Al Rashid - History

History

The Al Rasheed derived their name from the grandfather of Abdullah, who was named Rasheed. The first "amir" (Prince) Abdullah Ibn Rasheed was the first to begin the establishment of the Emirate of Ha'il. The Rasheedi amirs cooperated closely with the Ottoman Empire. However, this cooperation became problematic as the Ottoman empire lost popularity.

In 1890, Al Rasheed occupied Riyadh. Then they defeated Al Sauds and forced them to go into exile, first in Bahrain, next to Qatar and finally to Kuwait.

As with many Arab ruling dynasties, the lack of a generally accepted rule of succession was a recurrent problem with the Rasheedi rule. The internal dispute normally centered on whether succession to the position of amir should be horizontal (i.e. to a brother) or vertical (to a son). These internal divisions within the family led to bloody infighting. In the last years of the nineteenth century six Rasheedi leaders died violently. Nevertheless, The Al Rasheed Family still ruled and fought with each other hand in hand against Ibn Saud.

During the first twenty years of the 20th century the Arabian Peninsula saw a long-running series of wars as the Saudis and their allies sought to unite the peninsula under their rule. While the Al Rasheed rallied the majority of other tribes to their side the effort proved futile, and by 1921 Ha'il was captured and given to Ibn Saud's army by the British command. Ibn Saud had the upper hand and defense mechanisms provided to him by Great Britain.

Some members of the Rasheed family left the country and went into voluntary exile, mostly to Iraq. By the 1990s only a handful were still outside Saudi Arabia.