Hafiz Wahba

Hafiz Wahba (15 July 1889 - 1967)[1] was an Egyptian diplomat who was then naturalised in Saudi Arabia. Fuad Hamza and he were the first ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the former in France and the latter in the United Kingdom.[2]

Biography

Wahba was born in 1889.[3] He was a graduate of Al Azhar University.[3][4] During the British occupation of Egypt Wahba was sent to exile in Malta due to his alleged involvement in the 1919 revolt against British forces.[5] Then he joined in the pan-Islamic Khilafat movement in India.[4]

Wahba's first official task in Saudi Arabia was that of being a tutor to Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz in 1916.[6] He joined the king's campaign against Hijaz.[7] He also acted as a representative of King Abdulaziz and was sent to Egypt.[7] However, Wahba's attempts in Egypt failed.[7] From 1924 to 1926 he acted as the civil governor of Mecca.[6]

In 1928 Wahba was made the head of education directorate which focused on educational activities in Hijaz region.[8] During his term the directorate sent fourteen Saudi students to Al Azhar in Cairo for higher education.[9]

Wahba was made Saudi envoy to Vatican.[5] He was assigned for the mission of ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom from 10 November 1930[10] to 1956[11] and again from 15 November 1962 until 13 July 1966.[12] Wahba accompanied King Abdulaziz in his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945.[13] His first term in the post ended due to the diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Britain which occurred following the Suez crisis.[12] In 1955 King Saud asked Wahba to return to Riyadh when the relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain became very tense because of the Buraimi dispute.[14]

In May 1959 Wahba was named one of two representatives of the Saudi government as directors of the Arabian American Oil Company.[15] The other one was Abdullah Tariki.[15] They were the first Saudi directors of the company.[15]

One of his sons, Mustafa Wahba, was the first secretary general of the Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (CPSA) who used the alias Mahdi Habib.[16] He held the title from 1975 to 1991 when the party was dissolved.[17]

Wahba is the author of two books: Fifty Years in Arabia (1962) and Arabian Days (1964) both of which were published in London.[6]

References
  1. Jorg Matthias Determann (2012). "Globalization, the state, and narrative plurality: historiography in Saudi Arabia" (PhD Thesis). SOAS, University of London.
  2. Bernard Lewis; Buntzie Ellis Churchill (10 May 2012). Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-101-57523-9.
  3. Khalid Abdullah Krairi (October 2016). "John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953" (PhD Thesis). University of Birmingham. p. 355. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  4. Michael Farquhar (November 2013). "Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy" (PhD Thesis). The London School of Economics and Political Science.
  5. Alexei Vassiliev (1 September 2013). The History of Saudi Arabia. Saqi. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-86356-779-7.
  6. Susan Rose (25 November 2020). The Naval Miscellany: Volume VI. Taylor & Francis. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-00-034082-2.
  7. Mohamed Zayyan Aljazairi (1968). "Diplomatic history of Saudi Arabia, 1903-1960's" (PDF). University of Arizona. p. 45. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  8. Alexei Vassiliev (1998). The History of Saudi Arabia (PDF). Saqi Books. p. 299.
  9. Ahmed Ibrahim Shukri (1972). "Education, man power needs and socio-economic development in Saudi Arabia" (PhD Thesis). University of London. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  10. "Freedom of Information Act Request". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  11. "Hafiz Wahba". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  12. Roderick Parkes (1966). "Notes on the Main Characters". Bloomsbury Collections. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  13. "Charles Claftin sees History in the making". Acton Beacon. 17 August 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  14. Haya Saleh Alhargan (2015). "Anglo-Saudi Cultural Relations: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Bilateral Ties, 1950-2010" (PhD Thesis). King’s College, University of London. p. 125. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  15. "Two Sheiks Join Aramco Board; Named to Represent the Government of Saudi Arabia". The New York Times. 22 May 1959.
  16. Mohammed Turki A. Al Sudairi (2019). "Marx's Arabian Apostles: The Rise and Fall of the Saudi Communist Movement". Middle East Institute. 73 (3): 455.
  17. Mohammed Turki A. Al Sudairi (2019). "Marx's Arabian Apostles: The Rise and Fall of the Saudi Communist Movement". Middle East Institute. 73 (3): 456.
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