Volume 2005, Number 22 (2005) Year 19, Issue No. 22 January 2005

Zayed The Noble In The Custody of Allah Praise be to Allah whose decree and ordain may not be turned back, more gratitude to Him for His trial, and peace be upon the seal of the prophets (The Mohammad) who was chosen to meet with his Lord. United Arab Emirates, its people all Muslims from East to West and the entire humankind were distressed by the loss of a great leader, equitable Imam who filled the earth with charity and mercy, welfare and grants, the dweller of the neighborhood of Allah who is in need for his mercy, H.H. Shaikh Zayed Ben Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah grant him a great deal of mercy and cool his bed with rest and satisfaction, forgiveness and good pleasure of Allah, make his dwelling in his wide paradise, and for may Allah grant us, patience and consolation. These days are full of sadness and sighs, but it is the well of the Majestic, full of honor Creator whose ordain may not be turned back and with which we have to be satisfied and be patient with His trial, since our faith with Allah's decree and ordain (good and not) is part of our faith in Allah, and that death is unavoidable truth (The Death from which you flee will truly overtake you), prescribed by Allah on all creatures, whose words are true : (Everything (that exists) will perish except His own Face. To Him belongs the Command and to Him will ye (all) be brought back) and ( Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): for the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.) Hers is our prophet (PBUH) taken to the Most High Company in accordance with the true words of Allah (Truly thou wilt die (one day), and truly they (too) will die (one day)). It has been truly affirmed that the prophet (PBUH) had said :"If anyone of you faces a disaster in his life, let him remember his disaster of my death since it is the greatest". Yes, it is a great catastrophe and tough disaster, but we say nothing but what pleases our God; what Allah takes and gives belongs to Him, and everything is set by Him for a determined term, there is no power but with Allah, to Allah we belong, and to Him is our return. We invoke Allah to make Shaikh Zayed’s dwelling in the highest point of paradise, making him stay among the righteous, together with prophets, men of truth and martyrs, who are a beautiful fellowship. Perhaps we do not depart far from the fact if we say that for centuries the history did not record a leader and ruler about whom people unanimously commended his moral excellence and nobleness and loved him as much as they did for the Noble Zayed, may Allah bestow His mercy on him. Wherever and to which direction you look you hear people commending him and pray for him as it is obvious that his love is well planted in the hearts of all mankind, citizens and expatriates, Arabs and non-Arabs, Muslims and non-Muslims, living in the country and all over the world. He is one of very little on whom there was no conflict in his country or his big nation, but even in the whole world, since after securing all the needs of his people and children in the UAE, he extended his charities to his brothers in religion, then to his brothers in humanity. There is no place in Arab and Islamic countries in which there is no mark or marks of his charities that bear his and UAE's name. This is a grace from Allah on him. (That is the Grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things). He was the first one to give a hand in any catastrophe, the forerunner to good deeds which emanated wholehearted gratitude. He was never a part of any conflict or enmity, but a shelter for reconciliation. This real love is obvious to everyone and can be felt closely and remotely which makes his death a great loss and catastrophe that extends out to the whole world. Everyone felt sadness and grievance for losing this sovereign whom may rarely be found again. Talking about H.H. Shaikh Zayed requires books, volumes and a long life in order to allow the author to be fairly honest in covering the various aspects all of which is full of huge and valuable accomplishments and glorious attainments. These shall remain alive in our minds in history and in the minds of forthcoming generations, particularly the greatest achievement of unifying this country under its peacefully safe shadow we live in peace and luxury thus boasting to the whole world. Many aspects were gathered in Shaikh Zayed such as a peerless leader who made a country and entity the name of which spread all over the world with pride and glory. Full achievements realized by the UAE in development and civilization emanated only from his unique ruling system and genius leadership. This brought to him the real love of his people, respect of his nation and esteem by the whole world. Nowadays his wisdom is very rare, as he followed the rule of the golden mean but with consistency on his stands, and Allah granted him insight, bright mind, wise politics and rational deeds. This enabled him to maintain good and strong relations with all nations to the extent that the UAE became an example of a country which always preserves good relations with other countries. He became a shelter for conflicting parties to make reconciliation between them in the light of the Holy Quran verse: [ The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: so make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers]. He was also the just and fair ruler, ruling his nation with mercy and justice, gentle and kind with his people, lenient and merciful, supporting generously, relieving aggrieved ones and stopping oppressions and maltreatments, thus fulfilling what he had said: "We are obliged towards Allah to safeguard those under our reign as much as we possibly can, and the people who are under Allah's contentedness support each other, while Allah wants rulers to deal with their people with commiseration, observing human rights and applying Allah's rules upon them". This gives us the hope that the Prophet's promise covers him : "Seven categories of people have shelter under the shadow of Allah, where there is no other shadow : A fair ruler …" and another supplication : "O Allah, commiserate anyone who sovereigns over my nation by any means with commiseration …" He was the merciful man, feels the pain of human beings, feels sorrow for any disasters and immediately extends his generous hands to them, being the first to rescue and offer all possible sorts of assistance and requirements in a practical interpretation of the Prophet's (PBUH) saying : "Faithful believers in their friendship and sympathy are similar to a body, if any part of it feels pain the entire body responds with fever and sleeplessness", and another saying : "In doing good to any alive creature there is a reward (thawab)", thanking Allah for his generosity and for enabling him to stand by those in need in the Arab and Islamic World. He was the caring father, feeling their pains and endeavors to realize their hopes, directing them with full love and sympathy, guiding them wisely and gently, providing them with the requirements of prosperous and comfortable living, clearing all difficulties and