Special Section: KING FAISAL: OH, WEALTH AND POWER

The Middle East, said Henry Kissinger recently, is "an area of remarkable personalities, the last bastion where great men can come out of the desert and do unbelievable things." One of the men that the Secretary surely had in mind was Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia, with whom he had ceremoniously sipped mint tea in Riyadh only six days before the King was assassinated last week. When he died at the age of 69, Faisal was not only among the richest men in the world, thanks to Saudi Arabia's incredible oil wealth, but one of its last absolute monarchs, and a powerful voice for conservatism in the Arab world.

Despite his wealth and power, Faisal lived simply and ascetically; his code was the Koran and his customs those of a Bedouin Arab. He neither smoked nor drank, prayed five times a day, and was anxiously concerned with the welfare of his subjects. Thus he continued the tradition of the majlis, or weekly royal audience, at which Saudis were free to approach their King with a message or a petition. No matter how farfetched or long-winded the complaints, Faisal would listen patiently. "If anyone feels wrongly treated, he has only himself to blame for not telling me," he said. "What higher democracy can there be?"

The King mixed beneficence with discipline. He could be exceedingly kind to a desert tribesman who sought the King's ear for a petty grievance. But he could also be severe with a junior member of the Saud dynasty who had discredited the royal family by gambling away huge sums of money on the roulette wheels of Monaco or Las Vegas. An aide who once asked Faisal why he did not compliment people who did good work for him received a blunt answer: "It is their duty."

Faisal had a reverence for desert ways, and strove mightily to keep alien influences from corrupting his kingdom. He had seen it founded, after all, out of a backward region of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. In 1932 his crusty father, Ibn Saud, after a series of skirmishes that ended in his defeat of Sherif Hussein of Mecca (great-grandfather of Jordan's present King Hussein), established the kingdom. Ibn Saud had 36 sons but he took an early liking to Faisal, partly because the youth displayed a notable fighting spirit and an ability to carry out his father's orders. "I wish I had three of him," said the old King, who frequently sent Faisal abroad on diplomatic missions and eventually named him Foreign Minister of the desert kingdom.

In 1953 Ibn Saud died and was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud; Faisal was named Crown Prince. An amiable sensualist with little talent for government, King Saud spent so profligately that by 1964 his country was deep in debt. A convocation of elder princes of the family finally packed Saud off into exile and named Faisal King. It was perhaps the most momentous decision that the family ever made.