Pages from the book Seven Emirates on the Green Coast

Ahmed Qasim Al-Bourini

Don't just read geography; travel with a living pen that has lived the experience, navigated, witnessed, and recorded. Ahmed Qasim Al-Bourini, an Arabic teacher from the 1950s, writes as if he's walking with you through the markets, sitting with you in the offices, and speaking to you about the people and the streets with honesty and amazement.
The book takes us on a realistic journey into the heart of the seven emirates: Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah. Each emirate is told from within: through its nature, customs, markets, people's faces, and the character of its rulers. From the smell of coffee in gathering places to the sound of guns at weddings, from the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah to the farms of Al Dhaid, everything is documented with a keen sense and a critical mind.
Al-Bourini doesn't present a glamorous tourist image, but rather conveys reality as it is: simplicity, wealth, poverty, openness, and tradition. He writes about the scarcity of drinking water, the generosity of the people, and their high spirits. He writes about the beauty of nature, and the absence of schools and hospitals. This book is a living testimony to a time when the Emirates was pulsing with latent power, on the verge of exploding in the face of modern history.