In the days of the new UAE, unification meant different things to different people. Some arrived in the years before 1971 to lend their expertise. Others came in search of a better life. And for some, the union meant something as simple yet vital as electricity.
In the first of a three-part series to celebrate the UAE's 49th National Day, we speak to two men of the Ras Al Khaimah mountains.
For Ali Al Dhuhoori, the union meant running water.
Mr Al Dhuhoori spent the first half of his life digging. It was his job to build the deep cisterns that sustained life on the plateaus of the Hajjar Mountains.
He began aged 15, in the early 1940s. Another 40 years would pass before he lived in a house with running water. That, and electricity, were perhaps the greatest changes brought by the modern state following the formation of the UAE on December 2, 1971.
Now 94, Mr Al Dhuhoori still goes to the base of the Ras Al Khaimah mountains most afternoons to sit with his friend Saeed Al Dhuhoori and chat about life before unification for Saeed's 53,000 Instagram followers.
“I was strong,” Mr Al Dhuhoori said.
“Nobody worked like Ali did,” Saeed, 54, said. “Later, he’d carry bags of cement on his back from the town to the mountains. Nine hours, walking, up, up, up the mountain with that weight on his shoulder.”
“Nine hours,” nodded Mr Al Dhuhoori.
He lifted four finjan coffee cups from a bowl on the table and placed them in a square on a table alongside his dagger, describing how he lined cisterns with waterproof mortar and dug pits up to eight metres long, four metres wide and six metres deep.
He estimates he built and restored up to 60 cisterns on the farms that dot the Ruus Al Jibbal. Rain-filled cisterns supported humans and their livestock over winter and allowed the cultivation of wheat on terraces carved from limestone plateaus and cliffs. Crops survived from rainfall alone.
The work required intimate knowledge of the land and the seasons.
Mr Al Dhuhoori usually worked alone, spending up to three months on a single reservoir.
On Friday, his day of rest, he would trek for nine hours from his village to the coastal town of Shaam for Friday prayers. On the return journey, he slept at a house halfway up the mountain and reached his village the following morning.
When the rainy season ended, the cisterns emptied and it was time for the annual migration for the date harvest.
Saeed remembers making the journey on a camel’s back as a child. It was a full day down the mountains to Al Rams, with subsequent nights spent in Khatt, Adhen, Bithna, Asima and Farfar before his family arrived at their date orchards on Fujairah’s coast.
“We had camels but they were only to carry our goods, the elderly and the children,” Saeed said.
He was born in 1966, two generations after Mr Al Dhuhoori. His was the last generation born at home, without hospital care, and the first to attend modern schools.
By the time Saeed was of school age, his family had moved to the base of the mountains. Every morning, he walked with his brothers and cousins down the wadi to the village of Al Jir where they and other local children piled into a Land Rover and bumped down the coast to a school in Shaam with foreign teachers, blackboards and textbooks.
Saeed's father left Ras Al Khaimah as a young man to work as a labourer in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. When Saeed came of age, there were better opportunities. He got a government job in his teens.
In retirement, he built the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Heritage Village against the side of a mountain, at the end of a wadi road that winds through sprawling Emirati neighbourhoods built by government grants and military salaries. Large signposts beside the track declare the support of local tribes for federal rulers or honour martyred soldiers from nearby villages.
They pass afternoons in the garden under a sidr tree, filming videos about subjects like the best types of goats or rifles. It is a tribute to what has changed and what was.
Ras Al Khaimah joined the union in 1972 and six became seven. It took years before the unification greatly altered their lives. Mr Al Dhuhoori did not move to modern housing until 1980.
“From about 1973, the country united the people of the tribes and brought people services,” Saeed said. “People came to know about unification and its advantages. It brought people together and we wanted for nothing," he said.
“People were lifted up, thanks to God and we rested” said Mr Al Dhuhoori.
But, after moment’s reflection, he added: “The mountains were better, of course.”
“Better, yes, better,” nodded Saeed. “But then there were services, there was electricity, there was water and praise be to God, we lived with grace.”
“But no wells,” said Mr Al Dhuhoori.
“No, no wells,” said Saeed.
“Before there were wells,” said Mr Al Dhuhoori.
As sunset begins, Saeed guided the elder in prayer, raising his voice above the twilight birdsong. Mr Al Dhuhoori can no longer kneel easily so they sat side by side, bending their heads in prayer, reciting verses unchanged for centuries.
______________
Sheikh Zayed and the story of a nation
The%20National%20selections
%3Cp%3E%3Cspan%20style%3D%22font-size%3A%2014px%3B%22%3E6pm%3A%20Go%20Soldier%20Go%3Cbr%3E6.35pm%3A%20Man%20Of%20Promise%3Cbr%3E7.10pm%3A%20Withering%3Cbr%3E7.45pm%3A%20Mawj%3Cbr%3E8.20pm%3A%20Falling%20Shadow%3Cbr%3E8.55pm%3A%20Law%20Of%20Peace%3Cbr%3E9.30pm%3A%20Naval%20Power%3Cbr%3E10.05pm%3A%20The%20Attorney%3C%2Fspan%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETerra%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hussam%20Zammar%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mobility%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-seed%20funding%20of%20%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
RESULT
Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 2
Bayern: Rafinha (6'), Muller (12', 27')
Chelsea: Alonso (45' 3), Batshuayi (85')
Four%20scenarios%20for%20Ukraine%20war
%3Cp%3E1.%20Protracted%20but%20less%20intense%20war%20(60%25%20likelihood)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20Negotiated%20end%20to%20the%20conflict%20(30%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E3.%20Russia%20seizes%20more%20territory%20(20%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E4.%20Ukraine%20pushes%20Russia%20back%20(10%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EForecast%20by%20Economist%20Intelligence%20Unit%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
