While the UAE is one of the most conservative societies in the world, it also prides itself on being one of the most forward-looking. With its strikingly modern architecture and showcasing of new technologies, it can be easy to forget that only fifty years ago, the UAE was a very poor desert country, on the peripheries of the Arab world and Britain’s colonial empire. The older generation of Emiratis, who today preside over their country’s multibillion dollar wealth funds, had to endure a harsh, nomadic existence, their survival dependent that the annual rains would fall each winter to avert famine. The discovery of oil changed all that, although it took the wise leadership of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan (1918–2004) to ensure that the blessings of wealth did not become a curse. He left behind a powerful legacy in which desert tradition is balanced with modernity and tolerance that continues to this day.
The UAE is ambitious and aims to be a global leader in the Arab world. An interview conducted in 2007 by CBS’s “60 Minutes” news program with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE, demonstrates clearly the goals the country has set itself. In answer to the question on his homeland, “What do you want this place to be?” he replied:
“I want it to be number one. Not in the region, but in the world. In everything—higher education, health, and housing. Just making my people have the highest way of living.”
Asked why he wanted everything to be the biggest, the tallest, he replied,
“Why not?”
Futuristic in their business endeavors and welcoming of technological breakthroughs in areas of particular interest—artificial intelligence and space travel (the UAE plans to set up a space agency and send the Arab world’s first mission to Mars by 2021)—the Emiratis still manage to maintain an enduring bond with the desert, and a tight-knit family structure that is waning in other parts of the developed world. The UAE also manages to retain its Islamic essence, and the daily routine of life is accompanied by the cadences of the muezzin’s calls to prayer from the country’s many mosques.
Combined with the legendary Arabic sense of hospitality, this makes the UAE a potentially extremely rewarding place to visit. This book will introduce you to the history and culture of the Emiratis, and smooth your path toward full enjoyment of a fascinating experience.