2024/08/01 by Roy Bar Sadeh · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics #Soviet and Russian History #Turkey's Politics and Society
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0020743824000965
openalex publication_date 2024/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/02/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
In 1926, an official delegation of prominent Muslim scholars from the Soviet Union visited Mecca. The delegation came to the holy city just a few months after the Soviet Union had become the first country to recognize the rule of ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ʿAbd al-Rahman al Saʿud (1875–1936; Ibn Saʿud) over the Hijaz. The delegation’s members attended an international Muslim congress, met with Saudi officials, and performed the hajj. Before departing they issued a statement supporting Saudi sovereignty, noting that Ibn Saʿud had “purified the [Islamic] holy lands” from the rule of the Hashemite dynasty (r. 1916–24), the Saudis’ predecessors. The Saudi state warmly welcomed this Soviet support, publishing the delegation’s statement in Umm al-Qura (est. 1924), their official weekly. 1