Mohammed al fahim biography of abraham

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From Rags to Riches—A Story of Abu Dhabi: Mohammed Al-Fahim
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 1995, 192 pages.

Review by Lesley O’Dowd

Mohammed Al-Fahim’s biography, From Rags to Riches was first published in 1995.

During his childhood, he spent several years in the palace of Sheikh Zayed, the ruler of Al Ain and its dependencies at that time. His reverence for the close family friend, Sheik Zayed, emerges clearly, a grateful tribute to the Emirati ruler’s careful and enlightened guidance of his people over fifty years. Sheik Zayed’s eldest brother, suspicious and wary, had steadily opposed development.

Finally oil was struck in 1958 and the first shipment left Das Island mid 1962. The first exportation of onshore oil took place in December 1963. For his initial schooling, he attended the “Qur’an Religious School” and then joined the “Al Falahiya School” for further studies in 1959, before travelling to England for higher studies.

As he skilfully weaves the personal perspective of his family’s adaptation from primitive living conditions—water carried home in goatskin bags from the well; sleeping on the floor or roof top; never having seen an electric light or running water till he was aged 13—he chronicles the arrival in Abu Dhabi of the first sterilisation plants, telephones, generators, a Dakota landing on the sand, a post office and a brick school.

In 1962 Mohammed’s mother, aged thirty, died in childbirth. He has also received the prestigious award of "Gulf Chief Executive of the Year" (1995) and Arab Business Excellence Award in 2007. His book: “From Rags to Riches - A Story of Abu Dhabi” published in English was translated in its Arabic, French Japanese, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Urdu and now in Malayalam versions.

From Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi

"Born in 1948, in Abu Dhabi, the author knew dreadful poverty for years before fabulous oil wealth transformed his country forever.

Upon his return from this journey to England, crowned with a successful completion of his studies, Mohammed A.J. Al Fahim joined the family business in1968 and helped in diversifying the business by opening its doors to various fields: Real Estate, Automotive, Industrial Projects, Travel and Tourism, Agriculture are as many a new field the company ventured in.

At the first electric light.

Visitors to the United Arab Emirates will gain insights from this well-written biography. But even more so, the third generation of Emirati, who live nowadays with fabulous wealth, facilities and opportunities. Adding to his achievements, At present, he holds the position of Honorary Chairman of Al Fahim Group and is on the Board of Directors of an Insurance Company.

His family would spend the winter months in Abu Dhabi and the summer months were spent in Al Ain, always traveling by camel-back. He is also the member of the Consultative Board to the Ministry of Health and Chairman of CBE Advisory Board of the U.A.E. Within a few years, with roads, electricity, government administration, education, water supplies, phenomenal construction sites, Abu Dhabi surged out of the sand.

Anyone visiting Abu Dhabi today must read From Rags to Riches.

Al Fahim points out with bitterness that there was still not a doctor or medical facility in the township.

Marine surveying, some helped by Jacques Cousteau, took place from around 1953. When the British pulled out of the Trucial States in 1968, Sheik Zayed’s tireless efforts led hostile tribes to agree to federate: the United Arab Emirates came into being three years later.

Up into the 1950s, during the searing summer months, the coastal sand flat on the Persian Gulf was a village of a few thousand pearl divers, fishermen, boat captains and souk traders who lived in date palm frond huts.

Only when Sheik Zayed took control that year did development begin.