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Prince Sultan bin Salman Bids Farewell to Hamad Al-Abdali: His Friend and Companion from the Early Days of Al-Udhibat

Saudi photographer Hamad Al-Abdali has stepped away from behind the lens, leaving behind a visual memory that documented place and people, preserving through his camera the features of Al-Udhibat and the memories of its early days. With his passing, the Saudi cultural and artistic scene has lost one of the pioneers of photography in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

With his passing, His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Special Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Al-TurathNon-Profit Foundation, bids farewell to a friend he had known for decades, and a companion whose camera had preserved a part of the memory of the early days at Al-Udhibat.

His Highness recalled the late Hamad Al-Abdali, saying :Back to Earth

His Highness recalled the late Hamad Al-Abdali, saying:Back to Earth

Al-Abdali’s photographic work formed an integral part of the visual record of the mud-building experience in Al-Udhibat. A number of his photographs were included in the book “Back to Earth,” published by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, whose first English edition appeared in 1997, followed by a second English edition in 2015. That same year, its Arabic edition was released under the title “Al-Awda ila al-Ard”. A collection of his original photographs will be included in the new publication on Al-Udhibat currently being prepared by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, allowing his lens to continue narrating the place and preserving the memory of its beginnings.

“May God have mercy on our brother Hamad Al-Abdali. I knew him as a professional and creative Saudi photographer, and I first came to know him in 1984 in the United States, when King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, may God have mercy on him, asked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God preserve him, who was then Governor of Riyadh, to select a stallion and a mare of purebred Arabian horses to be presented as a gift to U.S. President Ronald Reagan. His Royal Highness entrusted me with photographing the two horses and preparing a special album for them, so I sought the assistance of the talented photographer Hamad Al-Abdali to photograph the horses at King Salman’s farm in Al-Afjah, Al-Kharj.

It was a major undertaking, which we successfully completed, and during it Al-Abdali proved his professionalism and creativity. Later, we worked together in Al-Udhibat, where he and the late Saleh Al-Azzaz, were among those who documented that period through their lenses. They did not merely photograph the place; they captured the spirit of the transformation and the memories of those who made it.”Al-Abdali’s photographic work formed an integral part of the visual record of the mud-building experience in Al-Udhibat. A number of his photographs were included in the book “Back to Earth,” published by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, whose first English edition appeared in 1997, followed by a second English edition in 2015. That same year, its Arabic edition was released under the title “Al-Awda ila al-Ard”. A collection of his original photographs will be included in the new publication on Al-Udhibat currently being prepared by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, allowing his lens to continue narrating the place and preserving the memory of its beginnings.

Photographer Hamad Al-Abdali.

Dr. Saleh Lamei, the late photographer Saleh Al-Azzaz and Dr. Ahmed Mustafa, Al-Udhibat, Diriyah 1995

Al-Abdali was among the leading names in the history of Saudi photography, and Prince Sultan bin Salman had previously honored him in 2013 and awarded him the “Prince Sultan bin Salman Award for Pioneers in Photography” in recognition of his contribution to the art.

Prince Sultan bin Salman honoring photographer Hamad Al-Abdali with the ‘Prince Sultan bin Salman Award for Pioneers in Photography,’ during the Alwan Saudi Arabia Forum in 2013

He Called It “Adhibat Al-Udhibat”

For Hamad Al-Abdali, Al-Udhibat was never merely a site he visited to take photographs; it was a place he deeply attached to, until it became part of his lens’s memory. He affectionately called it “Adhibat Al-Udhibat” (“Al-Udhibat’s Beloved”). He did not see it as confined to the boundaries of the farm, describing it instead as “the first seed of Diriyah.” He believed the secret of the experience lay in the clarity of Prince Sultan bin Salman’s vision, a man who, as he put it, “did not like half-solutions,” and whose attention extended to the finest details of the building, as though he could see the finished result before anyone else.

More Than Two Thousand Photographs Documenting the Beginnings

Al-Abdali accompanied Al-Udhibat’s transformation step by step, through repeated visits during the 1990s that produced an archive of more than two thousand photographs, documenting the restoration stages, the architectural features, and even the faces of the craftsmen and workers. That was before the age of digital photography, when images were captured on film and had to await the return to the laboratory for processing before they could be seen. Yet Al-Abdali’s eye did not chase the buildings alone; it captured the people, mud, and palm trees as well, preserving the beginnings in its living form. The following is a collection of photographs of the palm groves of Al-Udhaybat, captured through Al-Abdali’s lens:

Back to Earth

Al-Abdali’s photographic work formed an integral part of the visual recordof the mud-building experience in Al-Udhibat. A number of his photographs were included in the book “Back to Earth,” published by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, whose first English edition appeared in 1997, followed by a second English edition in 2015. That same year, its Arabic edition was released under the title “Al-Awda ila al-Ard”. A collection of his original photographs will be included in the new publication on Al-Udhibat currently being prepared by Al-Turath Non-Profit Foundation, allowing his lens to continue narrating the place and preserving the memory of its beginnings.

publications of Al-Turath Foundation

Loyal Until the Last Call

Our friendship did not end with the conclusion of the projects and books; it remained present until Al-Abdali’s last days. Last June, His Highness visited him at his home in Unaizah to check on his health.

His Highness said: “When his health prevented him from taking part in Al-Udhibat’scelebration honoring Dr. Saleh Lamei and the companions of the early days, I visited him at his home in Unaizah last June. Our last phone call was just a few days before his passing; the illness was taking its toll on him, but he remained optimistic about being discharged from the hospital. I ask God to envelop him in His vast mercy, and I offer my sincere condolences and sympathy to his family, his loved ones, and his colleagues.”.