His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, is ever present at each and every cultural event, be it domestic or international. Such perpetual presence stems from his highness's sense of cultural responsibility and his undeniable academic status as a man of knowledge, learning, letters and arts, with unsurpassed encyclopaedic and documented research into, and copious knowledge of history in particular, to which he has devoted much of his precious time and effort. Such profound knowledge of history, encompasses regional history and Arab history with its Islamic extensions from the East to the West .
In this branch of knowledge, his Highness is the consummate professional and the encyclopaedic academician. In all his approaches to and reading of historical and cultural facts, his, is always the methodology of a researcher who knows exactly how accurate his information is.
His Highness's investigative nature and tendency towards perfectionism is well known in Arab and western cultural and historical research circles as well as in the major world libraries that contain documents, maps and pictures, providing ample evidence and standing as eloquent witnesses to the movement of history on both social and political tracks.
In a matter of a few days His highness the Ruler of Sharjah was in attendance at two cultural events in London and Paris. In the city of light, his Highness was his usual clear and direct self with the quietness of a man of learning. On the occasion of the 27th session of the Paris Book Fair, his Highness went beyond mere attendance to express informed opinions and a wise vision couched in the quiet persuasiveness of the intellectual, the man of letters and the historian, who looks objectively and knowledgeably on the culture of others, distinguishing between the negative and positive aspects of orientalism in particular. In the city of light, his Highness was himself a beacon of enlightenment and the voice of constructive criticism, reflecting the image of Arab culture and speaking in the clear language of Sharjah's cultural project first and foremost from the early eighties of the twentieth century until this very day. He is a well-known figure in France in particular and the west in general, where he projects the creative literary image of a man of state, who is at the same time a man of letters, history and arts.
The vision projected by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah on the occasion of Sharjah's participation in the Paris book fair was the vision of the cultured and optimistic statesman. " We are at the end of the age of darkness and conflicts that racked our Arab world" his Highness predicted " we are just a few years away from the end of this difficult period and the sun of enlightenment will shine anew on and from our Arab countries, God Willing"
The optimism of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah's optimism is based on a glorious Islamic-Arabic cultural heritage in which subtle impact on the international stage his Highness has nothing but the profoundest belief. Such optimism expressed in Paris, the capital of European cultures was the optimism of a cultured statesman, whose words were founded on knowledge of historical precedents, which was met with positive and interactive response from all participants.
Sharjah will be the 2018 Paris Book Fair's guest of honour. This unprecedented Emirati international achievement will never have taken place had it not been for the Emirati cultured spirit, nurtured over nearly half a century of cultural, social and political development in a country whose men, media and government embody a cultural ambition to see a people who read endlessly to perfect the art of writing history and writing life itself!
Source: Al Khaleej Newspaper –Youssef Abou Louz