Sultan bin Hamoud Al Rashid (; 1870–January 1908) was the eighth Emir of Jabal Shammar from 1906 until 1908.

Early life

Sultan was born around 1870, the third son of Hamoud bin Obaid Al Rashid.

Career

In June 1905, disgruntled by the rule of the Emir, Abdulaziz bin Mutaib Al Rashid, Sultan seized control of Jauf al Amir and its surroundings. He complained to the

Ottoman Sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...

about Ibn Rashid, but without result. On 12 April, 1906, Emir Abdulaziz was killed in the

Battle of Rawdat Muhanna The Battle of Rawdat Muhanna ( or ) was a major battle of the Saudi–Rashidi War, during the unification of Saudi Arabia, fought between the Rashidi dynasty and Saudi rebels. It occurred on 12 April 1906, in Muhanna's Gardens in Qassim region. ...

, succeeded by his eldest son (and Sultan's nephew), the barely 18-year-old Mutaib bin Abdulaziz. Despite Mutaib's popularity with the people of Ha'il, he was not supported by the Obaid branch of the Al Rashid family. Sultan and two of his brothers, Saud and Faisal, began planning to murder the Emir and other members of the House of Rashid in order to seize control. According to

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly inf ...

, Sultan was unwilling to kill Emir Mutaib, though Saud told him that whoever killed him would become Emir. In late December 1906, the brothers invited the Emir, his brothers, and cousins on a hunting trip. There, Mutaib was killed by Sultan; Talal bin Nayef Al Rashid (the father of Muhammad, the twelfth Emir and Abdullah) was killed by Saud, and Mutaib's brother Mishaal was killed by Faisal. Sultan asked who the people of Ha'il support, and they said Muhammad, the remaining full brother of Mutaib, who was then killed in Ha'il. The only son of Abdulaziz who was not killed in the bloodshed was

Saud The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fac ...

, half-brother of the murdered Emir, who was taken to

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

. Sultan married Saud's mother, Moudi and had a son, Ali, and a daughter, Abta. Upon becoming Emir, Sultan reinitiated conflicts with

Ibn Saud Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

, who had made peace with Mutaib. Sultan allied with the Emir of

Buraydah Buraydah or Buraidah (Arabic: بريدة) is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Province in north-central Saudi Arabia. Renowned as the agricultural capital of Saudi Arabia and often referred to as the food basket of the Kingdom, the cit ...

, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Muhanna, and the Sheikh of Mutair,

Faisal al-Duwaish Faisal bin Sultan al-Duwaish (Arabic: فيصل بن سلطان .الدويش المطيري c. 1882 – 1931) was Shaykh of the Mutayr tribe and one of Arabia's Ikhwan leaders, who assisted Abdulaziz in the unification of Saudi Arabia. The mother ...

, against Ibn Saud, though this was not enough to quell the growing

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

power, and they were defeated at the Battle of Tarfiya. Sultan and his brothers Saud and Faisal had a falling out and he became increasingly unpopular in Ha'il. The three agreed in 1908 for Saud to become Emir and for Sultan to leave for

Tayma Tayma (; Taymanitic: 𐪉𐪃𐪒, , vocalized as: ) or Tema is a large oasis with a long history of settlement, located in northwestern Saudi Arabia at the point where the trade route between Medina and Dumah (Sakakah) begins to cross the Na ...

. When he left, Saud realized that Sultan had emptied the treasury for himself, so Sultan was tracked down at Mogug and killed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashid, Sultan Hamoud 20th-century monarchs in the Middle East 20th-century murdered monarchs 1870 births 1908 deaths Arab people from the Ottoman Empire

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Ibn Saud Arabian regicides