The nucleus of the executive branch

In writing this lecture, which coincides with the 79th anniversary of the Saudi National Day, I did some digging of the available documents, looking for the history of a constitutional milestone that has not yet received the attention of scholars, although I hinted many times at the importance of its documentation and looking up the related information. I am talking about the Council of Deputies, which no one remembers nowadays, although for 20 years it was very instrumental in developing the administrative regulation, being the clear nucleus of the executive branch in the country, which was taken up by the contemporary Saudi state, during the run up to the unification of the Kingdom, through the three authorities: Legislative, judicial and executive. It should be noted that the approach to this council was born during the last days of Hashemite rule in Hijaz. The last person to assume the position during the reign of Sharif Ali ibn Al-Husayn (last king of the Ashraf period, until 1925), was Abdullah ibn Siraj, a dignitary of Taif. He was born in Makkah in 1873, studied at the Solti school, and under Ulema. He was a judge, and was in charge of delivering legal opinions according to the Hanafi school of Muslim jurisprudence. He then became the head of government (council of deputies) in the holy city. After that he went with Sharif Abdullah ibn Al-Husayn, after establishing the Kingdom in Transjordan. He became the head of the 10th council of ministers there, during 1931-1933. During his time there, the Saudi and Jordanian kingdoms recognized each other. He died in 1948. He is also the father of Husayn Siraj, an important literary and cultural figure in this country, who died in 2007.