In 1932, the Al Saud family officially incorporated the Kingdom of the Hijaz into the new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Hijazis became a people without a country of their own. Cradle of Islam focuses on contemporary Hijazi life and culture made subservient to the dominant national rules of Saudi Arabia, as dictated by a political and religious elite rooted in the central Najd region of the country. But centralisation was not enough to assimilate or tame Saudi Arabia's distinct regional cultures. The Al Saud family could rule but not fully integrate. This book is an insider's account of the hidden world of the Hijazis including their rituals which have helped to preserve Hijazi identity until now.