Ibn Saud arrived in the Holy City of Makkah, not as a warrior but as a pilgrim, bareheaded, in the white garb of the Hajji, leading the Ikhwan chiefs through the rites of pilgrimage. He declined to occupy the Shareef's abandoned palace, preferring to pitch camp outside on the nearby hillside.
It was Ibn Saud's first visit to the Holy City of Makkah and he knew that responsibility for the Holy Cities now lay with him. It was a responsibility he and his successors would assume with the utmost seriousness. He invited Muslim communities from around the world to send delegations to see for themselves that there had been no desecration of the Holy Places.