ABSTRACT
In the Hejaz Ibn Sa‘ud’s chief problem was that of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims, coming as they did from all over the Muslim world could make or mar him. The pilgrimage, too, had in those days to provide his government with its major source of income. It was the Hejaz and not Nejd that ran his kingdom for him. Wahhabi criticism of King Husain’s exploitation and ill-treatment of pilgrims had been loud and long. It was for the Wahhabi to show what he could do. The first benefit Ibn Sa‘ud brought to the pilgrims was complete security. Pilgrim memories, however, are short and this greatest gift was soon taken for granted. Hygiene was another important problem. Western governments had long been obliged to protect pilgrims against the danger of their contracting infections during the hajj, and spreading epidemics on return to their own countries.
