He was a member of the House of Al Said who in 1932 became the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, succeeding his father Taimur bin Feisal who had abdicated for financial reasons.

He consolidated power, with the help of the British, and regained control of the tribal interior, bringing together Muscat and Oman.

His father, Sultan Taimur bin Feisal, feared that by sending him to Beirut, he would be influenced by Christianity.

When Said was younger, his father found Sa’id and his brother Nadir possessing an English primer, and he ordered all their books be burned.

Nevertheless, his petroleum-rich country also had long established ties with the United Kingdom, based on a 1798 Treaty of Friendship, and had been a British protectorate since 1891.

Said landed in San Francisco and began a tour from California to Washington, D.C. During his visit to the White House, Roosevelt presented him with two books he had written.

[2] During World War II, the Sultan cooperated readily with the British; several Royal Air Force landing fields were constructed between Salalah in Dhofar and Mascat.

Nevertheless, he also faced serious internal opposition, from Imam Ghalib bin Ali, a religious leader of Oman, who claimed power in the sultanate for himself.

In 1965, the province of Dhofar revolted, this time with the support of the People's Republic of China and some of the nationalist Arab states, followed by an assassination attempt in 1966.

[6] No one was safe from the sultan's paranoia, not even his own son, Qaboos, who was kept under virtual house arrest at Al Hosn Palace in Salalah.

[8] Qaboos returned from his educational studies in the United Kingdom at the Royal Military Academy, and a year of service in the British Army infantry in 1964, and was placed under house arrest.