The people of UAE have been fortunate in having such a man as leader, who in more than forty years of Government, in Al Ain, then in Abu Dhabi, then in the UAE as a whole, has guided and presided over the change. In that task, he has been guided by his deeply-held faith of Islam. In Sheikh Zayed’s eyes, Islam is not a fatalistic faith. It is one of submission to the will of God, but not of accepting one’s lot without seeking to improve it; one that enjoins every believer to do what he can to help the less fortunate, and to treat every human being as equal.
“It is Islam that asks every Muslim to respect every person,” Sheikh Zayed believes. “Not, I emphasize, special people, but every person, In short, to treat every person, no matter what his race or creed, as a special soul is a mark of Islam. It is just such a point, embodied in Islam’s tenets, that makes us proud of Islam. To be together, to trust each other as human beings, to behave as equals.”
That faith is the key to the man, and to an understanding of why he has succeeded so well.