solving all problems they face while asking them to do their best to protect their great grandfathers heritage to be as good as they were. All the nation, men, women, boys, girls irrespective of their ages called him their father with real feeling of this relation, a feeling which was felt by the entire world. This emanated from Zayed's real feelings of his people desiring all the best for them and his belief that leadership is : Truth in speech and sincerity in deeds, full dedication in serving people. He undertook to employ all the nation's wealth in constructing the country's progress and prosperity, to provide prosperous life to all citizens as an interpretation to his belief : "A ruler, any ruler, is there only to serve his people and secure all means of good and prosperous life to them". On the other hand, he was the humble slave of Allah, with sincere belief that all prosperity is from Allah, and all success due to His support, following with glory the stipulations of the lenient Islamic Sharia, believing that all the nation's prosperity and wealth are linked with following and applying Sharia stipulations combined with true and full faith, sincerity and complete devotion. The tongue always thanking Allah continuously for fulfilling most of the nation's hopes, ambitions and wishes, regularly supplicating for support and guidance, prosperity and success. This is reflected by his saying: With the support of Allah, we have built this country's accomplishments and continue to do so which resulted in much more than we expected, thus the dream became true which necessitates real and continuous thanks to Allah. The humanitarian trend in his personality was exposed in many forms and in many occasions by caring for nationals and expatriates living in UAE and subsequently brotherhood and friendship relations extend all over the world. This is in addition to fulfilling the needs and demands of those poor and in need. Human aspects in his personality were several and countless since he was of the true noble human emotion and merciful heart. Its spread wealth, on-going charities and his immortal deeds are testified with that on the far and the near making stories of unforgettable cases with countries, nations, individuals, children, youths, men and women, orphans and poor, aged and widows, handicapped, grieved and sapless. He valued with due respect to scholars, dignifies and appreciates them, being benevolent to them while elevating their ranks, ensuring their good conditions and seating them close to him in his majlis, since scholars are the heirs of prophets. He was very keen to stay close to them to make sure that his acts are in line with Islamic stipulations, discussing matters with them to reach the right judgment, and absorbing their advices and directions. His behavior and work in the humanitarian aids, construction of mosques, dams, towns, Islamic cooperation, rescue, teaching of the Holy Quran, spreading wisdom and justice, encouraging knowledge, education, research, innovation, supporting rights, helping the grieved, fighting enmity and hatred, calling for unity and peaceful cooperative relations, supporting and taking care of Arab and Islamic issues, all emanated from the teachings of the honorable Sharia. Although Shaikh Zayed is now dead, but his traces make him alive all over the area being an interpretation of the Prophet's (PBUH) saying: "All human deeds cease after death except three : a running charity, a useful knowledge or a virtuous son supplicating for him". Shaikh Zayed has left behind him many running charities; mosques, hospital, nursing homes for the aged, decrepit and orphans, Holy Quran schools and centers and general schools all over the earth. The virtuous sons are his clever sons who are supplicating for him and following his tracks in their deeds and relations, in addition to the Emirates nation who all consider Shaikh Zayed as their father, all supplicate for him day and night. Our consolation in the loss of sheikh Zayed is this great edifice which he constructed, and his successor His Highness Sheikh Khalifa whom Allah (Glory be to Him) chose so that he continue his luminous benevolent march, supporting him with his brother H.H. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed , Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, and all his noble brothers, and the support of all Supreme Council members, the Emirates rulers led and by His Highness Sheikh Maktom, the vice-president, Prime Minister the ruler of Dubai on safeguarding the union's achievements, and the endeavors for further success, development, prosperity and building up the UAE. Oh Allah, Zayed is in your custody and neighborhood, and you are the noblest fulfiller and deserve all the praise, stayed at your court and you are the noblest host, and he is a needy to your mercy and your acceptance, and you are the Most Merciful, oh Allah then forgive him, and protect him from the sedition and punishment of grave. Oh Allah you are his Lord, and you are his creator, and you guided him to Islam, and you took his soul, and you are the one who knows all his exposed and hidden deeds and belief, and we have reached you intercessors for him to forgive him. Oh Allah, benevolent his place of stay, and embrace his access, and make in the loftiest status his house, and wash him with water, ice and the hail, and purify him from the sins as the white garment is purified of the dirt . Final Words : You are having issue No.22 of the Sharia & Law Journal which is full of academic researches in the field of Sharia & Law, and our wish is that it meets with the satisfaction of Allah then the satisfaction of specialists and researchers. It is worth mentioning that from next issue publishing criteria shall be very strictly applied. Researchers are kindly requested to strictly observe Journal's publishing rules and criteria available on the web, in order to avoid any delay sending their papers to referees. I feel that it is opportune to kindly request referees to speed up the evaluation of papers forwarded to them since any delay will result in restlessness by researchers for not knowing what is happening to their papers and may also result in delay in their promotion which is based on publishing their researches. Researchers are also reminded that they must comply with the obligation of not submitting their research papers for publication in any other journal, seminar or conference after forwarding it to Sharia & Law Journal without the prior consent of the Editor-in-chief. It is necessarily known that papers submitted to conferences are not accepted for publication in the Sharia & Law Journal. If the Editorial Board discovered that the researcher has made an infringement to his obligation, appropriate procedures shall be taken against him one of which is advising his employer, about it I am pleased to advise all those interested that, with effect from this issue the Journal shall be issued every four months (three issues, annually) which allows us to meet the increased demand of researchers to speed up the publication of their papers after being refereed and approved for publication. Dr. Mohammad Abdul Raheem Sultan Al Olama Editor in Chief