The emergence of Mohammed bin Zayed

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, June 11, 2022: Mohamed bin Zayed, full name Muḥammad ibn Zāyid ibn Sulṭān Āl Nahyān, (born March 11, 1961, Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi emirate [now in the United Arab Emirates]), president of the United Arab Emirates (2022– ) and emir (2022– ) of Abu Dhabi, a constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates. As crown prince (2004–22) of Abu Dhabi, he became the emirate’s foremost policy maker after his brother Khalifa, then emir of Abu Dhabi suffered a stroke in 2014.

Early life and military career

Mohamed was the third son of Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al Nahyan, who served as ruler of Abu Dhabi and head of the Nahyan dynasty from 1966 to 2004 and as president of the United Arab Emirates from 1971 to 2004. Mohamed’s upbringing took place amid the formation of the United Arab Emirates as an independent union, although some of his early education was obtained abroad.

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1979, he played a leading role in the Emirati air force. During the Persian Gulf War, he became a trusted friend to the U.S. military and served as a key point of contact for the United States on matters of security coordination. In 2005 he was appointed deputy supreme commander of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

Crown prince of Abu Dhabi

In 2004, when Mohamed’s brother Khalifa became emir after the death of their father, Mohamed became crown prince of Abu Dhabi emirate. That same year he was also appointed chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, which manages the emirate’s day-to-day affairs. In the years that followed, he became one of the emirate’s most visible figures in diversifying its economy and developing its educational institutions. After Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014, Mohamed took on most of the emir’s duties, including his duties as supreme commander of the Emirati armed forces.

As his command over the military grew, observers largely credited Mohamed for the federation’s shift toward a more active approach to regional affairs in the 2010s. Amid the popular uprisings known as the Arab Spring (2010–11), the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia in deploying forces to Bahrain in 2011 to help suppress protests there. In 2014 it took part in the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; also called ISIS). In a more defiant stance, it conducted limited air strikes in Libya beginning in 2014 and aided Khalifah Haftar in his armed rebellion against Libya’s internationally-backed government. In 2015 the United Arab Emirates engaged in its greatest military commitment yet, joining a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen against Houthi rebels. However, in 2019 it broke with Saudi Arabia when its forces began a unilateral disengagement from the war in Yemen but continued to aid a separatist faction that now opposed the Saudi-backed government in Aden.

Mohamed was a driving force in many of his relationships abroad. While the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were coordinating security and trade policy for much of the 2010s, he served as a mentor to Mohammed bin Salman, whose father, Salman bin Abdulaziz, became king of Saudi Arabia in 2015. In 2020 Mohamed was key to the achievement of an agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize relations between the two countries, which made the federation the first in a string of Arab states to formally thaw relations with Israel that year. Mohamed’s investment and philanthropy abroad also earned him sway and recognition.

After the death of Khalifa in May 2022, Mohamed was elected president by the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates.

Mohammed ben Zayed was praised in many Arabic poem. Al-Bab selects this one:

ياسيدي سيد الكل من جد

هذا كلامي ماهو مجرد تعابير

لك العهد واجب ولازم ولابد

مرسل لبوخالد مع كل تقدير

يمكرم شعب الامارات بلاحد

يدعون لك عشرين مليون بالخير

يالعربي الساس جد ورا جد

سبحان من سخرك للخير تسخير

في عصرنا مالك نظير ولا ند

ياشهر من اللي قالوا عنهم مشاهير

سالم من سلم وضد لمن ضد

ومالا يصير يصير لو ودك يصير

من ربي افضالك علينا بلا عد

معايير حطم جميع المعايير

من عاش معك اليوم ماهمه الغد

حيث انته غير وعهدك المزدهر غير

كنك بحر طيبك جزر والكرم مد

وشعبك لفوك لضفاف جوادك طوابير

ولك الغلا والحب مع صادق الود

لك طلعه تضوي عتام الدياجير

وانا بعيني شفت بوخالد يديه اتمد

من الكرم وطيب واخلاقه فوق تعابير