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Zayed was man of great patience and generosity

ABU DHABI — Perhaps there are very few expatriates in the UAE who have had the chance to take note of the personal qualities of the late Shaikh Zayed and his eldest son, the President, His Highness, Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Most of them take pride in pointing out the remarkable progress made by the UAE under his leadership.

Dr Bellah says, Shaikh Zayed’s most remarkable characteristics were his generosity and patience and the ability to listen to others. His special virtue was that he would think twice before going into actions.

"The brief moments I was able to be with him made me recognise that he had very deep love and feeling for the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) and the kith and kin of the Prophet.” recollects Dr Bellah.

He had this continuous desire to make people happy that led to the fact he earned love from all people.

"I knew him to be a humble person, wealth did not change his nature, he showed humility and humbleness, the most outstanding facet of his personal character was his tenderness that was equally balanced by his firmness, many in his potion would not moved be moved human situations, he would shed tears when hearing or seeing the killings in Palestine and other human tragedies and would invoke and supplicate to Allah to save whole Ummah from trouble," he recollects

Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed has inherited many of his father’s qualities. “He is in rather testing times with a mission ahead, yet I think he has good start compared to his father, he has greater number of supportive brothers and the unanimous vote from their Highnesses Rulers of other emirates,” says Dr Bellah.

"Putting in consideration that for so many years he was the right hand of his father in both regional and international affairs his experience there for qualifies him for the role of leadership," he said.

Like his father he is very generous person, he is also a good listener and does not lack firmness at the moments of decision-making. My personal impression is that the relationship among the bothers is transparent, firm and caring.