5 Reasons Why I Wish I was A Citizen Of Dubai

(Inside Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding)

For almost two decades now, Dubai continued to impress the world by pioneering many mega projects, setting examples for how governing should work, and gaining progress in scientific achievements.

In 2012 had a dream that did come true when I set my foot for the first time in Dubai, I was in a trip with my aunt who covered some of the expenses for the trip, and it was an amazing experience for me. I went shopping, I roamed the parks and malls, and had the pleasure to experience visiting the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa, with all the luxury that surrounds that experience, I felt like I am living a life of a celebrity, and I had a mesmerizing experience to my senses, both visual, and auditory on the way up, while riding the tallest and fastest elevator in the world.

After I returned to Iraq, I kept thinking for many years to come why my country has sunken to wars again and again, and why we are not developed like Dubai, but I couldn’t find clear answers. After all we have money, and oil, and we have man power, we have a country that has more fertile land and diversity of terrain.

Few years later, I started to notice some of the patterns that we Iraqis lack that Dubai and the rest of the seven Emirates enjoy, and I was able to identify some of them. Here’s a list of 5 important differences between Iraq and Dubai

1. Unlike Iraq, people of UAE are able to integrate their original Arabic and tribal identity with the modern world. As Iraqis, we tend to refuse the concept of becoming global citizens, while in Dubai, there’s a different approach to that, and you can notice the patterns of integration between old and new obvious everywhere. For that, I recommend you take a walk in the Downtown area surrounding The Burj Khalifa, you’ll notice how the modern architecture design is integrated with old Arabic designs, and while the Burj stands in the middle, the small building around and the nearby neighborhood of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard reflect the traditional Arabic designs with arcs and trimmed façade and beautiful restaurants.
   Take a walk around the Dubai Fountain and you’ll hear Arabic tunes of Om Kalthoum along with world renowned artists like Celine Dion, and Andrea Bocelli. While in my country Iraq, We tend not to take this approach. I remember in 2019 there was a rage when Lebanese violinist Jowel Saada has played the Iraqi National Anthem in a football stadium in Karbala, as it was considered a breach for the norms supposed to be followed within that “holy city”. This rage has continued for weeks and for me, it was an upsetting to see that music, this one thing that connects nations around the world, and the universal love language is forbidden in my country!
2. Unlike here in Iraq where a visa is hard to obtain for foreigners, and can cost around $2500, Dubai opens its arms to the people from around the world. In my last visit in 2015 I was able to pay a visit to Sheikh Muhammed Bin Rashed for Cultural Understanding, and I was taken by the beauty of the tour the provided, and with their moto of “Open minds, Open doors”, I was able to experience closeness or a start of a friendship with the Emirati people, something that’s not possible even here in my home country, since my citizens do not have a healthy sense of pride for their culture, and therefore they are unwilling to open up and make new friendship possible.
   I also love how inclusive the country is, where everyone is accepted, I was moved when I knew about opening of new temples for different religious groups, and also allowing certain food to be sold to expats, which all in my opinion reflects great deal of openness and spirit of welcoming for all people from different nationalities and backgrounds, and it is a great representation of what an Islamic country should be. Needless to talk how minority religious groups are treated in Iraq, because it is a subject with a lot of sadness and tragedy.
3. The great openness to business, trade, creativity, entrepreneurship that Dubai enjoys, Unlike, Iraq, where I am unable to send shipment to my client in another city because it can get damaged in one of the hundreds of checkpoints dividing the country into fragments or military zones, it seems that the unity between the seven emirates has enabled a good atmosphere for trade, and the countless initiatives have made it possible for entrepreneurs and artist, engineers and global corporations to work and transform Dubai into a gem in the desert, and a place where creative minds from all around the world can meet and express themselves through different mediums of art, and I think this wasn’t to be possible without the leadership of a great visionary, Sheikh Muhammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who himself envisioned many of today’s modern marvels like the man-made island of Jumeirah and its sister islands and other mega projects, defying all the expectations of his local citizens and the world.
4. The sense of humanity, and their willingness to start aid initiatives and send help delegations to all over the world and most importantly to help countries in need, they seem that they never get tired of doing that, and for me, I wish my country one day reaches to a point where we can lead humanitarian initiatives, and be able to get a taste of satisfaction when helping others and reaching millions around the globe. Dubai does that with sense of generosity, reflecting a history rich with Arabic generous figures like Hatim Tai
5. Last but not least, the general sense of unity found there. If you tour any of the cities you’ll see many signs of that, for example in Dubai, there’s the Union House, the place where a unity treaty has been signed in December 2nd 1971, ushering the beginning of the United Arab Emirates as a new and united Arab country. You can also notice the name “union” is used in many places like the biggest metro station in the city, a name that’s held near and dear to the heart of Emarati people, unlike in Iraq, where we have lost any sense of unity, the thing that’s reflected on the ground in many ways, like the lack of public transportation system that connects our city, and with it comes the inability for us to feel if another city is in pain, simply because we are unable to exchange visits freely.

Bonus: The coffee there is something unparalleled, not only it tastes good, but also it has healing properties and make your stomach feel great. I was happy to find it in every hotel or during my stay there.