Sheikh Zayed was everyone's voice

Oil was just a means to accelerate the reality of this country's worth and greatness. One man was the vision of that reality, its heartbeat, its spark, its hope.
From the Arabian desert, burning under the scorching sun, came a man who would challenge the world and naysayers; those incapable of daring and dreaming and believing. He also challenged the all encompassing vastness of a parched land surrounded by oceans that could not quench thirst.
Death was a regular visitor due to poor healthcare facilities in those days. Women died during childbirth and many children struggled to make it to adulthood. Men became victims of the necessity to provide for their families as they travelled across the unrelenting desert for food and drink. They searched for treasures in the womb of a perilous sea - for pearls that were dearer than life.
However, that suffering would end with the coming of a great man. He would not rest until the dreams he had for his people became a reality. He had desires for them: their comfort, happiness and betterment; their growth, development, health and wealth. This great man was the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
You can tell a great leader from the manner in which he treats his people. And Sheikh Zayed had all that was required of a great leader. He was humble and Allah elevated him.
On his sovereign land he erected houses of marble and cement, and buildings of stone and steel. His hands blistered with the proof of hard work as he shaped the concrete foundations of an urban world. He helped plant palms, trees and flowers and made the desert bloom.
Lights soon filled our streets not because of the setting sun or glowing moon, but because electricity swept our land. It lit our homes with bulbs and lamps. Cars buzzed, rumbled and beeped on tarred motorways. Traffic lights and signals coloured the air with synchronised vivacity of green, yellow and red. Air conditioners forced the heat into obscurity, now a foreigner in the voltaic metropolis of human invention.
Anthems were sung in schools as our flag danced with the wind. Sirens screamed as healthcare became available to all. Hospitals were built, doctors and nurses came to fight diseases and improve the quality of life. Echoes of the Athan reached every corner from microphones atop statuesque minarets. Markets that scattered the cities filled with a mosaic of shelves of every product imaginable.
Water bottled in abundance, is no longer a worry. Our thirst has been quenched.
A world was carved in the vision of his eyes, for the glory of his people. Sheikh Zayed was the balance that the Arab world needed; the beacon of light illuminating an age of darkness; breaking through ignorance with knowledge and moderation. And it was through that knowledge his voice called out for the rights of women, too. "The woman is half of society," he said.
He became everyone's voice - for the weak, poor, the strong, rich, the Emirati, and the non-Emirati. He was diversity personified and tolerance manifested. Unlike other rulers who suppressed and deprived their people of knowledge, Sheikh Zayed vowed to educate and empower us. He was a man of knowledge, and knowledge is power. Though powerful, his power only commanded respect. It called on us to be righteous and compassionate. It called on us to be profound.
His power wasn't totalitarian, it was humanitarian. On our 46th year as a modern nation and as the Year of Zayed nears, I urge you to awaken the dormant giants within yourselves and to embrace his call for greatness - through knowledge and hard work, love and unity, giving and building and loyalty.
- Mohamed Luqman is an Emirati writer