Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, known as Zayed the Great and as Zayed I (his birth year is disputed – died at Abu Dhabi on 19 May 1909), was the seventh ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi of the Al Nahyan family, taking power in 1855 after his cousin Saeed bin Tahnun and holding it for 54 years until his death. ^{1 2} Under him Abu Dhabi's influence ran from Khor Al Adaid on the Qatari border to the Buraimi Oasis and Liwa, and by 1894 he was considered the most powerful of the Trucial sheikhs; he was the grandfather and namesake of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. ²

Zayed was born in Abu Dhabi, and his birth year is among the most unsettled facts in his sources, which the museum states rather than merges: the Arabic article's lead gives 1837, the English article's infobox and lead give 1835 — the harvest queue's year — its body says "sometime around 1835 or 1840" and its succession template gives 1840, and Wikidata carries a day-precision 27 March 1840; the record follows the English infobox and the queue at c. 1835 and marks the year debated. ^{1 2 3} He lived much of his early life with the Bedouin of Abu Dhabi and was made ruler after the deposition of his cousin Saeed bin Tahnun in 1855; the next year Saeed attempted a return, sailed from Kish Island to Sharjah and landed at Abu Dhabi and sacked it while Zayed was away in Al Dhafra, Zayed's brother Dhiyab barricaded the townspeople in Qasr Al Hosn fort, and Zayed returned and routed Saeed's forces at Maqta, where Saeed and his brother Hamdan were killed, and Sharjah was fined for its complicity. ^{2 1}

His dealings with Britain began at once: he was held responsible for an attack on a Bahraini boat and the murder of a sailor at Khor Udeid that had actually occurred under his predecessor, and, after first refusing liability, he paid 600 Thalers in blood money and burned the two boats. ² In October 1867 Bahrain's ruler Muhammad bin Khalifa called on his help against his rebellious Qatari subjects, and Zayed embarked 2,000 men in a fleet of 80 boats and attacked Doha and Wakrah, effectively demolishing both towns and scattering their populations; Britain imposed large fines on Bahrain and on Zayed and confiscated three of his cannons, returning them when their loss was seen to leave Abu Dhabi defenceless. ² In 1868, during an armed clash with Sharjah's forces, he advanced ahead of his troops and challenged Sharjah's ruler, Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi, to single combat and wounded him mortally, ending that conflict, though internecine outbreaks remained the norm among the coastal communities. ^{2 1} In 1870 he united with Omani forces to drive the Saudi troops from the Buraimi area, leaving its forts in Abu Dhabi's permanent control; he also supported the Omani Imam Azzan bin Qais — who paid Abu Dhabi to defend Buraimi — against the Sultan of Muscat, Turki bin Said, at the Battle of Dhank, where Turki prevailed and became ruler of all Oman, a rare setback for Zayed. ² He led Abu Dhabi in an extended war with Qatar in the 1880s that secured its western border, from the battles of Baynunah, Suwaihan and Al-Marsaf in 1881 to the Battle of Khannour of January–February 1889, in which Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani's forces penetrated deep into Abu Dhabi territory, the conflict ending in an agreement of 1893 brokered by the British and Ottomans. ² In Buraimi he bought up property as it became available until the Dhawahir rebelled at the extent of his control, reconciled with the Na'im, marched on the oasis in May 1887 and took two Dhawahir sheikhs hostage, then returned in 1891 with horsemen and camel riders from Dubai, built a fort at 'Ain Dhawahir, appointed a wali and married the daughter of the Nuaimi headman of Buraimi. ² His 1895–1897 scheme to use Al Zorah as a supply base for his Bani Qitab allies was blocked by the other sheikhs and the British Resident, to his annoyance; in 1892 he signed a treaty with the United Kingdom that effectively ceded control of Abu Dhabi's international commercial relations to the British Empire, by 1894 he was considered the most powerful of the Trucial sheikhs in place of Sharjah's hegemony, and by 1900 his tribal federation and judgement were accepted from Khor Udeid to Liwa, Buraimi and Jebel Ali. ² The first meeting of the five Trucial sheikhs took place under his leadership at Dubai in September 1905, and a second at Khawaneej in April 1906 agreed a treaty allocating responsibility for the tribes between Zayed and the young Rashid bin Ahmad Al Mualla of Umm Al Quwain, after which Zayed moved against Rashid, apprehended him in January 1907, and handed him over to the Resident Percy Cox only after British-brokered reconciliation. ²

Zayed the Great died on 19 May 1909 at Abu Dhabi, as the English article's lead, infobox and closing section give, with the Arabic article agreeing on 1909; Wikidata carries a year-precision death in 1910 that no article read supports, and the record states it without following it. ^{2 3} He married five times and had eight sons and one daughter, whom the English article lists by each wife, the Arabic article agreeing in number and in the names in substance. ^{2 1} After his death the rule passed amid repeated crises among his sons Tahnoun, Hamdan, Sultan and Saqr between 1909 and 1928, as the Arabic article records, and his name lived on in his grandson Zayed bin Sultan, who bore his name and became the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. ^{1 2}

This section is read as a presentation of positions reported from the sources, not as a verdict of the museum.

Major Percy Cox, the British Political Resident, noted Zayed to be "troublesome", as the English article reports, and Zayed guided the sheikhs of Dubai and Umm Al Quwain not to adopt the White Pierced Red flag intended for the Trucial States, on the ground that the flag represented the Al Qawasim tribal federation — a refusal of a British-proposed symbol on rival tribal grounds. ² The 1867 demolition of Doha and Wakrah is presented by the same article as a breach of the Maritime Truce that cost him fines and his cannons, which is as far as the sources used here go in judgement, in either direction. ² The sources differ in facts the museum states rather than merges: his birth year (1835 in the English infobox and the queue, 1837 in the Arabic lead, "around 1835 or 1840" in the English body, 1840 in its succession template and Wikidata), his death year (1909 in both articles, 1910 in Wikidata alone), and his birthplace in Wikidata, whose value points erroneously to Alain, a commune in France. ^{1 2 3} His faith is recorded as unknown as to school in his data record: the English infobox's religion field gives Islam generically — one infobox value naming no school — the Arabic article states no religion for him, and Wikidata carries no religion value at all, so the value stays unknown under the two-source rule and the doubt rule. ^{2 1 3}

• The defined sources cited above, registered in data/source/.
• Later translations and edits of this article need periodic review with clear update dates.