at the beginning of the 20th century, the ottoman empire continued to control or have a suzerainty over most of the peninsula. subject to this suzerainty, arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the sharif of mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the hejaz. in 1902, abdul rahman's son, abdul aziz—later to be known as ibn saud—recaptured control of riyadh bringing the al saud back to nejd, creating the third "saudi state". ibn saud gained the support of the ikhwan, a tribal army inspired by wahhabism and led by faisal al-dawish, and which had grown quickly after its foundation in 1912. with the aid of the ikhwan, ibn saud captured al-ahsa from the ottomans in 1913.