Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, has a life and career that rise to the level of a true exemplar. He remains, may God protect him, an inspiring leader and a bold pioneer who evokes the highest admiration in strong souls. He is a man who has worked without pause for sixty years, his resolve never weakening and his determination never bending. Indeed, he still possesses the capacity to breathe vigour and vitality into the veins of young people who look to him with admiration and draw inspiration from his triumphant journey — a journey that built a nation without equal among peoples and nations. When we read his life, career, achievements and sacrifices, we find ourselves before an exceptional model of courageous leaders who only grow more resolute, stronger and more inspiring with the passage of time, for all who aspire to glory and self-realisation no matter the difficulties and challenges.
In this context of the manifestations of strong resolve, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid published a magnificent poem — rich in content, deeply affecting, thunderous in rhythm and majestic in diction — entitled "Edge of the Sword". In it he excels in pointing the way to glory and self-realisation through confronting life, overcoming hardship, embracing adventure and leaving behind the pillow of sleep. From the earliest days of his youth, may God protect him, he has carried within him a bold heart that prizes activity and work and scorns the idle and the lazy. This poem came as a piece I challenge any person to read without feeling the urge to set out and build a life worthy of a noble man who loves challenges and aspires to leave his own mark on the story and journey of his nation.
Time marches ever forward
Not an hour can be brought back
We know the universe was created in order
Caring not who knows and who does not
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid opens the poem by drawing on the logic of life and harnessing the rhythm of the universe and of time. He affirms that the nature of life and time is always to move forward — what modern culture calls "the arrow of time," which cannot be reversed. His Highness states this with the declaration that not a single hour can be turned back. The reason is that the universe was created in a system that admits no flaw, existing in a state of motion and progress ever since God Almighty created it. Whether people know this truth or not, it governs the order of the universe; it is the duty of every person to respond to this cosmic law. Otherwise, ignorance of this truth reflects upon that person alone and no one else. It is thus a call to bear responsibility and to refuse to settle into ignorance and heedlessness of manifest truths.
Great deeds belong to great men
Every free man has paid for them with his soul
If high ambition holds no interest for you
Hug your blanket, sleep, and snore
I bear witness that great ambitions can only be shouldered by great men — a truth Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid affirms with full and penetrating resolve. Truly worthy men are those fit for difficult tasks; none trades in this market and purchases this precious commodity save the bold, daring free man who loves glory, is at ease with challenge and sees life only in the confrontation of hardship. As for one who has no taste for the meaning of high aspiration and no care for ascending to elevated stations, he is not among the men of the day; rather he belongs among those lying beneath the blanket of laziness, snoring like a sluggish ox that harbours no ambition to compete with men in the arenas of endeavour and trial.
If you seek a medal in this world
Be like the wolf when resolved he sets out
What is your life if you have no passion
For glory, living in the shadows
The tone of strength grows more intense in the poetry of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, whose spirit overflows with resolve and valour through this singular poem that rouses determination and stirs the stagnant soul. Whoever wishes to earn the medal of honour, achievement and service to the nation must be among the foremost of men — just like the wolf that, when resolved to hunt, sets out at the break of dawn like an arrow toward its prey. It is well known that the wolf is among the most intelligent of predators and the most patient in the hunt. One who lacks this nature has no passion for reaching the heights; he lives in the shadows, hidden from sight, content with a meagre portion unworthy of noble men and gallant knights.
Life belongs to those who do not sleep
Those who achieve beyond what they thought possible
Whose moustaches are dusted in the midst of the fray
Those who will endure whatever comes
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid continues to draw on the deep meanings of the true life worthy of courageous men, affirming with full conviction that precious life does not belong to those who love sleep and are attached to the pillow — for the pillow is the enemy of sovereignty. Whoever seeks the heights must keep late vigils and be capable of doing what others cannot. He must plunge among men into the rush of life until the dust rises over his moustache — a gesture from His Highness signalling that life is not attained through wishes, but as the poet said:
Goals are not reached by wishful thinking
The world is taken only by striving
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid continues to sharpen resolve and rouse souls when he says:
Do not listen to those whose life is mere talk
Those who wish to break your oars
He who falls today, if he tries and rises
Recovers more than he lost in the fall
Among the qualities of strong men is that they do not heed words that dampen resolve, nor do they pay attention to the indolent who make no effort to build glory, nor do they allow such figures to break the oars with which they cross the seas of life. Whoever among them stumbles immediately hastens to rise again and does not surrender like those sluggards who turn their backs on life at the first obstacle they encounter.
Gather your strength, be in your character a self-made man
Honoured for his deeds, not his lineage
You cannot hope to live in peace and security
Unless your weapon is readied
With the tone of a great teacher and the wide heart of a father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid draws close to his sons and his men when he addresses them with the tender, paternal expression "gather your strength," guiding them to fortify their resolve and continue the path. He urges each person to model himself on the self-made man who became a byword for all who achieve their glories through their own striving, without reliance on lineage or ancestry — so much so that the Arabs coined their famous proverb:
"It was the soul of Issam that elevated Issam
And taught him boldness and advance"
Such a man reaches the ranks of leadership through his own deeds and effort and his contest with the events of life. This is what His Highness desires for the sons of his people, who will not enjoy peace and security until they have prepared for every difficulty and their weapon is ready for battles and challenges.
He who lives his life on ostrich feathers
Will have those feathers plucked and be destroyed
He who prepares for time the edge of the sword
Will reach the heights and his name will grow
Then came this magnificent conclusion in which His Highness drew a comparison between two kinds of life: a life of ease, laziness, luxury and sleeping on ostrich feathers — whose inevitable outcome is that the nature of life and its challenges will pluck those feathers, leaving their owner naked and destroyed — and, by contrast, the life of one who prepares himself for time and its vicissitudes, hones the edge of the sword and sharpens the blade of vigilance. It is he who attains the highest stations and whose name grows great among men and knights.