At a time when the sense of Arab identity is under attack from the outside and within, and when the great notion of pan-Arab unity seems to be fading in favour of a narrower concept of the individual state, comes a clear message from a great man.
“We are one nation that shares the same language, identity, culture, history and the future,” His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, confidently says, with his fatherly yet regal smile as UAE editors gather around him at Sharjah’s pavilion in the Frankfurt Book Fair, like we do whenever we get the chance to accompany him on his trips to cultural events around the world. He enjoys those trips, especially the international book fairs.
When he goes abroad, Shaikh Sultan tells us, “I introduce myself as an Arab, representing Arab culture.” Few have earned this right in our times, and chief among them is the Ruler of Sharjah whose dedicated work since 1971 elevated the emirate to the cultural hub of the Arab world.
Today, the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) is ranked the third-largest in the world. An achievement born out of more than four decades of hard work to bring Arabs together, at least culturally.
Like many editors in the UAE, I have had the privilege to travel with His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah a few times and have had the honour to meet him a number of times as part of my work in the media. I remember my first encounter 20 years ago with the now-famed Sharjah Theatrical Days, one of Shaikh Sultan’s initiatives to promote the arts in the Arab world and bring Arab artists in one place.
The opening play was Shaikh Sultan’s own work, the ‘Return of Hulagu’. The Mongol warrior conquered much of western Asia and besieged Baghdad in the 13th century, which led to the collapse of the centre of Arab-Islamic power and the other Arab centre of civilisation — Damascus. The Arabs, as a nation, seem to have never recovered from the Hulagu onslaught.
The play is rooted in history, of course, but Shaikh Sultan was actually warning of a new Hulagu; something that we can all see today happening in the Arab region where countries like Syria and Iraq are disintegrating. With his usual insight into history and vision for the future, Shaikh Sultan has warned us all.
With the exception of a few shining examples like the UAE, the Arab world today is at an all-time low. But Shaikh Sultan tells us that this is not the end of the road.
The Arab nation will withstand the challenges, he says. And that is his message of hope and solidarity.
