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Transitional Tensions: Islamic Work Values and Arab Customs in UAE Public Administration

This article explores the complexities and contradictions faced by UAE public administration, from its Islamic and Arab roots, colonization, and current challenges under globalization. It examines the influence of Islamic work values, Arab Bedouin customs, and caliphal administration, as well as the impact of British colonization and the modern world on UAE governance.

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Transitional Tensions: Islamic Work Values and Arab Customs in UAE Public Administration

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  1. Transitional Tensions in UAE Public Administration: From Islamic Roots and Arab Custom, through Colonisation, to Current Contradictions under Globalisation

  2. Arab/Bedouin Custom Islamic Work Values Caliphal Administration Colonisation Current and Futue

  3. Islamic Work Values

  4. Islamic Values Prophet Mohamed (PBUH/saws) • Qur’an • Sunna, Hadith

  5. Islamic Work Ethic(Ali, 1988; Al-Kaleh, EdD; Yousef, 2000) • Life without work has no meaning • Engagement in economic activity an obligation • Honesty, justice in trade • Equitable, fair distribution of wealth (e.g., zakat) • Acquire skills & technology • Praises work as a virtue

  6. Work Ethic cont… • Effort of the capable is obligatory • Cooperation & consultation • Social relations at work creates balance in life • Work source of independence, personal growth, self-respect, self-fulfillment • Measures intentions instead of results • Workplace governed by justice & generosity

  7. Arab & Bedouin Custom

  8. Bedouin Values

  9. Hospitality: Friend and Foe

  10. Generosity: Killing One’s Last Camel

  11. Loyalty: Unto Death (unless renegotiated)

  12. Tolerance: Of Foreigners’ Weaknesses

  13. Traditional Majlis

  14. ShaikhZayedMajlis

  15. Women’s Majlis

  16. Emirati Traditional Governance Model: Egalitarian & Participatory (Left Side Field of Consensus) Defense against aggressors Leader/Shaikh External Aggressors Accessibility (Majlis) & accountability loyalty Transfer loyalty & territorial rights New Leader/Shaikh Followers

  17. Black – Abbasid Caliphate Green – Fatimid Caliphate Red - Hashemites White - Ummayyad Caliphate

  18. Caliphal Administration

  19. Caliphal Rule • Caliph (Ar. Khalifa) • KhalifatuRasulil-lah = Successor to the Messenger of God • Abu Bakr, 'Umar, Uthman, Ali (earliest, closest Companions of Prophet): simple and righteous lives, justice impartial; treatment of others kind, merciful; one with people - first among equals • Subsequently, Caliphs assumed manners of kings and emperors, spirit of equality diminished

  20. Timeline of Caliphates • Had only indirect influence on UAE area bedouin • Until Ottoman Empire (still only indirect)

  21. Caliphal Structure

  22. Primacy of Role Models(personalism orientation)

  23. Abu Bakr

  24. Salah al-Din

  25. ShaikhZayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan(1918-2004)

  26. Moral character, visionary, caring Father of the state & people ‘Individual’ in community Leadership inheres in personal qualities Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Dubai) United Arab EmiratesCharismatic/Traditional Exemplars

  27. Consultative, conciliatory, consensus-seeking Selected for competences Oriented to public good and welfare Bedouin traditions (plus Arabic, Muslim) Grounded in kin system Personal style Personal networks (trust systems): appropriate Wasta Orientation towards quality Leadership Practices

  28. UAE Shaikhdom • Ruling families est. by UK colonisers • Federated state of 7 member Emirates • Meritocratic: the competent selected as Crown Prince • Consultative • Negotiating & navigating among powerful tribal/family representatives • Negotiating among member Emirates

  29. The “Renaissance”

  30. “Lost History”: The West’s Adoption of Arab Scholarship Al-Khalili, J. (2010) Pathfinders: Golden Age of Arabic Science Crone, P. (2005) Medieval Islamic Political Thought Freely, J. (2009) Aladdin’s Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World Lyons, J. (2009) The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization Masood, E. (2009) Science & Islam: A History Morgan, M. (2007) Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists O’Leary, D. (2003) Arabic Thought and Its Place in History

  31. Synthesised Scholarship Common Heritage: e.g., Plato, Aristotle (history, politics, sociology, cultural analysis) Arab Scholarship: e.g., Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali, IbnKhaldun, Islamic Humanist tradition Western trad. built upon Arabic: e.g., Renaissance scholars, Weber, Heidegger

  32. Colonisation

  33. British Colonialism

  34. Mgmt, Admin & Leadership: Historical Complexity Tribal Traditions Colonial Heritage Western Education & Consultancy Post-Unification Shaikhdom (ShaikhZayed)

  35. Initial Theoretical Scaffolding Weberian Value-orientation & Ideal Typing GoffmanMicrointeractionist Metaphors Saidian Humanistic Critique of Orientalist Hegemony Bourdieuian Intellectual Field

  36. Disruptions: British “Rule” Undercutting Shaikhs (1820-) Limited/eliminated trad’lfunctions of shaikhs: ability to wage war, deal with foreign powers, raid commercial boats, engage in slave trading, depose or murder of rulers UK approval of successors, require agreement to treaties & conditions, accept British advice, protect UK interests

  37. British “Rule” cont….. Selected shaikhs raised to unchallengable positions of power Prevented tribes from getting rid of unsatisfactory shaikhs Fixed territorial boundaries Replaced consultation & consensus with British force, colonial hierarchy [Bureaucratisation of traditional society]

  38. Additional Effects of UK Colonisation • Bombed the ports, disrupting trade • Restricted size of boats, diminishing pearl diving (only source of revenue) • Built no roads, no hospitals, no schools • Subsistence population sank further (i.e. camel milk and dates are not enough) • Significant rise in death rate

  39. The Modern World of the UAE

  40. Dubai ca. 1970

  41. Dubai now

  42. First Settlement: 5,500 BCE Pop. 2011: 7.2 Million (Expats 88.5%) Urban: 88% 32nd Human Develop Index (of 169) Life Expectancy: 78.5 years Literacy Rate: 93+% Health & Educ (to BA) free GDP per cap: 17th world; 3rd Middle East UAE Sample Vital Stats

  43. Myths to Dispose of:Women in the UAE • They drive • Are increasingly in workplace (glass ceiling?) • Travel abroad (many regularly) • 80% Emirati grad students • Assertive in doctoral seminar • UAE is (relatively) uxorious society

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