Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a very important person in the United Arab Emirates. He was like a leader and a father to the country. It is not surprising that he did many good things for the UAE. Moreover, he is the father of Sheikh Mansour.
Zayed first worked in a region called the Eastern Region. Later, he became the leader of Abu Dhabi. Then, in 1971, he became the first president of the UAE. He continued to be the leader of Abu Dhabi while he was president.
People in the UAE really respect Zayed. They call him the “Father of the Nation” because he played a big role in bringing all the emirates together. He became the leader of Abu Dhabi in 1966, taking the place of his older brother, who was removed from power without any violence, with some help from the British.
Family & Early Life
Zayed was the youngest of four sons in his family. His dad ruled Abu Dhabi until he passed away in 1926. Zayed’s big brother, Shakhbut, became the ruler after their uncle, Saqr. Their mom was Sheikha Salama, and she asked her sons not to fight with each other, and they kept that promise. Zayed was named after his grandpa, who was also named Zayed and ruled Abu Dhabi a long time ago.
When Zayed was born, Abu Dhabi was one of seven places along the Persian Gulf. He liked falconry, which is about training falcons.
Some say he was born in Qasr al-Hosn in Abu Dhabi, while others think he was born in Al Ain, especially at Sultan Bin Zayed Fort near Al Ain Oasis. After his dad died, he moved from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain in 1927. In Al-Ain, there were no modern schools back then. Zayed learned the basics of Islam and lived in the desert with Bedouin tribes. He learned their traditional ways of life and how they survived in the tough desert climate.
Career and Reign
Zayed became the leader of the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi in 1946. He lived in a fort in a place called Al Ain. Back then, this area was not very rich, and people often got sick. When a group from a company called Petroleum Development started looking for oil there, Zayed helped them.
In 1952, a small group from Saudi Arabia took control of a village called Hamasa in the Buraimi Oasis. This caused a big argument (the ‘Buraimi Dispute’). Zayed was one of the people who said Saudi Arabia shouldn’t control that land.
They even offered him a lot of money, but he said no. He and his brother went to a meeting in Geneva in 1955 to talk about it, but that meeting didn’t work out because some people thought Saudi Arabia was cheating.
So, the British sent their own soldiers to take control of the Buraimi Oasis. After that, things became calmer, and Zayed helped make the area better. He focused on fixing the water system that helped the plants grow in the Buraimi Oasis.
In 1958, they found oil in the region, and in 1962, they started selling it. But the ruling family was not happy with how things were going under Sheikh Shakhbut’s leadership.
Politics & Charity
In 1971, when the British withdrew from the Persian Gulf, Zayed took charge of establishing the Abu Dhabi Fund for Arab Economic Development. Over the ensuing decades, a portion of the nation’s oil wealth was directed towards approximately forty less privileged Islamic nations in Asia and Africa.
Utilizing the significant revenues from oil, Zayed constructed essential institutions like hospitals, schools, and universities, ensuring that UAE citizens had unrestricted access to these facilities at no cost. He gained recognition for generously contributing millions of pounds sterling to charitable causes both within the Arab World and in neighboring countries and even globally.
Zayed played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Dar Al Maal Al Islami Trust, an initiative initiated by Saudi royal Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud, the son of King Faisal, in 1981. In the aftermath of devastating floods that struck Yemen’s Ma’rib Governorate in 1982, Zayed generously funded the construction of the present-day Ma’rib dam in 1984.
This new dam replaced the historical one, which had suffered damage in ancient times, and served to bolster the nation’s agriculture and economy. Notably, the Ma’rib region is believed to be the ancestral homeland from which his forebears migrated to what is now the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Zayed Centre
The Zayed Centre’s opinions sparked controversy, leading to Harvard Divinity School’s decision to return Sheikh Zayed’s $2.5 million donation in 2000, citing it as “tainted money.” In 2001, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter accepted the Zayed International Prize for the Environment, which included a $500,000 prize from the Zayed Centre. Carter emphasized the personal significance of the award due to his friendship with Sheikh Zayed in his acceptance speech.
Similar controversy arose when the London School of Economics accepted a substantial donation from the Zayed Centre in 2008 for the construction of a new lecture theatre in the New Academic Building. The result was the establishment of the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, becoming the second-largest lecture hall on the campus. Mansour held the position of Chairman at First Gulf Bank until 2006.
Zayed helped start the Dar Al Maal Al Islami Trust in 1981 with Saudi royal Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud, who was the son of King Faisal. In 1982, when floods caused a lot of damage in Yemen’s Ma’rib Governorate, Zayed paid for the new Ma’rib dam to be built in 1984. This new dam replaced an old one that got damaged a very long time ago. The new dam was important because it helped Yemen’s farming and economy.
Death
On November 2, 2004, Zayed passed away when he was 86 years old. He had been dealing with diabetes and issues with his kidneys. They buried him in the courtyard of the new Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. His oldest son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, started to take on more important roles in the government during the 1980s.
Right after his father passed away, he became the leader of Abu Dhabi and was officially approved as the president of the United Arab Emirates by the other leaders in the Supreme Council.
