Ibn Saud summoned the Ulema, the leaders of the Ikhwan, tribal chieftains and other leading citizens to a great council in Riyadh to discuss how best to deal with Husain bin Ali, the Shareef of Makkah. The chairman of the meeting was Abdul Rahman, Ibn Saud's father.
There was much to criticize in Husain bin Ali's administration of the Hijaz and the Holy Places. Pilgrims were ruthlessly exploited as a source of revenue both by the Shareef's own officers and by robbers who, outside the control of the Shareef, systematically preyed on them. Husain bin Ali's arrogance had increased with the years and, fed by the sycophants who surrounded him, it had prompted him to claim the caliphate. Now he had the temerity to forbid the Ikhwan, devout Muslims to a man, from performing the Hajj. Sultan bin Bijad bin Humaid, the chief of the Utaibah, and a leader of the Ikhwan, expressed his outrage at all the Shareef's misdeeds and especially at the edict prohibiting his men from performing the pilgrimage.
Ibn Saud had decided that the time had come to add the Hijaz to his domain, but he was conscious that an invasion of the Holy Places at the time of pilgrimage by armed Ikhwan was not the way to achieve his end. He himself endorsed the Shareef's prohibition and forbade Nejdis to perform the Hajj that year.