King Faisal of Saudi Arabia — "Palestine more valuable than oil" doctrine + "our constitution is the Quran" (1964-1975)

From King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1906-1975, third king of Saudi Arabia 2 November 1964 — 25 March 1975; assassinated by his nephew Prince Faisal bin Musaid in Riyadh 25 March 1975; led Saudi Arabia through the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and the 1973 oil embargo against the US and other states supporting Israel):

**2 November 1964** (Faisal's accession speech upon taking the Saudi throne):
"I beg of you, brothers, to look upon me as both brother and servant."

**20 October 1967** (in the post-Six-Day-War period of Saudi-Israeli confrontation):
"Our constitution is the Quran."
*This "Quran-as-constitution" framing has been the foundational Saudi-state doctrinal claim since the founding of the modern Saudi state — the explicit rejection of secular constitutionalism as the basis of governance. Reaffirmed by the 1992 Basic Law of Governance Article 1: "Saudi Arabia's constitution is the Holy Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet."*

**On education** (twin formulations of Faisal's modernization doctrine):
"If I were not a king, I would be a teacher." / "Arm yourselves with science."
*Faisal launched Saudi modernization — girls' education was first introduced under his reign, against significant ulama resistance.*

**28 March 1965** (Saudi radio broadcast, Faisal's most-cited articulation of Saudi-Palestine doctrinal commitment):
"Palestine is more valuable to us than oil. Oil can be used as a weapon in battle if necessary."
*This 1965 statement is the doctrinal foundation of the 1973 oil embargo. Faisal explicitly positioned Saudi oil as a strategic weapon for Palestinian liberation — a framework subsequent Saudi kings (Khalid, Fahd, Abdullah, Salman, MBS) have all maintained in formal doctrine even when modulating in practice.*

**Response to Henry Kissinger during the 1973 oil embargo** (after Kissinger raised the prospect of US military force against Saudi oil fields):
"We lived, and our ancestors lived on dates and milk, and we will return to them."
*One of the most-cited articulations of Saudi sovereignty-and-defiance doctrine against US pressure — positioning the Saudi state as willing to absorb economic catastrophe rather than yield on Palestine.*

*(Faisal's favorite saying, cited in his 1975 NYT obituary):*
"God gave man two ears and one tongue so we could listen twice as much as we talk."