Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( Muḥammad bin ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Saʿūd; 4 March 1910 25 November 1988) was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1965 and the nominal governor of Al Madinah Province from 1925 to 1954. He resigned as crown prince in order to pave the way for his brother Khalid bin Abdulaziz to become the heir apparent. Prince Muhammad was one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the House of Saud. His advice was sought and deferred to in all matters by his brothers.
Prince Muhammad was a son of King Abdulaziz and Al Jawhara bint Musaed Al Jiluwi. He often played a role in his father's campaigns which resulted in the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He opposed the appointment of his elder half-brother Saud as the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Prince Muhammad was the acting viceroy of Hejaz in 1932 during the absence of the viceroy Faisal bin Abdulaziz (later king), another of his half-brothers, from the country. The royal family council, under the leadership of Prince Muhammad, deposed King Saud and placed Faisal on the throne in 1964.
After taking the throne, King Faisal nominated Prince Muhammad as crown prince, but he stepped away from the succession. His younger full brother, Prince Khalid, then became crown prince. Following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, the members of the royal family council including Prince Muhammad proclaimed Khalid as king. Prince Muhammad was an important advisor to King Khalid. He was a traditionalist who opposed efforts at modernising Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, believing the reforms would harm the country's traditional Islamic values. He ordered the controversial execution of his granddaughter Misha'al bint Fahd on charges of adultery in 1977. He led the family council in swearing allegiance to his younger half-brother Fahd as king upon the death of King Khalid in 1982. Six years later, Prince Muhammad died aged 78.
Early life
Prince Muhammad was the fourth son of King Abdulaziz and was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh, in 1910. His mother was Al Jawhara bint Musaed of the important Al Jiluwi family, which is a cadet branch of the Al Saud family itself. She and her husband were second cousins. Their respective fathers, Musaed bin Jiluwi and Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, were first cousins while their grandfathers, Jiluwi bin Turki and Faisal bin Turki, were brothers. This was in keeping with long-standing traditions in Arabia of marriage within the same lineage, and the members of Al Jiluwi frequently intermarried with the members of Al Saud.
Prince Muhammad was one of three children born to Al Jawhara bint Musaed and King Abdulaziz. His full brother Prince Khalid would later serve as king,
Royal duties
From an early age Prince Muhammad participated in fights during the formation years of the Kingdom with his older brothers and cousins. He and Prince Faisal were given the responsibility for the Ikhwan in mid-1920s. In December 1925 Prince Muhammad was named governor of Madinah following the conquest of the city in which he was involved. His tenure lasted until 1954.
Prince Muhammad and Crown Prince Saud represented King Abdulaziz at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London in 1937. The King's two sons Muhammad and Mansour along with their uncle Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman attended the meeting between King Abdulaziz and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Egypt in February 1945. Prince Muhammad accompanied King Saud during his visit to the US in January 1962.
Prince Muhammad was known as a king-maker. He was a key prince in the coalition against King Saud. He was head of the royal family council and acted as a mediator during the dispute between King Saud and Crown Prince Faisal. He was sent to King Saud's Al Naṣariah Palace in Fall 1964 to demand his and his sons' loyalty to the chosen king, Faisal.
Prince Muhammad's nickname was Abu Sharayn or "the father of two evils" referring to his bad temper and his habit of drinking. In fact, his original nickname was "the father of evil" due to his aggressive and violent character during his youth which was first said by King Abdulaziz. In addition, Prince Muhammad was a frequent visitor to the parties in Beirut which he himself did not consider a proper act for a royal. It is also argued that Prince Muhammad, the oldest surviving son of King Abdulaziz after Faisal, either declined the role of crown prince or was passed over because of his close association with King Saud during the latter's reign.
During the reign of King Khalid, Prince Muhammad was one of the members of the inner family council headed by the King and included his half-brothers Crown Prince Fahd, Prince Abdullah, Prince Sultan, and Prince Abdul Muhsin as well as two of his surviving uncles, Prince Ahmed and Prince Musaid. Prince Muhammad was very influential in reducing the power of the Sudairi Seven, who attempted to put to end Prince Abdullah's potential position of future crown prince. After the death of King Khalid on 13 June 1982, the royal family council led by Prince Muhammad expressed its allegiance to the new king, Fahd. Prince Muhammad died on 25 November 1988 at approximately 78 years of age and was buried in Riyadh.
Controversy
Prince Muhammad's granddaughter, Misha'al bint Fahd, was convicted of adultery in Saudi Arabia; she and her lover were sentenced to death on the explicit instructions of her grandfather, Prince Muhammad, who was a senior member of the royal family, for the alleged dishonour she brought on her clan and defying a royal order calling for her to marry a man selected by the family, and were subject to public execution. Western media criticized the event as a violation of women's rights. A British TV channel presented a dramatized documentary, Death of a Princess, which was based on this incident. The broadcast hurt Saudi–UK relations significantly.
Following the execution, segregation of women became more severe, and the religious police also began patrolling bazaars, shopping malls and any other place where men and women might happen to meet. When Prince Muhammad was later asked if the two deaths were necessary, he said, "It was enough for me that they were in the same room together". In the early 1980s his daily share was half a million barrels of oil.
Following the announcement that Prince Khalid was chosen as crown prince on 29 March 1965 Radio Mecca reported a statement by Prince Muhammad: "I would rather stay away from positions and titles." Prince Muhammad later stated that he would not be a good king if he would have been chosen as the king. They did not support the fast modernization of the society witnessed at the end of the 1970s and thought that modernization and the presence of too many foreign workers in the country would lead to the erosion of traditional Muslim values.
Personal life
Muhammad bin Abdulaziz married five times to women linked to the Al Saud family. Prince Muhammad also had concubines.
Prince Muhammad had twenty-nine children, seventeen sons and twelve daughters. His eldest son, Prince Fahd, was one of the members of Al Saud Family Council established by Crown Prince Abdullah in June 2000 to discuss private issues such as business activities and marriages of younger royals to individuals who were not members of the House of Saud.
In the 1940s Prince Muhammad mostly resided in Riyadh and did not stay in Hejaz for long periods. He was fond of hunting with falcons and rifles. In 2014, the Saudi Ministry of Health started a medical complex in Sakakah, Al Jawf region, called Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Medical City.