Mohammed bin Rashid Sends a Message to Hamdan bin Mohammed:

A Letter to Hamdan

From His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

My Crown Prince, the extension of my life and the pillar of my journey, Hamdan…

I write you this letter filled with pride in you… in your journey, your leadership, and your achievements.

I am proud of the love people hold for you; they gather in their majlis, they rejoice in their lives, and they rally around you with their affection, their cheer, their candour, their feelings, and their words.

I am proud of you, Hamdan… of your horsemanship, your courage, and your simplicity.

I am proud of you because you drew a path of your own, opened a new road, and learned openly from experience to create something no one had achieved before.

I am proud of you, Hamdan, because you inspire millions of young people… with your faith, your enthusiastic spirit, your energy, your literature and poetry, your humility, and the love everyone holds for you.

I am proud of you, my son… of what you have achieved, and of your work alongside your parents, empowering and encouraging them to serve the people. I am proud of you because this is the legacy of a great man, a responsible son, and a loving, generous brother.

And with your successes, Hamdan, your responsibilities grow…

Responsibilities towards the nation, towards its youth, its soldiers, and the protection of its borders.

Your responsibilities grow day after day… towards Dubai, its people and its sons and daughters; towards Dubai's economy, its competitiveness, and its new global standing.

Your responsibilities grow towards the generations to come.

Millions around the world look to you, following your work, drawing inspiration from you, and awaiting more of you, of your wisdom, and of your depth of vision in continuing to build and to grow.

And you are worthy of all these responsibilities, Hamdan.

Hamdan bin Mohammed… God chose you before we chose you, and there were thousands of young men before we chose them, among them leaders yet to come.

For rule is not an individual choice; it is a trust and a responsibility. And responsibility needs a ruler who listens before he judges, shows mercy before he punishes, gives before he is asked, and carries the people before they carry him.

Life has taught me that firmness in justice is mercy, a continuation and a guarantee of prosperity; that order is stability, a protection of achievements, and a retreat of favouritism.

Beware of injustice, Hamdan, for it never sleeps, and the prayer of the wronged rises above the clouds, and nothing veils it from the Lord of the heavens.

The lessons of life have taught me nothing but the conviction that people are equal in rights, and that the weak, the stranger, and the wayfarer must find justice as their scale, mercy as their banner, and the rule of law as their rightful share, from which it never strays.

Life has taught me, my son, to choose the most truthful of men to be around me…

For manhood begins with truthfulness of word, fidelity to a promise, and strength of heart. Whoever lies to you does not merely conceal the truth; he betrays your trust, your judgement, and what you have entrusted to him.

The truthful man, my son, is a sincere adviser, and advice, though it may hurt once, is a thousand times better than illusion. I have seen the storms of falsehood surround leaders who ruled states that were once great, and were great only on their shoulders; they surrounded themselves with flatterers and hypocrites until they imagined themselves beyond error, lost touch with the masses, lost their peoples, and lived in the conviction of a false greatness, until their states declined, their economies collapsed, and their peoples were worn away.

Absolute trust in those around you, my son, is absolute corruption; for power shifts, interests change, and hearts turn. Wisdom lies in keeping a distance, in avoiding flattery, and in drawing a line of accountability, so that the law does not lose its authority, and no relative persists in his error and corruption.

The criticism of the people around you is a blessing… but to see oneself above the law is to hold it in contempt, and the prestige of states falls only when the powerful feel they are above the system.

Life has taught me, Hamdan, that the closer a ruler is to his people, the closer the state is to stability and prosperity.

For the love of the people is strength for the ruler and safety for the ruled.

The greatest of rulers are the most merciful towards their people. Look to your father, Mohamed bin Zayed; the people's affection for him, and his mercy towards them, placed them in the hearts of nations and built for them a place and a standing in people's souls, in contrast to a ruler abandoned by his people for failing them.

If people look to you today, Hamdan, most of them look with their hearts; so show mercy to their weak, help their children, and take charge of their affairs, for the great man is not the one whom people serve, but the one who serves the people. And greatness does not belong to the one who holds power over the people, but to the one who holds their hearts.

These are some of life's lessons, my son, from what decades of service and wisdom have taught me, and perhaps I shall write you others. I ask God to protect you, my son.

I see you only as a Hamdan close to the people, Hamdan; a lover of good, hastening towards noble deeds, worthy of them as they are worthy of you.

May God grant you success, protect you, and guide your steps along the path of glory.