Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
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Group, one of the largest tyre distribution companies in the world, he contributed a total of 65million<br />
Arab Emirate Dirhams to build the first ‘legal’ Gurudwara in the United Arab Emirates. It is built on<br />
land donated by the ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. <strong>The</strong><br />
structure is over 100,000sq foot and has served over 40,000 worshippers in a single day. <strong>The</strong> Gurudwara<br />
had its opening ceremony in 2012.”<br />
According to Wikipedia, <strong>The</strong> United Arab Emirates, sometimes simply called the Emirates, or the UAE,<br />
is a country located in the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to<br />
the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar, Iran and Pakistan.<br />
Established on 2nd December 1971, the country is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to<br />
principalities). Each emirate is governed by a hereditary emir who jointly form the Federal Supreme<br />
Council which is the highest legislative and executive body in the country. One of the emirs is selected as<br />
the President of the United Arab Emirates. <strong>The</strong> constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai,<br />
Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain.<br />
<strong>The</strong> capital is Abu Dhabi, which is one of the two centers of commercial and cultural activities, together<br />
with Dubai. Islam is the official religion of the UAE, and Arabic is the official language.<br />
Over the years as the economy of UAE grew, so did its need for man power. In this global movement of<br />
manpower and capital, <strong>Sikh</strong>s take second seat to no one. According to current estimates there are roughly<br />
50,000 <strong>Sikh</strong>s in UAE of which 48000 are blue collar workers and 2000 are white collar and<br />
businessmen.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re has been <strong>Sikh</strong> presence in the Muslim world for a long time but not in the Arab world. <strong>The</strong>re still is<br />
sizeable, though dwindling, population of <strong>Sikh</strong>s in Afghanistan who are Afghan<br />
nationals. Tehran and Zahedan in Iran have had <strong>Sikh</strong> populations, primarily<br />
businessmen, going back to prior to 1947. At that time even Mashad, Iran’s second<br />
largest city and close to Afghanistan border, boasted a large <strong>Sikh</strong> population to even<br />
have a Gurudwara, like the two other Iranian cities.<br />
But by 1960 Mashhad’s <strong>Sikh</strong> population had dwindled literally to ‘sava lakh khalsa’.<br />
I know that personally because when I was hitchhiking my way from New Delhi to<br />
Seattle in 1960, I stayed with the last <strong>Sikh</strong> couple in Mashad. <strong>Sikh</strong>s in Zahedan and<br />
Tehran also played host to me.<br />
An interesting story told to me in Zahedan was that the naming of that city came<br />
about when the father of the last Shah of Iran visited Zahedan and saw the white<br />
bearded <strong>Sikh</strong> businessmen he named the city Zahedan, home of the pious.<br />
<strong>The</strong> effort to build Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara began around the year 2002 when the Sangat of<br />
United Arab Emirates felt the need for a better and larger facility to accommodate its increasing<br />
numbers. It took five years of concerted effort just to get the permission to build, which was an<br />
accomplishment in itself and another five years to build.<br />
Unfortunately, by the time the permission came through the world had entered a global recession of 2008.<br />
That made raising funds not an easy task. It taxed the willingness and capacity of the sangat to support the<br />
fund raising effort.<br />
However, two things came together to make it happen; the perseverance and commitment to the cause by<br />
a few dedicated souls and a grand gesture by HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH MOHAMMED bin RASHID AL<br />
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