They say the human mind isn't essentially creative but rather a creative editor that is only capable of imagining re-compositions of preexisting components of worldly items. And therein lies the challenge in capturing the life of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE's founding father and first president, for those who didn't experience his reign.
The world is full of fabulous obituaries of genuinely great leaders written by eloquent speechwriters. We are almost numb to all the rage that is praise.
How do you tell anyone who didn't live under his rule that he was the most loved ruler to have ever lived? It is an audacious sentiment that can never be conveyed; only lived. No memoir can do him justice. No film could ever capture his journey. No speechwriter can seize his ambition.
Shaikh Zayed was the quintessential good man who would inspire heroic fiction. His life wasn't one of a conquering warrior of neighbouring tribes but rather one of wise leadership, patient aspiration and deliberate ambition.
What he left wasn't built in a magnificent summer. Nor was it the result of an oil splurge. Shaikh Zayed's work was subtle and nuanced. He didn't inherit his position but earned it in his own right. He rallied his people and built consensus. He showed them that they deserved more.
He worked for many years with his union partner, the late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and the rulers of the other emirates to build consensus and develop a sustainable structure; one whose foundations were built on more than social or ethnic allegiances.
Tribal alliances
Shaikh Zayed wasn't content with ruling a nomadic shaikhdom built merely on tribal alliances. His aspiration was that his people transform from members of a fellowship to citizens of a modern state.
As ruler of Abu Dhabi, which accounts for 80 per cent of the UAE's landmass and 73 per cent of its GDP (in 2010), one can argue that there was little imperative to join a union with smaller emirates.
Indeed, along with his Abu Dhabi constituents, he could've opted to declare Abu Dhabi an independent state and negotiate cooperation treaties with fellow emirates. But Shaikh Zayed's ambition was greater than that. No pan-Arabist — in the ideological sense — himself, Shaikh Zayed was the only Arab successful at building a union among his kinsmen in the last century. In many ways, he was the UAE's first entrepreneur.
He took his equity that was Abu Dhabi and invested it in that grand start-up project that was the UAE.
This project, as Dr Zaki Nusseibeh, Shaikh Zayed's long-time interpreter, notes, was upon declaration severely dismissed and much doubt was cast on its prospects. But he believed in that project and his compassion, pragmatism, values of tolerance and commitment to unity got us to where we are today. His legacy is not the urbanisation of the nation, or the decreasing mortality rates or the literacy rates. His legacy is literally the union in its most abstract sense.
Grander ideal
What were the odds, really, of seven proud shaikhs with strong and distinctive personalities forgoing their independence for a grander ideal? This is where Shaikh Zayed succeeded when so many have failed. He made them all see value in the union. With them, he set aside border disputes and historical rivalries to be part of something truly inspirational.
Today is the seventh anniversary of the passing of Shaikh Zayed and it is a difficult reality for Emiratis to accept. His passing is at once momentous and eternal. His gaze, smile and mannerisms are so vivid in our memories that it is difficult to remember that he's no longer with us. In many ways, his legacy defies time and his persona identifies with all. Equally and conversely, it feels much more than seven years since his passing.
When Shaikh Zayed died, something in the UAE died as well. Like a founding pole of a tent that collapses we all rushed to hold the tent and hold it we did. But we all knew that the guiding force of that pole was gone and however hard we may tighten our grip, the pole's been bequeathed to us but the man is gone.
This tent is strong and we continue to build many poles around the old pole. This pole stands for all that Shaikh Zayed believed in and how he lived and we owe it to him to carry on, but we will always yearn for those times when he clasped that pole.
Mishaal Al Gergawi is an Emirati current affairs commentator. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/algergawi
