The country of the Islamic holy sites. Also, the sacred homeland of
the Prophet Muhammad and the birthplace of Islam. Home of the world's biggest tourist mecca... Mecca (now you know how the word came into English).
The country is an absolute monarchy, founded by
Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud at the end of
World War I, who wanted to unite all the vast land around the ancestral home of his family. With the passage of time, however, there has been a lot of bickering among members the royal family. Most of that has cooled down with time, too, but given the old age of the only people who could really inherit the throne in the near future, expect more squabbles in the next decade or two.
Saudi Arabia has been a long-time ally of America, buying military equipment from them and allowing them to use the country as a launching platform for Operation Desert Storm against Iraq. However, they didn't support America in the most recent invasion of Iraq.
Popularly, Saudis are seen as extremely conservative and devoutly religious, sometimes
to the point of fanaticism. The country is well known for its
massive oil reserves and sparse desert, being something of a
Qurac in fiction. Because of its historical significance as the homeland of the Arabs, including several nomadic tribes (such as the famous
Bedouin people), Saudis are sometimes seen as
Proud Warrior Race Guys. The Saudi state backs the Palestinians in the
Arab Israeli Conflict; for this reason, it does not recognize Israel. Reports of
anti-Semitic propaganda being widely distributed and taught in schools have led to complaints on several occasions.
A note on the Saudi flag from
The Other Wiki: do NOT change the orientation of the Arabic text in white. Seriously, don't. This of course means that if you plan on hanging it vertically, you need to buy another flag with the writing still going properly right to left, and a properly-made flag is actually folded over so that the writing is seen going the right way, no matter what angle you look at it. The caption translates what the writing is;
it's something of a big deal for Muslims in general.
The Saudi Arabian flag
The field is colored green, the traditional color of Islam; at the center is the
shahada
, the Muslim creed of faith, which reads: "
La 'ilaha 'illa-llah Muḥammadun rasulu-llah" ("There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger"); and below the
shahada is a scimitar symbolizing the House of Saud, ruler of the country since its creation.
