About King Abdullah
Birth and Life
King Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him, was raised by his father, King Abdulaziz Al Saud, and learnt and benefited from his father’s practice in the fields of governance, politics, administration and leadership. He was educated by several teachers and scholars and gained his knowledge from his extensive readings in various fields of knowledge, culture and civilization.
From a young age, he was known for his religious commitment, moral discipline, strong presence, influence and rationality, which characterized his personality until his death. In his youth, he witnessed the most important political developments that followed the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which gave him deep experience in the affairs of governance, politics and international relations by accompanying his father King Abdulaziz. In addition to these great experiences, his leadership personality was strengthened by his broad culture, which he gained from his love of reading as well as his love of the desert and horsemanship, which instilled in him the purity of spirit and the morals of a noble knight.
He passed away after a long illness, in the early hours of Friday, 3 Rabi’ II, 1436 AH, corresponding to 23 January 2015, after a long career of giving, leaving an indelible mark on the conscience and memory of his people and all the peoples of the world.
His Humanitarian Personality
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was a strong global figure who has a compassionate and empathetic personality who was quickly affected by humanitarian situations. The sense of humanitarian responsibility was the most prominent characteristic of King Abdullah’s personality, and several events were recorded in which King Abdullah could not restrain himself in front of people or prevent his tears from flowing in mercy and sympathy.
The qualities of courage and noble morals in this exceptional king were mixed with the feelings of humanity, which made him one of the most important initiators of peacemaking in the world, supported by many personal qualities such as his penchant for dialogue and his excellence in listening to others and taking their advice, in addition to his transparency, clarity, frankness, humility, simplicity, initiative and charisma that King Abdullah enjoyed and for which people knew and loved him.
Despite the feelings of responsibility that dominated King Abdullah towards all that is humanitarian, his feelings of fatherhood towards children had a special place in his heart. He personally sponsored nearly 30 operations conducted in the Kingdom to separate Siamese twins from several countries that were hosted under his generous patronage. While King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz paid attention to all disabled people and granted them many legislative and service privileges and facilities, disabled children in particular received special attention, as evidenced by the establishment of the center of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz – Disabled children Association.
The feelings of the fatherly man reached the hearts of all children everywhere, which was expressed by Arab children by awarding him the “Arabic Fatherhood Medal” at the end of 2011. For their part, the disabled children wanted to reciprocate his love and loyalty by awarding him in 1430 AH with the Disabled Children’s Association Humanitarian Service Award in recognition of his leadership and role in supporting the Disabled Children’s Association and its national programs.
King Abdullah’s generous humanitarian gestures towards people everywhere went beyond meeting their urgent needs to fulfilling their great wishes, especially those indigent people who wished to fulfill their lifelong hope of pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque, so he hosted thousands of pilgrims annually at his own expense, and as for the necessary needs of people, it is enough to cite his receiving the “Global Hero Against Hunger Award in 2008” from the World Food Program (WFP).
“King of Humanity” is the closest title to King Abdullah’s collective memory, not only for the people of Saudi Arabia, but also for the people of many countries around the world, through his prompt response to disasters in several countries that have experienced natural disasters and calamities. His empowerment of young scouts around the world to be messengers of peace and end conflicts through his distinguished global project “Messengers of Peace”.
As for his “Philanthropist” program, whose founder was not revealed until after his death, it was implemented by the Islamic Development Bank Group to meet the needs of many communities in Asia and Africa. The projects of this giant program have changed the lives of many people.
Impact and Achievements
His life was full of achievements locally, regionally and globally. On the domestic level, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia witnessed during his reign a great acceleration of development in various fields, and he was more concerned with education, health, housing, roads, environment, water, electricity, e-government, telecommunications, public services and giant economic development projects. At the foreign policy level, the Kingdom’s regional and international role was strengthened, supported by the great international respect enjoyed by King Abdullah, which contributed to the success of his efforts to establish peace in many countries that witnessed severe conflicts, or at the global level in bringing together sects and religions and consolidating dialogue between them.
