Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin

Sheikh Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin (Arabic: سعود بن محمد آل مقرن‎‎, died 1725)^[1] was the eponymous ancestor of the House of Saud, otherwise known as the Al-Saud.

The Al-Saud originated as a leading family in a town called Diriyah, close to the modern city of Riyadh, near the center of Najd. Sometime in the early 16th century, ancestors of Saud bin Muhammad took over some date groves, one of the few forms of agriculture the area could support, and settled there. Over time, the groves grew into a small town, and the clan came to be recognized as its leaders.^[2]

Two decades after his death, Saud's son Muhammad ibn Saud (died 1765) made his historic pact with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (died 1792), leading to their conquest of Arabia and the First Saudi State. Sheikh Muhammad's patronymic of "ibn Saud" eventually gave the Clan its name of "Al-Saud".

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