Saudi Arabia Trivia
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45 free Saudi Arabia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Fifty questions on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the country that covers most of the Arabian Peninsula, holds Islam's two holiest cities and sits on the world's second-largest oil reserves. Geography covers Riyadh, Jeddah, the Hejaz and Najd, the Rub' al Khali, Jabal Soudah, a land of 2,000 dormant volcanoes and no permanent rivers, and the Red Sea reefs. History runs from the Nabataean tombs of Hegra and the birth of Muhammad in Mecca, through the 1744 pact between Muhammad bin Saud and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the sack of Karbala, the Ottoman-Egyptian destruction of Diriyah, Ibn Saud's 1902 recapture of Riyadh, the Ikhwan, the 1932 unification, oil at Al-Ahsa in 1938, the 1973 embargo, the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure, the Gulf War and the reforms of Vision 2030. Culture and modern rounds cover the shahada flag, the Kaaba and the Hajj, the riyal, kabsa, the thawb and ghutra, the religious police, women driving since 2018, cinemas reopening, Neom, Aramco, dates and camels, and a football team that has beaten Belgium and Argentina at World Cups. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the kingdom, its cities, rulers and institutions, and the sentence that establishes it is quoted under each explanation. Suits a pub quiz, a Middle East studies class or a pre-Hajj primer.
30 of 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Saudi Arabia's tectonic plate is splitting away from Africa along which sea?
The Red Sea
The Red Sea opened as Arabia split from the Horn of Africa, and geologists expect the widening rift to become a new ocean in time.
Q 02Who founded the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, after campaigns that began in 1902?
Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud)
Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud) had ruled it as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd until a decree renamed it after his own dynasty, the Al Saud.
Q 03In 1902 a small raiding party back from exile in Kuwait began the third Saudi state by seizing which city?
Riyadh
Riyadh fell after the raiders ambushed the Masmak fort, which was later turned into a museum and opened to the public in 1995.
Q 04The 1744 alliance underpinning Saudi rule paired the emir of Diriyah with which religious reformer?
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab founded the Al ash-Sheikh family, which has long led the religious establishment under a power-sharing deal with the Al Saud.
Q 05The First Saudi State, the Emirate of Diriyah, was destroyed in 1818 by forces of which ruler?
Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt
Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt sent Ibrahim Pasha into Arabia, and his army besieged Diriyah for nearly five months in 1818 before it fell.
Q 06Which religious tribal militia helped build the Saudi kingdom before rebelling against its king in the late 1920s?
The Ikhwan
The Ikhwan were crushed at the Battle of Sabilla in 1929, and the militia was later reorganised into the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
Q 07Saudi Arabia's first commercial oil well, struck in 1938, was drilled in which city?
Dhahran
Dhahran's well was the seventh try, after six disappointing wells had nearly got the drillers pulled out of what looked like a costly failure.
Q 08Which title did King Fahd adopt in 1986 in place of 'His Majesty'?
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had been used informally by King Faisal, but his successor Khalid dropped it before Fahd revived it.
Q 09What is the world's largest contiguous sand desert, covering Saudi Arabia's southeast?
Rub' al Khali
Rub' al Khali, the 'Empty Quarter', once held shallow lakes, and fossils show that hippopotamuses and water buffalo lived there.
Q 10Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world lacking what?
Permanent rivers
Permanent rivers are absent, so the kingdom relies on desalinated seawater and ancient groundwater for most of its drinking water.
Q 11Which peak do Saudi authorities officially recognise as the kingdom's highest point?
Jabal Soudah
Jabal Soudah is officially 3,015 m high, but a survey published in 2025 found another Asir peak, Jabal Ferwa, slightly higher.
Q 12Saudi Arabia is home to more than 2,000 of what geological feature?
Dormant volcanoes
Dormant volcanoes are not all extinct: in the 13th century a lava flow from Harrat Rahat came within a few kilometres of Medina before turning away.
Q 13Which sacred well, said to have sprung up for the infant Ismail, gives Muslim pilgrims their holy water?
Zamzam
Zamzam, tradition says, opened in the desert for Hajar and her son Ismail after Ibrahim left them in the valley of Mecca.
Q 21According to the 1992 Basic Law, what serves as Saudi Arabia's constitution?
The Quran and the Sunnah
The Quran and the Sunnah are named as the constitution in Article One of the Basic Law, which King Fahd announced in 1992 alongside plans for a Consultative Council.
Q 22Saudi judges generally follow which school of Islamic jurisprudence, noted for literalism?
Hanbali
Hanbali texts guide judges in a system where Sharia was uncodified and precedent not binding, so similar cases could end in different verdicts.
Q 23Which 1979 event led Saudi rulers to empower clerics?
The seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca
Q 14The cube-shaped Kaaba at the heart of the Masjid al-Haram determines what for Muslims worldwide?
The direction of prayer
The direction of prayer first faced Jerusalem, until Muhammad's community in Medina turned towards the Kaaba around 623 CE.
Q 15What makes the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, founded by Muhammad in 622, especially sacred?
His burial site
His burial site was brought inside the mosque around 707, when caliph al-Walid I enlarged it over the homes of Muhammad's wives.
Q 16Roughly how many pilgrims perform the Hajj in a typical year?
About two million
About two million come in a typical year, but in 2020 COVID-19 cut the Hajj to about 10,000 pilgrims already living in the kingdom.
Q 17In 930 the Qarmatians sacked Mecca and carried off which sacred object?
The Black Stone
The Black Stone's theft outraged the Muslim world, and the relic was not returned to Mecca for more than 20 years.
Q 18From the 10th to the early 20th century the two holy cities were run by a local ruler called what?
The Sharif of Mecca
The Sharif of Mecca Hussein bin Ali led the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Ottomans, but by the end of 1925 the Al Saud had conquered the region and expelled his family.
Q 19What is written on the green flag of Saudi Arabia above the sword?
The shahada
The shahada is why Saudi flags are made with identical front and back sides, so the creed reads correctly from right to left on either face.
Q 20What is the currency of Saudi Arabia, divided into 100 halala?
The riyal
The riyal's first paper money was 'Hajj Pilgrim Receipts', issued in 1953 for pilgrims, but they won such trust at home that regular banknotes followed.
The seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca was followed by a decade of stricter religious rule, in which the kingdom's cinemas were shut down.
Q 24Saudi Arabia's religious police, who enforced dress codes and prayer attendance, are known as what?
The Mutaween
The Mutaween, formally the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, later lost the power to detain suspects as criticism of their conduct grew.
Q 25Until 2018, Saudi Arabia was the only country banning women from doing what?
Driving
Driving was cleared for women by a 2017 royal order that took effect in June 2018, weeks after several campaigners who fought for it were detained.
Q 26Which Hollywood film reopened Saudi cinemas in 2018?
Black Panther
Black Panther ended a long cinema ban imposed after religious conservatives condemned films as un-Islamic.
Q 27The reform programme launched to diversify Saudi Arabia away from oil is called what?
Vision 2030
Vision 2030 was approved in 2016 to cut oil dependence, yet by 2022 the economy still relied heavily on oil revenue.
Q 28The Neom megaproject, including 'The Line', lies in which province?
Tabuk
Tabuk province, facing Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba, is home to Neom, whose size was reported in 2024 to be sharply reduced from the original plans.
Q 29Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country in which international grouping?
The G20
The G20 summit Saudi Arabia hosted in 2020 was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Q 30As of 2024, which country held larger proven oil reserves than Saudi Arabia?
Venezuela
Venezuela's reserves jumped past Saudi Arabia's once the extra-heavy oil of its Orinoco Belt was judged economic to produce.