HERITAGE & PROGRESS

SHARJAH

SHIRLEY KAY

Published with the support and encouragement of

Foreword
In the name of Allah The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful

HH Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammad bin Sultan Al Qasimi Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah

IN A COUNTRY WHERE HISTORY IS MEASURED MOST OFTEN IN TERMS OF DECADES, EVERY CULTURAL ASSET becomes precious. Preserving the fragile traces of the past heritage remains essential to cultivating a national identity and to maintaining localised distinctions. Civilisation is much more than simply buildings and basic infrastructure; it includes the rituals, beliefs and historical heritage that are inextricably linked to a place. Proudly, the Emirate of Sharjah has established itself as a curator of heritage for the United Arab Emirates. Indeed, in 1998 Sharjah was named the Cultural Capital of the Arab World by Unesco; an honour richly deserved. Instead of simply maintaining the past as a dusty story to be told to school children, Sharjah has kept the spirit of its history alive by innovatively incorporating tradition both Islamic and pre-Islamic into every aspect of contemporary development. The result is a vibrant, modern emirate that simultaneously looks forward to a bright future as it looks back respectfully to its history. The deliberate efforts to preserve and conserve, restore and renovate historic old buildings, have obviously been appreciated by a global organisation like Unesco. This is a well-earned tribute to the humanitarian values that underlie the national ethos. There is a quiet pride in this achievement. Even as business grows, the protection and preservation of the past provides a sobering and balancing counterpart. The architecture of even modern constructions blends with the culture of the past; there is an Old-World ambience that very few urban cities have maintained. Creative thinking made Sharjah a pioneer in the field of education in the Emirates. It began back in 1953 when the first properly organised school was established in the old city. This was just the beginning. With the foresight of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah has become one of the most important learning centres in the Middle East and one only has to visit the impressive University City to understand the vision that lies behind this achievement. Under the direction of His Highness, the third-largest emirate in the UAE has taken giant strides in creating a viable infrastructure for business, education and cultural activities. Sharjah is now recognised as the cultural capital of the Arab World as well as the prime commercial hub of the region. The successful combination of the values of the past with the hi-tech advantages of modern and sophisticated systems has created a special ethos for Sharjah. The emirate is confident and convinced about achieving even higher goals under the guidance of its highly erudite Ruler, who is also a man of letters, an expert in agricultural matters and a man whose policies encompass a pragmatism and a practicality even as they espouse the best developments of the new world. The arts are also given much prominence in Sharjahs scheme of things. Theatre, music, painting and sculpture are encouraged, as is literature. A multi-dimensional education system, with a wide and varied network of schools and institutions, has played a pivotal role too in the development of Sharjah. With some exceptionally good educational institutions housed at University City, Sharjah is becoming one of the most important centres of learning in the region. Sharjahs rich and varied cultural and commercial achievements have a strong and traditional depth to them. There is that gentle juxtaposition of the modern with the medieval and yet it does not jar. This accent on maintaining its roots, while enjoying the fruits of technology, is the life motif which truly and commendably distinguishes Sharjah.

His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Member of the Supreme Council of the UAE and Ruler of Sharjah

