Sharjah marks 53 years of rule and wisdom under Sheikh Sultan
- 25 Jan 2025
In the 53rd year of rule and wisdom of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, we shall explore the intricacies of time, place and history as they pertain to the emirate of development, construction, architecture, arts, literature, education, health, food security and the environment.
The emirate, renowned for its profound commitment to knowledge, literature and culture, is undertaking ambitious development initiatives, implementing modernisation programmes and metamorphosing the arid landscapes and mountainous terrain into destinations of aesthetic allure. Concurrently, it is disseminating contemporary, sophisticated lifestyles throughout rural communities and extending networks of transportation infrastructure, including roads, bridges and tunnels.
In the span of fifty-three years, the emirate of daily community services has accumulated data pertaining to the needs of citizens, the provision of decent and respectable housing, health and social insurance. In parallel, the cultural project of Sharjah has undergone continuous refinement since the late 1970s, and continues to the present day, contributing to the emirate's consistent enhancement of its Arab and international image.
The emirate that is ruled by wise and effective management, with its artistic and creative traditions, and administrative distinctiveness, is governed by a fair and educated ruler who demonstrated a profound understanding of the community, its history, family ties, and geographical characteristics. He possesses a comprehensive understanding of the topography of the clouds, the hydrological features of the region, and the nomenclature of flora and fauna present in the natural reserves and expanses of Sharjah, extending from its districts and suburbs to the central and eastern regions. This knowledge is integrated by a person of profound cultural insight, encompassing not only the domains of literature, arts, and history, but also the cultural dimensions of the spatial environment that he has transformed into wheat, milk, and honeycombs within contemporary international production facilities.
The ruler is characterised by his fatherly demeanour, open-mindedness, perpetual smile, and his ability to communicate in a manner that is both welcoming and in tune with the ethos of honour, kindness and tolerance. It is this balanced and educated leadership personality that has guided the rule of Sharjah. It is noteworthy that no citizen, regardless of the nature or extent of their difficulties, has been unable to find a solution to their crisis in the court of His Highness. Finally, no superior, creative and exceptional in his/her specialisation or thinking has not found a father figure in Sultan. The values of tenderness, generosity, and humility that befits the morals of the greats are embodied in this figure.
In his moral paternalistic reign, Sheikh Sultan bequeathed the Arab culture with a substantial lexicographical work, a 127-volume dictionary of the history of the Arabic language, and his theatrical oeuvre was presented on international stages and translated into living languages.
He engaged in historical research and writing, contributed to numerous theatrical productions, and produced classical and folk poetry. In addition, he honoured the Arab world through the Arab Poetry Houses initiative in several brotherly countries, thereby extending the cultural bridges from Sharjah to Africa.
53 years of work, follow-up, leadership, culture, literature and knowledge with more than eighty works over that period. His Highness's initiatives, such as the House of Wisdom, Dr. Sultan Centre, and the Sharjah Publishing City, are historic and unique. Furthermore, the presence of His Highness's initiatives within Arab institutions, museums, and cultural institutes in Europe, as well as the establishment of permanent university research relations with the most prestigious universities worldwide, are indicative of His Highness's commitment to scientific advancement. It is noteworthy that His Highness spares no efforts to acquiring documents, maps, images, and manuscripts that are instrumental in supporting his research and scientific laboratory.
In the fifty-third year of his reign, His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah bestowed a gift of immeasurable value upon his emirate, his people, and the entire Arab nation. This devotion transcends the temporal boundaries of fifty years, as measured by the conventional calendar or clock time. Indeed, the profound thought that His Highness embodies and perpetuates has an existence that predates and surpasses the confines of a mere fifty years. His Highness's thought is not merely a product of his era; it is a testament to a living and civilised intellectual tradition that has endured for more than half a century and which stretches across centuries.
His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah has established an emirate's identity and delineated its historical markers, which are not subject to the temporal dissolution experienced by great elders in history.
His Highness is a symbol of the collective experience of eminent scholars, rulers, and visionaries who have shaped the intellectual landscape, the history, and the cultural heritage of the region. The populace as a whole benefits from his name, and the Ruler of Sharjah benefits from two shares, the share of the ruling father and the share of the wise father. With the wisdom of the throne, he held the authority of goodness and poured it on his people, and with the wisdom of the pen, he held the authority of the meaning of paper, pen and book, and both honoured thought, literature, science and the arts.