Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi

Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi has been Ruler of Sharjah and a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates since 25 January 1972; a historian and author, he is best known for his historical writing, his support for education and his preservation of cultural landmarks. ^{1 2}

He was born on 2 July 1939 according to the English article and Wikidata (the latter places his birth in Sharjah), and on 6 July 1939 at Dubai according to the prize's page. His mother was Maryam bint Sheikh Ghanem Al Shamsi. He entered the Eslah Al Qasimia School in 1948, studied between Sharjah, Kuwait and Dubai, then took a BSc in agricultural engineering at Cairo University (1971), a PhD in history at the University of Exeter (1985) and a second PhD in the political geography of the Gulf at Durham University (1999). ^{1 2 3}

He restored Al Hisn Fort in Sharjah in 1970 and became the UAE's first Minister of Education in December 1971, before becoming Ruler of Sharjah on 25 January 1972 at the age of thirty-two. He has presided over the American University of Sharjah and the University of Sharjah since 1997, was a visiting professor at Exeter (1998), professor of modern Gulf history at the University of Sharjah (1999) and a visiting professor at Cairo University (2008). ¹

By 2023 he had written at least eighty-two books of history, literature and drama; one, on Khorfakkan's resistance to the Portuguese invasion of 1507, became a historical film in 2020. ¹

He received the King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam in 2002. The prize's page says it was given for founding educational, health and housing centres in many countries, scholarships for Muslim students worldwide, dams, homes, mosques and roads, and for making Sharjah a cultural centre of the region. ³

The article lists among his honours the Collar of the Order of Zayed, the Collar of Egypt's Order of the Republic, France's Legion of Honour and Portugal's Grand Collar of the Order of Camões. ¹

Wikidata listed articles on him in twenty-three Wikipedia editions on 7 November 2026. ²

• English Wikipedia article, revision of 3 November 2026. ¹

• Wikidata item Q754778. ²

• The laureate's page on the King Faisal Prize's official site, read on 7 November 2026. ³