Saud AlMunaie was a Kuwaiti merchant and the founder of one of Kuwait’s oldest Hajj campaigns. Born and died in Kuwait, he pursued the education available in his time and studied at the historic Al-Mubarakiya and Al-Ahmadiya schools, where he benefited from the scholars, religious teachers, and educators of his generation. His educational environment also included figures who would later become prominent leaders of Kuwait, including Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. He maintained a strong connection with religious learning throughout his life, regularly attending scholarly lessons at the Prophet’s Mosque during his nearly five decades of presence in Medina, later accompanied by his son, Dr. Jameel.

AlMunaie’s professional activities spanned maritime work, transportation and public services, construction, trade, and Hajj operations. He entered the sea at an early age and worked in pearl diving before moving into overland travel and Hajj caravans. He subsequently operated as an officially approved contractor, providing fresh-water distribution services to households in Kuwait before the development of modern water networks. With Kuwait’s urban development, he owned a service fleet that included buses serving the education sector and trucks supporting public works, while also undertaking construction projects, including work in Al-Ahmadi He also traded in sheep and engaged within the Al-Haddad Caravan, on a smaller scale, in real estate investment and sales. Although he was offered a government position as a treasurer at an early stage of his career, he chose to pursue independent business activities, and his official occupation was recorded as “merchant” in his documents, including his Kuwaiti passport.

The Saud AlMunaie Hajj Campaign became a significant part of his professional life. He initially served as a field supervisor responsible for camels within the Al-Haddad Caravan and later established his own independent campaign in the late 1940s with the support of his mother, Habiba. He had previously performed Hajj with her by camel in the late 1940s, serving as her mahram. As transportation evolved, he partnered with Hussein Al-Haddad to acquire two trucks, helping transition the caravan’s pilgrims from camels to motor vehicles. After their partnership ended, AlMunaie established his own campaign, which he continued to operate until the mid-1990s.

Under his management, the campaign’s fleet evolved from trucks and pickup vehicles to buses, water tankers, Suburban vehicles, ambulances, and refrigerated vehicles, with modern air-conditioned vehicles introduced from the mid-1970s. The campaign used several overland routes over the years, including Jariyah, Nuwaiseeb, and Salmi. At its peak, it accommodated approximately 500 pilgrims before later operating with around 150. It was also among the earliest Kuwaiti Hajj campaigns, if not the first, to accommodate pilgrims in residential buildings rather than tents. In Medina, AlMunaie acquired property in the Al-Bay'ah area under an official ownership declaration dated 3 Jumada Al-Thani 1383 AH and constructed a building with a large courtyard and entrance suitable for large vehicles, which served both as his family residence and as the campaign’s headquarters.

His activities also extended to public service and volunteer work. During the period of threats to Kuwait in 1961, he retained official documents identifying him as a volunteer, along with records relating to security and the carrying of weapons, as well as a photograph with volunteers at Al-Muthanna School. In the mid-1960s, he was officially commissioned by the Public Security authorities in Medina to procure security sirens and warning lights from Kuwait and deliver them to the relevant authorities in Medina. He also leased his Medina property to the Saudi Ministry of Education in the early 1970s for approximately five years, during which it served as Al-Bara bin Malik Elementary School.

AlMunaie remained in Kuwait throughout the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and until liberation, despite having a home and family connections in Saudi Arabia. His name was subsequently included in an official invitation from the Hajj Affairs Office of Kuwait’s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to honor figures and owners of Kuwaiti Hajj campaigns that had reached the legal age of 70 for the 1420 AH season; the invitation was issued after his death. He was the elder son of Abdulaziz Saleh Abdullah Abdul Latif AlMunaie, who worked as a commission-based sheep trader and had participated in efforts to defend Kuwait before 1961.