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| d. Arabia |
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(See 945, Dec)| The Arabian peninsula, the birthplace of Muhammad and Islam, became of marginal importance in Middle Eastern history not long after the Arabs began their conquests in the 7th century. Various Middle Eastern states extended their formal authority to the coastal region of the Hijaz, site of Mecca and Medina, and intermittently to Yemen, but seldom to the interior of the peninsula. The Ottomans established a hold in Yemen and eastern Arabia in the 16th century, but by the 18th century their authority was confined to the Hijaz, where the Hashemite emirs enjoyed autonomy while acknowledging Ottoman suzerainty. Throughout the peninsula powerful family and tribal elites ruled over essentially sovereign emirates. Several of the dynastic regimes established in the 18th century—in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain—have survived to this day. | 1 |
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| 1745 |
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| BIRTH OF THE FIRST SAUDI-WAHHABI STATE. Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud (d. 1765), chief of a tribal emirate based in Dar'iyya in the central Arabian region of Najd, forged an alliance with MUHAMMAD IBN ABD AL-WAHHAB (1703–92), a theologian preaching a message of puritanical reform of Islam. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab criticized the laxities of Muslim observance. He sought to do away with all misguided innovations in Islam, such as the veneration of saints and Sufi rituals, and to return the faith to its fundamental scriptural principles. In the next 60 years Ibn Sa‘ud and his successors extended their domination and the Wahhabi ideas over most of Arabia. The first Saudi state was finally destroyed in 1818. | 2 |
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| 1748–75 |
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| Abbas al-Mahdi ruled as imam of Yemen. | 3 |
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| 1749 |
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| Ahmad ibn Sa‘id became ruler of Oman, beginning the rule of the BU SA‘ID DYNASTY, which remains in power today. | 4 |
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| 1752 |
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| Sabah ibn Jabir of the Banu Utub Arabs became ruler of Kuwait, beginning the rule of the SABAH DYNASTY, which still holds power today. | 5 |
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| 1762–1812 |
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| Abdallah ibn Sabah ruled as sheik of Kuwait. | 6 |
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| 1765–1803 |
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| Abd al-Aziz ruled as Saudi emir after the death of his father Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud, who had unified most of Najd under his rule. He continued the expansion of Saudi control in the peninsula. | 7 |
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| 1773 |
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| The Wahhabis annexed Riyadh. | 8 |
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| 1775–1809 |
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| Ali al-Mansur ruled as imam of Yemen. | 9 |
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| 1782 |
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| Ahmad ibn Khalifa of the Banu Utub Arabs became the ruler of Bahrain, establishing the rule of the AL-KHALIFA DYNASTY, which still holds power today. | 10 |
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| 1783 |
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| Death of Ahmad, ruler of Oman; he was succeeded by his son Sa‘id. | 11 |
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| 1787 |
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| The Wahhabis took Hail and gained control of the region of Jabal Shammar in central Arabia. | 12 |
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