He persuaded King Saud to abdicate in his favour in 1964 with the help of other members of the royal family and his maternal cousin Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia.

[12] He then began to live with his maternal grandparents, Abdullah bin Abdullatif and Haya bint Abdul Rahman Al Muqbel,[15] who educated their grandson.

[45][46] The same year, Faisal announced the Ten Point Program, which outlined Saudi Arabia's path to becoming an industrialized nation by implementing economic, financial, political, and legal principles.

Saud had driven the country into serious debt and embarrassed the royal family by becoming embroiled in a plan to assassinate United Arab Republic president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

[51] Faisal took advantage of Saud's absence from the country for medical reasons in early 1963 to amass greater power for himself as Saudi Arabia's political and economic circumstances worsened.

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh, a maternal cousin of Faisal, issued a fatwa (edict) calling on the King to accede to his brother's demands.

A meeting of the elders of the royal family and the ulema was convened later that year, and the grand mufti decreed a second fatwa, calling on Saud to abdicate the throne in favor of his brother.

[63] Early in his rule, Faisal issued an edict that all Saudi princes had to school their children inside the country, rather than sending them abroad; this had the effect of making it popular for upper-class families to bring their sons back to study in the Kingdom.

[66] Although there was some discontent with the social changes he carried out, the Arab world grew to respect Faisal as a result of his policies modernizing Saudi Arabia, his management of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, his reputation as a staunch opponent of Zionism, and the country's fast-rising financial strength.

[67] Faisal pursued strategies to maximize the utilization of oil revenue and initiated a thorough evaluation of the profit-sharing agreement with Aramco, which he deemed inequitable and requested its revision.

The Ministry dedicated its endeavors to enhance agricultural practices, promote livestock and fisheries, conserve plant species, combat desertification, and provide guidance to farmers for improving date production.

Special provisions were made to financially support families who lacked resources to educate their children, emphasizing equal opportunities for both male and female students.

[79] Upon ascending to the throne, Faisal devised a comprehensive strategy for the Royal Saudi Air Force that aligned with the prevailing needs and demands of the era.

Recognizing the necessity of a distinguished institution capable of accommodating a substantial number of Saudi students and providing them with top-tier training, he embarked on the task of finding a suitable college.

These cities were designed as modern complexes, encompassing military bases, training and shooting fields, warehouses for storing ammunition and combat equipment vehicles, as well as residential neighborhoods with educational, healthcare, recreational, and commercial facilities.

[84] Faisal seemed to hold the pluralist view, favouring limited, cautious accommodation of popular demands for inclusive reform, and made repeated attempts to broaden political representation, harking back to his temporarily successful national integration policy from 1965 to 1975.

The King acknowledged his country's religious and cultural diversity, which includes the predominantly Shia Al Ahsa in the east; the Asir in the southwest, with tribal affinities to Yemen, especially among the Ismaili tribes of Najran and Jizan; and the Kingdom of the Hejaz, with its capital Mecca.

[90] Similarly in 1962, in promoting a broader, non-sectarian form of pan-Islamism, Faisal launched the Muslim World League where the Tijani Sufi scholar Ibrahim Niass was invited.

Despite his piety and biological relationship through his mother to the Al as Shaykh family, and his support for the pan-Islamic movement in his struggle against pan-Arabism, he decreased the ulema's power and influence.

In 1962, he also ordered the reopening of the Kaaba Cloth Factory in Mecca due to political tensions between Egypt (then called the United Arab Republic) and Saudi Arabia.

This was in response to a provocative letter from Mohammad Reza asking Faisal to modernise Saudi Arabia, urging him to allow women to wear miniskirts and permitting the disco among other things.

His involvement with the Palestinian cause began in 1938, when he represented his father in the London Conference on the Palestine issue, where he delivered an important address opposing the partition plan.

One of his policies on this issue was to refuse to recognize Israel, to unite Arab efforts while leaving differences aside, to donate money and fight, to establish a body representing Palestinians, and to involve Muslims in the defense of the cause.

As a result, the Imam fled to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, where he rallied backing from northern Shia tribes to reclaim control, sparking a full-fledged civil war.

[118][119][120] Furthermore, at the Khartoum Conference, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait agreed to establish a fund worth $378 million to be distributed among countries affected by the June 1967 War.

In 1974 Faisal was named Time magazine's Man of the Year, and the financial windfall generated by the crisis fueled the economic boom that occurred in Saudi Arabia after his death.

The new oil revenue also allowed Faisal to greatly increase the aid and subsidies begun following the 1967 Six-Day War[126] to Egypt, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

[127] It is a commonly-held belief in Saudi Arabia, and the wider Arab world, that Faisal's oil embargo was the real cause of his assassination, via a Western conspiracy.

[162][163] Compared to other Muslim rulers such as Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, who almost exclusively wore European-styled outfits, Faisal was known to have dressed modestly, as he was most often seen wearing a traditional Saudi thawb, even in the presence of foreign dignitaries.

[165] The funeral service for King Faisal was performed at the King Abdulaziz Mosque in Riyadh,[166][167] and was attended by several head of states such as Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, Yasser Arafat, Hafez al-Assad, Idi Amin, Houari Boumediene, Ahmed Hassan al‐Bakr, Gaafar Nimeiry, Juan Carlos, Anwar Sadat, Mohammad Daoud Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.