Telling the life and times of Khalifa through images

Telling the life and times of Khalifa through images

By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS
Published: November 14, 2007, 00:18

Dubai: A book that details the life of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan - and which also acts as a history of Abu Dhabi and the UAE - has been published.

Shaikh Khalifa - Life and Times features more than 200 pictures by acclaimed UAE royal photographer Noor Ali Rashid.

At a launch in Dubai organised by Motivate Publishing, Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education, hailed the book as "very valuable".


The volume is the latest in a series that so far also includes books on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the UAE, the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the late Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

"These books are sought after not just in the UAE but outside as well because they very clearly show the history of the UAE in pictures and in writing," said Shaikh Nahyan.

The new book has a forward by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The book is available in Arabic and English.

As well as featuring many pictures of Shaikh Khalifa, the book also includes photos that trace the development of Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

There are black and white images from decades past of camel races and the souqs of Al Ain, while more recent colour pictures show, for example, the shiny high-rise buildings of modern Abu Dhabi and the new Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Noor Ali Rashid, who landed in Dubai in 1958, said: "I am the only person who has, consistently for five decades, recorded the history of this area."

Jonathan Griffiths, General Manager - Books at Motivate Publishing, said the book's first print run of about 12,000 copies was sold out and it was being reprinted.