Q 01/05

Saudi Arabia is the biggest country in the Middle East and ranks where in the world by area?

A) Fifth-largest

B) Twelfth-largest

C) Twentieth-largest

D) Eighth-largest

Answer · why

B) Twelfth-largest

About 2.15 million square kilometres, covering the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and bordering seven countries plus the Red Sea and the Gulf.

Q 02/05

Which king founded the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 after campaigns that began in 1902?

A) Faisal bin Abdulaziz

B) Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud)

C) Fahd bin Abdulaziz

D) Salman bin Abdulaziz

Answer · why

B) Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud)

He united the west, the centre and parts of the east and south; the kingdom is the third Saudi state after those of 1727-1818 and 1824-1891.

Q 03/05

In 1902 Ibn Saud launched the third Saudi state by recapturing which city?

A) Mecca

B) Riyadh

C) Jeddah

D) Ha'il

Answer · why

B) Riyadh

The Al Rashid of Jabal Shammar had driven the Al Saud out in 1891; the Masmak fort raid became the founding legend of the kingdom.

Q 04/05

The 1744 alliance underpinning Saudi rule paired the emir of Diriyah with which religious reformer?

A) Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyyah

B) Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab

C) Ahmad ibn Hanbal of Baghdad

D) Sayyid Qutb of Egypt

Answer · why

B) Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab

It was sealed at Diriyah; the reformer's descendants, the Al ash-Sheikh, still lead the religious establishment.

Q 05/05

The First Saudi State, the Emirate of Diriyah, was destroyed in 1818 by forces of which ruler?

A) The Sharif of Mecca

B) Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt

C) The Shah of Persia

D) The Sultan of Oman

Answer · why

B) Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt

The emirate had sacked Karbala in 1802 and taken Mecca in 1803; the much smaller Emirate of Nejd rose from the ashes in 1824.