Published by

Motivate Publishing
Dubai: PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE Tel: (+971) 4 282 4060, fax: (+971) 4 282 7593 e-mail: books@motivate.ae www.booksarabia.com Office 508, Building No 8, Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE Tel: (+971) 4 390 3550, fax: (+971) 4 390 4845 Abu Dhabi: PO Box 43072, Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: (+971) 2 627 1666, fax: (+971) 2 627 1566 London: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER e-mail: motivateuk@motivate.ae Directors: Obaid Humaid Al Tayer and Ian Fairservice Written by Shirley Kay. This edition edited by Jennifer Evans, Pippa Sanderson and David Steele, with assistance from Zelda Pinto, and design by Johnson Machado and Andrea Willmore. First published 1990 Second edition 1994 Third edition 2006 1990 and 2006 Motivate Publishing Photographic credits: All photographs by the author, with the exception of the following: Crescent Petroleum: 48/49; Dana Gas: 50; Gulf Images: 11B; Gulf News: 95; MAPSgeosystems: 6/7; Motivate/Gwanny, Fadi/Kita, Karel/Newington, Greg: Back cover, 1, 8, 9, 11T, 13, 16T&B, 18B, 20, 21B, 22, 24, 36, 47, 52/53, 54, 56, 57T, 58T&B, 60, 65, 77B; Sanderson, Pippa: Front cover, 12, 15, 17B, 18T, 21T, 22/23, 25, 28T, 31T&B, 32, 33, 34/35, 41, 42T, 55, 64, 69, 73, 84/85, 88, 89, 93, 94; Searight Collection: 86; Sharjah Commerce & Tourism Development Authority: 44T, 68/69; Steele, David: 4/5, 10, 14/15, 17T, 19, 26/27, 28/29, 40, 42B, 43, 62/63, 66, 67, 70/71, 80, 90/91, 92. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means) without the written permission of the copyright holder. Applications for the copyright holders written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers. In accordance with the International Copyright Act 1956 and the UAE Federal Copyright Law No 40 of 1992, any person acting in contravention of this will be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims of damages. ISBN 1 86063 138 X British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Printed by Rashid Printers & Stationers LLC, Ajman, UAE

Sharjah and the UAE Around the emirate The East Coast The people and their culture Oil and gas Commerce and industry A wealth of souks Agriculture An ancient past A proud history Sport and leisure Bibliography and acknowledgements

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Sharjah Heritage & Progress

Chapter one

Sharjah and the UAE

MAPS GEOSYTEMS

the Arab World by Unesco for 1998, is situated at the heart of seven autonomous emirates (the others being Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain), which make up the Federation of the United Arab Emirates. The present ruler of Sharjah, HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, is the direct descendant of a very long line of Qawasim sheikhs. The UAE is located in the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the sandy shores of the Gulfs southern coastline and straddles the rocky interior of the peninsula that runs northwards towards the Strait of Hormuz. In summer this is one of the hottest regions of the world, with temperatures rising to more than 45C and humidity reaching as much as 100 per cent at times. Rainfall is scarce, some 10 centimetres a year on average, and the land for the most part is arid, sandy desert or barren rocky mountains. In winter, however, the UAE enjoys one of the most idyllic climates in the world, with day after day of gloriously clear sunshine, comfortable temperatures and only rare days of rain and cloudy skies, which has resulted in its rapid rise as one of the worlds most favoured tourist destinations. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both ruled by members of the same tribe, the Bani Yas, whose homeland had originally been in The Liwa Oases of southern Abu Dhabi. The ruling branch of the tribe are the Al Nahyans in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, while in Dubai the Al Maktoums have ruled since 1833. But, despite these same tribal origins, the two emirates are very different. Until the discovery of oil, the people of Abu Dhabi lived mainly in the desert and the oases; and the present
Right to left: Sharjahs Khaled Lagoon and Al Khan Creek, and Dubais Al Mamzar Park lagoons.

Sharjah, named the Cultural Capital of

Sharjah Heritage & Progress

SHARJAH AND THE UAE

modern city was scarcely more than a shing village. The people of Dubai, however, had always been more settled around the excellent harbour provided by its Creek. They had long concentrated on trade and this line of work was given a dynamic boost in the early part of the 20th century when many families emigrated to Dubai from Lingeh and neighbouring districts on the Persian coast. These families already had good trading links with their former homeland in what is now Iran and, from that base, they built up a network of trade with India, Persia, East Africa and the Gulf, bringing with them a more cosmopolitan atmosphere to the coastal towns of the British-protected Trucial States, as the UAE was then known. For 150 years, Britain had maintained treaty relations with the individual sheikhdoms that together constituted the Trucial States. For most of that time the British interest was purely maritime and it was only in the mid-20th century that British presence on land became more and more pervasive. When the British announced their withdrawal from east of Suez in 1968, the rulers of the individual emirates agreed to create a united country and, in December 1971, the UAE was founded and recognised as an independent nation and member of the United Nations. Today, this region is one of the richest in the world and experiencing phenomenal development. But this was not always so. Its intractable desert terrain supported only minimal agriculture and its only-known exploitable resources were the natural pearls that ourished in the warm waters of the Gulf, which could be collected each summer only through immense effort. Pearls and maritime trade were therefore the only major livelihoods in the region and the inhabitants of the country were, for the most part, a tough desert people who worked tirelessly to maintain their subsistence economy.

