Al-Oud Cemetery: Saudi's resting place for kings and paupers

Saudi Arabia's main burial ground is a place where all men and women are equal in death with hundreds of thousands of simple indistinguishable grave stones.

Analysis

1 min read

Khaled al-Shayea

26 January, 2015

Many of Saudi's most well-known figures are buried in Riyadh simple burial ground [AFP]

On Friday, King Abdullah was buried in a simple grave in a Saudi suburb at al-Oud public cemetery, a 133,000 sqm resting place for monarchs and commoners alike.

Oud, meaning elder, was named after King Abdelaziz, the founder of modern day Saudi Arabia, who is buried there.

Over the past 200 years, the cemetery in southern Riyadh has seen the funerals of six Saudi monarchs, Imam Faisal Ben Turki, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Saudi citizens.

Abdullah's grave is indistinguishable from the thousands of other graves atal-Oud. The king was carried to this final resting place in a plain white burial shroud with no reference to his life or status.

He lies next to his father Abdulaziz, and his brothers Saud, Faisal, Khaled, Fahd, and Sultan.

Hamad al-Mazini, a researcher on the history of Saudi Arabia, says, that the simple form of burial fits with Islamic law. In death, all are equal in the eyes of God.

"Hundreds of thousands of Saudis are buried in this cemetery and one cannot distinguish the grave of a king from that of an ordinary citizen. This is what makes Saudi Arabia stand out among other countries."

This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.