Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: محمد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود Muḥammad bin ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Saʿūd; 4 March 1910 – 25 November 1988) was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1965 and the nominal governor of Al Madinah Province from 1925 to 1954.
He resigned as crown prince in order to pave the way for his brother Khalid bin Abdulaziz to become the heir apparent.
The royal family council, under the leadership of Prince Muhammad, deposed King Saud and placed Faisal on the throne in 1964.
He was a traditionalist who opposed efforts at modernising Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, believing the reforms would harm the country's traditional Islamic values.
Prince Muhammad was the fourth son of King Abdulaziz[1] and was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh, in 1910.
[8] From an early age Prince Muhammad participated in fights during the formation years of the Kingdom with his older brothers and cousins.
[22] He was head of the royal family council and acted as a mediator during the dispute between King Saud and Crown Prince Faisal.
[23] On 28 November 1964 Radio Mecca announced the allegiance of eleven of Saud's sons to King Faisal.
[23] Muhammad bin Abdulaziz was Crown Prince during the first few months (November 1964 – March 1965) of the reign of King Faisal.
He then voluntarily stepped aside from the succession to allow his younger and only full brother, Prince Khalid, to become heir apparent to the Saudi throne.
[24] Prince Muhammad's nickname was Abu Sharayn or "the father of two evils" referring to his bad temper and his habit of drinking.
In fact, his original nickname was "the father of evil" due to his aggressive and violent character during his youth which was first said by King Abdulaziz.
[16][25] In addition, Prince Muhammad was a frequent visitor to the parties in Beirut which he himself did not consider a proper act for a royal.
[34] Prince Muhammad's granddaughter, Misha'al bint Fahd, was convicted of adultery in Saudi Arabia; she and her lover were sentenced to death on the explicit instructions of her grandfather, Prince Muhammad, who was a senior member of the royal family, for the alleged dishonour she brought on her clan and defying a royal order calling for her to marry a man selected by the family, and were subject to public execution.
[41][42] Muhammad bin Abdulaziz married five times to women linked to the Al Saud family.
[16] In 1945 he allegedly had an extramarital affair with an Arab-American woman in the US, and although he denied the reports, the incident caused a conflict between Prince Muhammad and the future King Faisal.
[44] His eldest son, Prince Fahd, was one of the members of Al Saud Family Council established by Crown Prince Abdullah in June 2000 to discuss private issues such as business activities and marriages of younger royals to individuals who were not members of the House of Saud.