desert hinterland and shallow seas. For the rst time in history, formal boundaries were drawn up between one emirate and another. In 1959 oil was struck under Abu Dhabis desert sands and, shortly afterwards, it was also found under its seas. The rst oil was exported from the emirate in 1962 and this was followed by such an increase in quantities of oil exports that Abu Dhabi, the most desert-orientated of all the emirates, was soon to become the richest state in the land by far. Today, at present rates of extraction, Abu Dhabi is estimated to possess enough proven oil reserves to last for at least two centuries. In addition, it enjoys one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world. Meanwhile, oil was also discovered in Dubais offshore areas and exports began from 1969 onwards, although in nowhere near the quantities exported from Abu Dhabi. It was enough, however, to provide a welcome boost to Dubais already active merchant economy and to bring the start of modern-era pros-

Discovery of oil
By the 1950s, however, oil companies were beginning to prospect in this corner of Arabia and hopes were high that oil, which had already been discovered in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, might be found here too. The old informal and uctuating claims to land ownership would no longer sufce as it became necessary to determine ownership of the
Right: Fishing played a fundamental part in the livelihoods of local people. Left: Modern edices rise from the desert on the island of Abu Dhabi, the UAEs capital city.

Sharjah Heritage & Progress

Dubai Creek, with its state-of-the-art, unique buildings, is believed to be one of the worlds oldest ports.

perity to the emirate just before the founding of the independent UAE. Abu Dhabi and, to a lesser extent Dubai, were to play leading roles in the massive expenditure involved in developing the country after independence and in bringing it rapidly into the 20th century. In fact, almost all of the roads, schools, colleges, hospitals, ports and modern buildings in the land have been constructed since that time. The rst two decades in the life of the UAE must have witnessed more rapid and more extensive development than virtually any other country in the world, with the possible exception of Kuwait. Since the burden of nancing this fast-paced development fell on Abu Dhabis shoulders, its capital city was chosen as the provisional seat of government for the country as a whole and its ruler, HH Sheikh

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was elected President of the UAE. Dubais ruler, HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, was elected Vice-President and Prime Minister of the new state and the rulers of Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain became automatic members of the controlling Supreme Council. Some of these Northern Emirates, as they are collectively called, were also destined to experience the benets of oil strikes in their territories, although never on the same scale of those in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Sharjah has so far been the most fortunate in the discovery of oil and gas, while Ras al-Khaimah and, most recently, Fujairah, have also enjoyed some success. Prospecting continues in other areas of the UAE and, with improved modern techniques, may at any moment achieve further success.

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SHARJAH AND THE UAE

Cosmopolitan building styles, such as the central coral and limestone courtyard, above, and evocative windtower, below, featured in Dubais residential architecture in the early part of the 20th century.

People of the UAE

Until the founding of the UAE most of the population were of Arab tribal origin members of tribes which had inhabited the land, archaeologists believe, for some 7,000 years. These people controlled the deserts, bred camels, shed along the coast, dived for pearls each summer and, latterly, cultivated date palms in small oases and mountain wadis. Some settled permanently in the small towns dotted along the shore, where they engaged in maritime trade with uctuating fortunes during the ensuing centuries. From the seventh-century AD, all were Muslims from the Sunni sect of Islam. They were joined in the early part of the 20th century by numerous merchant families from the southern shores of Iran, who were also mostly Sunni Muslims and probably of Arab origin, since these southern shores had often been ruled by the Qawasim in the past, and most pure Iranians are of the Shia sect. A few Indian merchants arrived and settled on the coasts too, mostly in Dubai. From the 1950s onwards, there were other immigrants, including Arabs from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, who moved south to escape turmoil at home and to enjoy the peace and

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