in Malta due to his alleged involvement in the 1919 revolt against British forces.[8] Then he joined the pan-Islamic Khilafat movement in India.[6] He worked as a school principal in Kuwait.[9]

Career

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Wahba's first official task in Saudi Arabia was that of being a tutor to Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz in 1916.[10] He also taught Prince Saud, another son of Abdulaziz.[11] In 1923 Wahba was appointed by Abdulaziz as his representative in Egypt.[7][12] However, Wahba's attempts in Egypt failed.[12] He was part of the Abdulaziz Al Saud's Hejaz campaign against Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz.[12] When Mecca was captured in 1924 Abdulaziz sent him there together with his two other advisors, Abdullah Suleiman and Abdullah Al Damluji, before he himself entered the region.[13] The same year Wahba was appointed civil governor of Mecca, a position that he held until 1926.[10] At the same time he was part of the eight-member political committee at the Saudi royal court.[14]

In 1928 Wahba was made the head of the education directorate which was responsible for educational activities in Hejaz.[8] During his term the directorate sent fourteen Saudi students to Al Azhar in Cairo for higher education.[15] The same year Wahba suggested King Abdulaziz establish a body to control and eliminate the violent attacks of the Ikhwan on pilgrims which had negative effects on the income of the country.[16] This body laid the basis of the Committee for the Promotion of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong.[16] Wahba accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Amir Faisal, King of Iraq, in February 1930.[17]

Wahba was made Saudi envoy to Vatican City.[8] He was assigned for the mission of ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 10 November 1930[18] and held the post until 1956.[19] In 1955 King Saud asked Wahba to return to Riyadh when the relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain became very tense because of the Buraimi dispute.[20] The reason for the end of his term was the diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Britain following the Suez crisis.[21]

On 7 November 1933 the Saudi-American Treaty was signed by Robert W. Bingham, the American ambassador to Great Britain, on behalf of the United States and Hafiz Wahba on behalf of Saudi Arabia.[22] Wahba accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.[23] The same year Wahba was part of the Saudi Arabia's delegation at the San Francisco meeting of the United Nations.[7] He represented Saudi Arabia at the Palestine Conference held in London in October 1947.[24] Wahba was named one of two representatives of the Saudi government as directors of the Arabian American Oil Company in May 1959.[25][26] The other one was Abdullah Tariki.[25] They were the first Saudi directors of the company.[25]

Wahba served as the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom for a second term from 15 November 1962 to 13 July 1966.[21] It was his last office, and he retired from public posts.[5]

Personal life and death

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Wahba married several times, including a Kuwaiti woman.[27] One of his children with his Kuwaiti wife was Mustafa Wahba who was the long-term secretary general of the Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (CPSA).[27][28] Hafiz Wahba also had two daughters from this marriage and another son, Ali, from his other marriage.[27]

Wahba settled in Rome following his retirement in 1966.[5] He died there in 1967.[29][30] He published various books, including Fifty Years in Arabia (1962) and Arabian Days (1964) both of which were published in London.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Bernard Lewis; Buntzie Ellis Churchill (2012). Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian. New York: Penguin Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-101-57523-9.
  2. ^ Joseph Kostiner (July 1985). "On Instruments and Their Designers: The Ikhwan of Najd and the Emergence of the Saudi State". Middle Eastern Studies. 21 (3): 315. doi:10.1080/00263208508700631.
  3. ^ Jorg Matthias Determann (2012). Globalization, the state, and narrative plurality: historiography in Saudi Arabia (PhD thesis). SOAS, University of London.
  4. ^ a b Khalid Abdullah Krairi (October 2016). John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953 (PhD thesis). University of Birmingham. p. 355.
  5. ^ a b c "وَهْبَة.. نَفَتْهُ بريطانيا من مصر فعاد إلى لندن سفيراً". Okaz (in Arabic). 13 October 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b Michael Farquhar (November 2013). Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy (PhD thesis). London School of Economics.
  7. ^ a b c "Aramco Announces New Board Chairman, President, Directors" (PDF). Sun and Flare. XV (21). Dhahran: Arabian American Oil Company: 1. 27 May 1959.
  8. ^ a b c Alexei Vassiliev (2013). The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi. pp. 15, 299. ISBN 978-0-86356-779-7.
  9. ^ D. van der Meulen (2018). Wells of Ibn Saud. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. p. 195. ISBN 978-1-317-84766-3.
  10. ^ a b c C.H.H. Owen (2020). "On royal duty: HMS Aurora's report of proceedings 1945". In Michael Duffy (ed.). The Naval Miscellany. Vol. VI. Abingdon; London: Routledge. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-00-034082-2.
  11. ^ "File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia". Qatar Digital Library. 13 January 1948. Retrieved 18 August 2023. Citing from the British India Office Records and Private Papers
  12. ^ a b c Mohamed Zayyan Aljazairi (1968). Diplomatic history of Saudi Arabia, 1903-1960's (MA thesis). University of Arizona. p. 45. hdl:10150/318068.
  13. ^ Mansour Alsharidah (July 2020). Merchants without Borders: Qusman Traders in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean, c. 1850-1950 (PhD thesis). University of Arkansas. p. 230.
  14. ^ Madawi Al Rasheed (2010). A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 83. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511993510. ISBN 978-0-5217-4754-7.
  15. ^ Ahmed Ibrahim Shukri (1972). Education, manpower needs and socio-economic development in Saudi Arabia (PhD thesis). University of London.
  16. ^ a b Madawi Al Rasheed (2013). A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-521-76104-8.
  17. ^ "Meeting of Arab Kings". The Times. No. 45415. Baghdad. 20 January 1930. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Freedom of Information Act Request". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Hafiz Wahba". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  20. ^ Haya Saleh Alhargan (2015). Anglo-Saudi Cultural Relations: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Bilateral Ties, 1950-2010 (PhD thesis). King’s College, University of London. p. 125.
  21. ^ a b Roderick Parkes (1966). "Notes on the Main Characters". Bloomsbury Collections. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  22. ^ Fahd M. Al Nafjan (1989). The Origins of Saudi-American Relations: From recognition to diplomatic representation (1931-1943) (PhD thesis). University of Kansas. p. 118. ProQuest 303791009.
  23. ^ "Charles Claftin sees History in the making". Acton Beacon. 17 August 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  24. ^ "Palestine Talks in London". The Times. No. 50668. 25 January 1947. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  25. ^ a b c "Two Sheiks Join Aramco Board; Named to Represent the Government of Saudi Arabia". The New York Times. 22 May 1959.
  26. ^ William E. Mulligan (May–June 1984). "A Kingdom and a Company". Aramco World. 25 (3).
  27. ^ a b c "عاش مع الطريقي طفولة الكويت، السيد مصطفى حافظ وهبة لـ"إيلاف" : لم يكن الطريقي متعالياً ولا مغروراً، وعلى طاشكندي أن يراجع كلامه!!". Elaph (in Arabic). 24 June 2003. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  28. ^ Mohammed Turki A. Al Sudairi (2019). "Marx's Arabian Apostles: The Rise and Fall of the Saudi Communist Movement". The Middle East Journal. 73 (3): 455–456. doi:10.3751/73.3.15. S2CID 210378439.
  29. ^ "نفته بريطانيا من مصر فعاد إلى لندن سفيرًا للسعودية". Al Ayam (in Arabic). 13 October 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  30. ^ Nabil Mouline (2014). The Clerics of Islam. Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 110. doi:10.12987/yale/9780300178906.001.0001. ISBN 9780300178906.
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