Dubai’s ruler writes poem to ‘gently persuade’ Qatar to return to the GCC fold

Almost a month after the illegal blockade of Qatar by its neighbours began, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, took to poetry to urge Qatar to concede to the 13 demands made by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is also vice president and prime minister of the UAE, is the latest in a long line of world leaders to turn to poetry to convey their message.

الدَّربْ واضحْ ---- ---- ولــكــلْ شَــــيٍّ لــــوُ تــفـكِّـرْ أوانـــي والـجِـدْ يــا أهــلْ الـجِـدْ هــذا أوانِــهْ وآحِـــسْ أنِّ الــوقـتْ يـكـفـي وحـــانِ والــشَّـرْ نـسـعـىَ كـلِّـنـا فــي دفـانـهْ ونـرجـعْ إلــىَ وحــدَةْ قـلـوبْ ومـعاني نـحـمي بـعـضنا دونْ حـقدْ وضـغانهْ مـــــنْ الـسـعـوديـهْ لــديــرةْ عــمـانـي مـــعْ دولـتـي لــي هـيـهْ لـلـعقدْ دانــهْ وبـحـريـنـنا ويَّــــا قــطـرْ وآل ثــانـي خـلـيـجْ واحـــدْ يـصـلحْ الــرَّبْ شـانـهْ وقــالـوا عَـرَبـنـا مـــنْ قـديـمْ الـزِّمـانِ قــبــلْ الــرِّمـايـهْ يــتـرسـونْ الـكـنـانهْ وتــأبَـىَ الــرِّمـاحْ الـعـالـياتْ الــلِّـدانِ أنْ تـنـكـسرْ مـتـجـمِّعهْ بــذاتْ خـانـهْ وإذا إتِّــفَـرَّقْ تـنـكـسرْ فـــي ثـوانـي ولا يــنـفَـعْ الــرِّمـحْ الـمِـكَـسَّرْ سـنـانـهْ لـــــوُ تــتــركـونْ الـمـرجـفـينْ بــمـكـانِ ونـحـنْ لـكُمْ أقـرَبْ مـنْ أهـلْ الـرِّطانهْ ومــا فـي الـمزايَدْ خـيرْ يـرجيهْ عـاني وكــلْ وقــت تـدري لـهْ صـلاتهْ وأذانِـهْ ومــاهــيــهْ بــالــقــوَّهْ ولا بــالأمــانـي ومـهـما إخـتـلفنا جـارنـا فــي أمـانـهْ نــاخـذْ ونـعـطـي وبـالـتِّـحاورْ يـبـاني الــحــقْ ظــاهـرْ مـايـبـا لـــهْ فـطـانـهْ والـــدَّربْ واضـــحْ مـنـهجهْ بـالـعياني والــبــابْ مــفـتـوحٍ ومــحــدَّدْ مـكـانـهْ ودربٍ إلــىَ الـرحـمنْ خـيـرْ وجـنـاني أحسَنْ منْ الشِّيطانْ وأهلْ الشِّطانِهْ وإنْ مـابـغـيـتـوا دربــنــا بـإمـتـنـاني فــكــلْ واحـــدْ لـــهْ طـريـجـهْ وشــانـهْ

A post shared by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (@hhshkmohd) on Jun 27, 2017 at 8:19am PDT

In the poem, posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed urged Qatar to abandon its independent foreign policy and return to the Gulf fold.

“Of one origin, people, existence/one flesh and blood, one land and faith,” he wrote.

“Yet Qatar turns to the nearby stranger, to the weak,” he added, alluding to Doha’s refusal to join the Riyadh-led boycott of Tehran.

“Now is the time to unite, one heart/to protect one another beyond hate,” he penned, reported Gulf Times.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is known to write poems, struck a more conciliatory tone than the UAE's state minister of foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, who has warned that the blockade against Qatar could ‘last years’ if Doha does not change its policies, reported Al Jazeera.

Al Maktoum used a famous Arabic proverb, urging citizens to put their neighbour's interests before their own. “We helped them as they helped us,” the poem reads. 

The prime minister also wrote: “We will keep advising Qatar openly in line with the instructions of Prophet Muhammad, who said: A wolf only eats sheep that leave the flock.”

The blockading countries closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the country's only land border, a vital route for its food imports. They also ordered all Qataris to leave and their own nationals to return home.

Last week, Riyadh laid down a list of 13 ‘non-negotiable’ demands for Doha, including ending its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the closure of Al Jazeera television, a downgrade of diplomatic ties with Iran and the shutdown of a Turkish military base in the country.

Sheikh Mohammed is by no means the first world leader to turn to poetry.

Former US president Jimmy Carter is a published poet. Barack Obama dabbled in poetry in the 1980s and his successor Donald Trump is now the unintentional author of a compilation of tweets and quotes entitled ‘Bard of the Deal: The poetry of Donald Trump.’