Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ? All of Saudi Arabia seemed to reflect King Abdullah’s quiet transition to power – shopping malls stayed open, oil kept pumping, and the kingdom readied an unmarked grave for its former monarch.

After the death of King Fahd, the mechanism of succession moved quickly along tracks laid down long ago: his half brother Abdullah assumed the throne, while Fahd’s brother Prince Sultan, the 77-year-old defense minister, became crown prince and next in line to the throne.

As the family installed Abdullah, Saudis prepared to bury their longest-ruling monarch today with a mix of the austerity dictated by their puritanical Wahhabi version of Islam and the grandiosity befitting a kingdom whose oil riches fueled investment across the Muslim world.

The capital’s streets remained busy, and many Saudis said they had prepared themselves for Fahd’s death during his long illness.

“We will all pray for Fahd, who was a father figure to us all,” said Ibrahim al-Qahtani, who was shopping at a Riyadh mall with his children.

By Monday afternoon, hotels in Riyadh were packed as Saudis flocked to the capital to express their condolences to the royal family and congratulate the new king. Numerous Arab leaders – including Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah – also were coming.

Fahd was to be buried in an unmarked grave at a cemetery alongside previous kings and commoners – the tradition in Wahhabism, which frowns on the visiting of graves of family or revered figures.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, left, and King Fahd are seen in this 1981 photo taken in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fahd died early Monday at age 84, and Abdullah was quickly appointed the country's new monarch.

State-run television ran Quranic verses in mourning, and Information Minister Iyad bin Amin Madani’s voice wavered with emotion as he announced Fahd’s death Monday morning: “With all sorrow and sadness, the royal court … announces the death of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz.”

After a decade as de facto ruler and the prime mover of recent reforms, the popular 81-year-old Abdullah is expected to seek to consolidate his power by bringing more allies into government of this key U.S. ally and oil giant already grappling with extremists and debating the need for reform.

Some people expect him to face behind-the-scenes competition from a clique of half brothers who hold their own powerful posts and have close ties with Saudi Arabia’s conservative Muslim clerics, although the royal family’s swift backing for the new king hinted at some consensus.

With oil markets already jittery because of rising consumption and strained production capacity, prices for crude jumped after the death of King Fahd early Monday even though Saudi oil policy is expected to be unchanged under Abdullah.

Fahd, the country’s absolute monarch since 1982 until he was debilitated by a 1995 stroke, died early Monday at age 84 after nearly two months in a Riyadh hospital.

Abdullah has been the main force behind unprecedented reforms and a heavy crackdown on al-Qaida-linked militants following a series of terror attacks in May 2003.

Now armed with the power of the throne after years in the more tenuous position of de facto ruler, Abdullah will likely move to advance supporters into key positions and push forward on the reform and anti-terror tracks.

But he must tread carefully: Prince Sultan and others in the close-knit circle of Fahd’s full brothers known as the “Sudairi Seven” hold key security posts and are seen as resistant to swift change.

Few expect the current generation of rulers – the sons of Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, the Bedouin chief who welded the kingdom together under his name in 1932 – to hold the throne as long as Fahd’s 22-year reign. That opens the door to the next generation of numerous grandsons, but beyond Sultan there is no clear line of succession.