In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “title given to the king of saudi arabia intended to give a sense of legitimacy to the king as a protector of th”. Today it says “royal style that has been used officially by the monarchs of saudi arabia since 1986”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “title given to the king of saudi arabia intended to give a sense of legitimacy to the king as a protector of th”. Today it says “royal style that has been used officially by the monarchs of saudi arabia since 1986”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques , a relatively new term, is the title given to the King of Saudi Arabia intended to give a sense of legitimacy to the King as a protector of the two holy cities of Mecca and Madinah , which had traditionally been the role of the Caliph . Some have charged that this invention was carried out by the Saudi monarchy so that it could try to replace the Caliphate. The reason why the Saudi monarch didn't declare himself the Caliph was due to the fact the Saudi tendency to follow the Wahhabi vision of Islam , and such a move would thus be rejected by most Muslims. This is the view at least, of opponents of the Saudi regime and Wahhabism. v t e1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16257202.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ( Arabic : خادم الحرمين الشريفين khādim al-ḥaramain al-šarīfain ), a historical term, was a pious title taken by the Ayyubids , the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt , and the Ottoman Sultans , and which has been revived by modern Saudi kings.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 368169247.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Selim I 9th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ( Ḫādim al-Ḥaramayn aš-Šarīfayn ), sometimes translated as Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries or Protector of the Two Holy Cities , is a royal style that has been used by many Islamic rulers including the Ayyubids , the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt , the Ottoman Sultans , and the modern Saudi kings .The title refers to the monarch taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam , Al-Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669271699.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviation CTHM ; , Khādim al-Ḥaramayn aš-Šarīfayn ), Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries or Protector of the Two Holy Cities , is a royal style that has been used by many Muslim rulers, including the Ayyubids , the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt , the Ottoman Sultans , and in the modern age, Saudi Arabian kings .The title was sometimes regarded to denote the de facto Caliph of Islam, but it mainly refers to the ruler taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam : Al-Haram Mosque ( , "The Sacred Mosque ") in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque ( ) in Medina , both of which are in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 960823529.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Islamic title of later Abbasid era used by Ayyubid, Ottomans and Saudi dynasties Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviation CTHM ; ), or Protector of the Two Holy Cities , is a royal style used officially by the monarchs of Saudi Arabia since 1986.The title has historically been used by many Muslim rulers in the past, including the Ayyubids , the Mamluks , the Ottomans and the Sharifain rulers of Hejaz . The title was sometimes regarded to denote the de facto Caliph of Islam, but it mainly refers to the ruler taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam : Al-Haram Mosque ( , "The Sacred Mosque") in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque ( ) in Medina , both of which are in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia . The Custodian has been named the most powerful and influential person in Islam and the Sunni branch of Islam by the Muslim 500, as well as the most powerful Muslim and Arab ruler in the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178061409.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Islamic title His Majesty the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviated as CTHM ; Arabic : خَادِمُ ٱلْحَرَمَيْنِ ٱلشَّرِيفَيْنِ , romanized : Khādim al-Ḥaramayn aš-Šarīfayn , lit. ' Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries ' ), or Protector of the Two Holy Cities , is a royal style that has been used officially by the monarchs of Saudi Arabia since 1986. The title has historically been used by many Muslim rulers in the past, including the Ayyubids , the Mamluks , the Ottomans and the Sharifain rulers of Hejaz . The title was sometimes regarded to denote the de facto Caliph of Islam, but it mainly refers to the ruler taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam : Al-Haram Mosque (Arabic: اَلْمَسْجِدُ ٱلْحَرَامُ , romanized: Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām , 'The Sacred Mosque') in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque (Arabic: اَلْمَسْجِدُ ٱلنَّبَوِيُّ , romanized: Al-Masjid an-Nabawī ) in Medina , both of which are in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia . The Custodian has been named the most powerful and influential person in Islam and the Sunni branch of Islam by The Muslim 500 , as well as the most powerful Muslim and Arab ruler in the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1291020657. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “title given to the king of saudi arabia intended to give a sense of legitimacy to the king as a protector of th”. Today it says “royal style that has been used officially by the monarchs of saudi arabia since 1986”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
title given to the king of saudi arabia intended to give a sense of legitimacy to the king as a protector of th
Now
royal style that has been used officially by the monarchs of saudi arabia since 1986
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
