The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as it is officially known, is considered in its national context in this study. KSA was founded by Abdulaziz Al Saud on September 23rd, 1932 by royal decree as the kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd were unified. It is run by a unitary Islamic absolute monarchy with its capital based in the city of Riyadh. Being the birthplace of the Islamic religion and because of its superior position in terms of its vast oil reserves, Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential countries in the world. A comprehensive outlook is thereby presented for the case of KSA.
3.2.1 Geography of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the second largest country in the Arab world, next to Algeria, and the largest in Western Asia, with a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2. The country therefore, occupies most of the northern and central Arabian Peninsula, and accounts for almost 80 per cent of the total area making up the Peninsula. Hejaz, the Islamic crib, is situated in KSA’s western highlands alongside the Red Sea where the holiest cities of the religion lie: namely, Mecca and Medina. Najd, which etymologically means Highland, is a vast region of barren land in the heart of the country, and until recently, it had been the hub of the many feuds and wars between Bedouin tribes and clans. The Persian Gulf envelops the east of the landmass
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and harbours rich reserves of oil and natural gas which have made KSA a pioneer in the global petroleum industry since the 1960s. KSA shares its northern borders with Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq; its eastern border is shared with the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Oman, the latter extending somewhat to the south-east. Yemen lies to the south and south-west and to the west lies the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Figure 3.1 presents the political map of KSA that show the adjoining countries and features.
Figure 3.1: Map of Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries
The country is characterised by various geographic regions that influence the climate of KSA and can be classified into the following three zones:
Desert encompassing most regions;
Steppe (grasslands) along the western highlands, along with strips of widths below 100 miles (160 km) in the north, except at the latitude of Mecca where they are 300 miles (480 km) wide;
The highlands to the north of Yemen, which is a small area of moderate and humid climate featuring long summers. The northern Arabian Peninsula generally experiences cyclonic weather conditions during winter which tend to shift from the Mediterranean Sea in the east.
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Sometimes these weather systems also reach the eastern and central parts of Saudi Arabia as well as the Persian Gulf. Some of them move along the Red Sea trough towards the south, causing mild winter rainfall that reaches Mecca and sometimes advances even more southwards in Yemen. The months of March and April usually witness torrential rain. Steppe-like land forms are sustained by the adequate falls of rain brought about by the monsoon-type winds across the highlands of Asīr to the southeast of Mecca during summer. The months of December through to February feature cool winters with occasional frost and snow about the southern highlands. Some of the recorded average temperatures during these months are: Jeddah at 74°F (23 °C), Riyadh at 58°F (14 °C) and Al-Dammām at 63°F (17°C). Hot summers are experienced from June to August when temperatures during the day soar to over 100°F (38°C) for almost all regions, with a maximum temperature of 130°F (55°C) in the desert regions.
3.2.2 Demographics of Saudi Arabia
Despite being a relatively young country, Saudi Arabia has a rich history which has been largely fuelled by its religion, tribalism and huge potential wealth. As per a recent estimation by the CIA in The World Factbook, the population of the Kingdom is set at 26,939,583 which comprises 5,576,076 expatriates. The expatriate demographic (from the same source) has been found to comprise 21 percent of the total population with 4.8% Indians, 3.3% Pakistanis, 3.3% Egyptians, 2.9% Yemenis, 1.8% Bangladeshis, 1.8% Filipinos, 0.96% Palestanians/Jordanians, 0.92% Indonesians, 1.35% Sri Lankans, 0.92% Sudanese, 0.38% Syrian, 0.38% Turkish and 0.38% Westerners (mostly Europeans and Americans). The ethnic demographic is composed of 50% Arabs, 5% Bedouin Arabs, 10% Afro-Asians and 35% al- Arab al-Ifriqiyah (Arabic speaking Africans). The Bedouin Arabs in KSA can be understood to be analogous to the Western cowboy folk heroes in America. These Bedouins have been visualised as the powerful prototype of a desert warrior and seem to influence the average Saudi Arabian value system and behaviour patterns, thus serving as the cultural bedrock of the country. Since the 1960s, a largely proportioned nomadic demographic has been found currently to be as far as 95% settled. The nomadic population,, along with the sedentaries, exhibit a degree of ethnic heterogeneity marking them as the descendants of the original ethnic stock of the Arabian Peninsula. The variation in the ethnic demography has been a result of the influence of sub-Saharan Africa along the Red Sea and the immigrants throughout history from Iran, India and Pakistan along the Arabian Gulf.
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The Semitic language that had originated on the peninsula is Arabic which is aptly the official language of KSA. It is spoken by the Saudis in three regional variants: Hejazi Arabic, Nejdi Arabic and Gulf Arabic. As Arabic exists in many vernacular dialects, in KSA it has been identified as three main groups according to region: eastern, central and western. Other languages used among the expatriate population include Tagalog, Persian, Pashto, Rohingya, Urdu, Korean and Egyptian Arabic. Classical Arabic, which is the language of the Qur’an, has been found to give rise to modern standard Arabic as the official script or written language within the country, as well as in the extended Arab world. English is also widely understood among both the citizens and expats, and is used officially.
3.2.2.2 Religion
Saudi Arabia bears a significant position among the followers of Islam throughout the world for being the birthplace of the religion. Most Saudi natives adhere to the Sunni branch of Islamic practice, the modern interpretation of which has been particularly influential through Muslim scholars; the sect’s views have been a major governing factor socially as well as economically. Political legitimacy has been established by the highly religious-oriented Saudi government, which is the Saud family, as the country’s custodian of the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The primary branch of Islam followed in KSA is Wahhabism, also referred to by native members as muwaḥḥidūn, meaning Unitarians; this is the Ḥanbali school of Islamic law’s strictly interpreted practice. The framework of this sect derived from the alliance of the religious scholar, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab (1703–92), with Ibn Saud, and is therefore directly connected with the establishment the first Saudi state. Another important branch of Islam practiced in KSA is that of the Shiites who constitute a minority demographic existing among the oases of Al-Hasa and Al-Qaṭif, located in the country’s eastern part.
3.2.2.3 Culture of Saudi Arabia
The cultural scenario of KSA is quintessentially Arab and Islamic. Laws and regulatory enforcement are primarily imposed on dress and behaviour so as to preserve the purist religious stance of the state. This is evident in the ban on alcoholic beverages, and restrictions with regard to the public exhibition of films and theatre. Privileges are limited concerning the public expression of opinions on matters concerning everything internal to KSA, in spite of the abundance of well-educated Saudi citizens who are well informed on internal and international matters, and those within the Arab world. The government has
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always been an absolute Islamic monarchy since its foundation, which prohibits the introduction of any other political system or the formation of political parties or labour unions for accessing public forums. Islamic teachings monitor the daily pattern of activities of an average Saudi Arabian native. This includes the mosque minarets summoning Muslims to prayer five times every day. Unlike the rest of the world, Saudi Arabia used to observe Thursday and Friday as weekend, which it shares with other Arab countries, as Friday is regarded as holy for all Muslims. However, since June 28, 2013, the weekend has been shifted to Friday and Saturday in order to allow better economic coordination with international activities. The national sport of KSA is football; other popular sports include basketball and adventure sports like scuba diving, windsurfing and sailing. More traditional sports, such as camel racing and falconry, are also very much a part of the Kingdom’s culture.