ABSTRACT
At the beginning of his career the Sultan Abd'ul-Aziz got the leading Ulema and the chiefs of the tribes together and addressed them thus: ' You owe nothing to me,' this, to the chiefs: 'I am like you, one of you. But I am appointed to direct the affairs of our people in accordance with the Book of Allah. Our first duty is to Allah and to those who teach the Book of Allah, the Ulema. I am but an instrument of command in their hand. Obedience to God means obedience to them.' A shrewd and subtle policy of control and command. The Ulema were pleased, the Chiefs of the tribes, whose amour-propre was thus saved, were pleased; and the people, urbans and Bedu, gave willingly, religiously, their undivided allegiance to the unseen power through the Ulema and the Chiefs.
