There are men whom fate has chosen to occupy a place that no one else can fill, and there are knights whose hearts are filled with wisdom, courage, resolve, and tenderness — they are, among the people of their time, the centrepiece of the necklace that adorns the age. Among these men, indeed at their forefront, is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God bless him — a man who came to be the centrepiece of the Al Maktoum family, carrying in his personality the fragrance of fathers and forefathers, together with the memories and stances of their great men.
In his eyes shines the gleam of a bright future as he speaks of his sons, polishes their characters, and trains them to bear the burdens of governance and responsibility. In this unique position he is both a faithful heir to his forefathers' glory and an inspiring father to the finest of his sons. In his personality one finds a lush garden containing all that gladdens the heart, delights the spirit, sharpens resolve, and deepens the meaning of authenticity and loyalty.
When one draws close to this realm — the realm of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's relationship with his parents, siblings, and sons — one feels something approaching awe. When he speaks of these relationships, he speaks with the ink of the heart, reaching a state of tenderness that reflects the depth of his humanity, his loyalty, his devotion to his parents, and his love for his siblings and sons.
This is a human quality that political leaders most often keep at a distance. Yet Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid speaks with a spirit ablaze with love and loyalty. Whoever wishes to touch that spirit need only read what he wrote about his late mother, the departed Sheikha Latifa bint Hamdan Al Nahyan, in his autobiography My Story: 50 Stories in Fifty Years, where he reaches an emotional pinnacle that stirs the deepest feelings as he describes her singular character.
As for his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, may God have mercy on him, he is the figure with the deepest presence throughout that memoir — as though the book is a chronicle of his character in all its virtues, ethics, and conduct throughout a life that Sheikh Mohammed witnessed with complete alertness, love, and reverence. He once expressed the immense place his father held in his heart by saying: "My father, horses, and Dubai are my earliest childhood memories; my father, horses, and Dubai are the memory that will stay with me until the end."
Thirty-six years ago, Sheikh Rashid departed this transient world for God's vast mercy. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid wrote a story about him that brings tears to the eyes, recounting the final years of his father's life after the devastating loss of his companion Sheikha Latifa bint Hamdan, may God have mercy on her — a grief Sheikh Rashid endured for seven years until he too departed this world.
Throughout that long period, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid never forgot his two noble parents, remaining deeply loyal to them. Indeed, he did not consider it in the least unseemly to shed tears on one occasion when his mother was mentioned in his presence; he recalled her noble image and his eyes welled with tears before thousands of people — an expression of the sincere humanity that is the essence of his character and the secret of the place he holds in the hearts that love him and see in him an inspiring leader, a rare human being worthy of every love, loyalty, and esteem.
In the context of this sincere love for his parents, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid published a tweet of few words but exquisite in what it reveals of the nobility of his heart and the depth of his loyalty to his great father, on the occasion of Father's Day. He wrote: "On Father's Day we recall their favour; we recall their lives and their journeys. We are what they planted, we are what they made and built, we are what they left behind. May God have mercy on those who have passed and preserve those who remain."
In these few words, Sheikh Mohammed affirms that memory will never forget the great favour of fathers, nor their fragrant lives and flourishing journeys that embodied an immense gift to the homeland and to humanity. He then distils the entire relationship in the phrase "we are what they planted," underlining the depth of the bonds that tie sons to fathers and affirming that this loyalty is a right owed to them, while calling for mercy upon the departed and long life for those who remain.
Because devotion to one's father, loyalty to him, and reverence for his rights are deeply rooted traits in the Al Maktoum family, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, posted a video comprising a collection of photographs that tell the story of his love for his father and his father's love for him.
In that video, his father embraces him with heart and soul, nurtures him, guides him, and sets him on the right path along a bright journey that has brought him to this great standing in his father's heart and among the men of his nation. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance, did likewise, publishing an exquisite tweet full of love and loyalty in which he drew upon the profound lessons he learned in the school of his father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, opening with the words:
"In the school of Mohammed bin Rashid I learned that sons are an extension of their fathers' lives and the completion of what their fathers began, and that the greatest happiness for a father is to see the success of his sons with his own eyes." In these words, glowing with loyalty, Sheikh Maktoum affirms the bond between fathers and sons and states that this lesson was learned in the school of his inspiring father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, who is filled with happiness when he sees these knights giving the very best they have for the sake of their nation and the happiness of their people.
"In the school of my father I learned that we were born to continue a journey of governance whose foundation is goodness and the happiness of people. We grew up watching His Highness carry in his heart and mind the trust of his father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, to complete his fragrant journey, to continue building this nation, and to fulfil the ambitions of a people who see in their ruler a father, and who are seen by him as his sons." These words are a fitting summary of the profound imprint that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has left on his sons, whom he raised under his own eye, instilling in them love of the nation and the wisdom to engage with their fellow countrymen — who return their love with love, and their loyalty with loyalty. Sheikh Maktoum closes this beautiful tweet with the words:
The visions of Rashid bin Saeed live on in the ambitions of Mohammed bin Rashid — affirming thereby the continuity of this legacy of loyalty across the generations of giving from the noble Al Maktoum family.
The circle of loyalty to the father is completed by a tweet published by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Culture and Arts Authority in Dubai, a tweet of the highest nobility under the title "My inspiration and my first supporter: may every year bring you well." She then expressed the profound presence of her father in her personality and how she learned from him every virtue and noble value of life, saying: "With you the story began — from values you planted in my soul to an influence that lit my path, an influence present in my heart, present in us, today and every day." These words are the finest expression, from one of the women of the Al Maktoum family, of the human character of her father — the knight who lived this life as an inspiring leader, a great builder, and a tender poet of whom the world is proud and through whom the glory of the nation shines.