August 1, 2005
Fahd was born in 1921. In 1932, when he was nine, his father officially founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by signing the Treaty of Jeddah.
Fahd was educated at the Princes' School in Riyadh, before moving to the Religious Knowledge Institute in Mecca, where he studied Wahhabi Islam.
In 1953, at the age of 30, Fahd was appointed Saudi Arabia's first Minister of Education. Later that year he led his first official state visit, attending the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1962 Fahd became Interior Minister, and in 1967 he was appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister.
In March 1975 he became Crown Prince after the assassination of King Faisal.
Fahd succeeded to the Saudi throne on 13th June 1982, on the death of King Khalid.
In 1986, he took the title Khadim al-Haramayn al-Sharifayn (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques) to indicate his protection of the sacred Muslim sites in the cities of Mecca and Medina.
As king, he supervised projects to facilitate the hajj for the millions of pilgrims from around the world who visit each year. Under his rule, Mecca was expanded to 3.5 million square feet to accommodate one million worshippers. Medina has grown to nearly 1.8 million square feet to accommodate 500,000 people, according to his official biography.
Fahd had a reputation as something of a diplomat, who understood the intricacies of foreign policy, especially the importance of the Saudi dynasty's relationship with the United States. But his decision to allow US forces to be based out of Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq outraged Islamic fundamentalists, including Osama bin Laden.
King Fahd suffered from poor health throughout much of his reign. He was a diabetic, a heavy smoker for many years, and in 1995 he suffered a stroke.
After his stroke King Fahd was mostly inactive, though he still attended meetings and received selected visitors. In November 2003 he pledged to "strike with an iron fist" at terrorists after deadly bombings.
His chosen successor, his half-brother Abdullah, is the head of the National Guard, the tribal army largely responsible for the kingdom's internal security.
An austere and respected figure, Crown Prince Abdullah is untainted by corruption, while being regarded by many as less enthusiastically pro-American than King Fahd.
