Sharjah: Igniting the Eternal Flame of Culture

Sharjah- Emirati Writer’s Day was held on Saturday to pay tribute to national authors and literature’s impact on the nation’s culture, by the grace of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Supreme Council Member & the Ruler of Sharjah. Held to commemorate the event at the Sharjah Book Authority, forty years after the founding of the Emirates Writers Union, an institution which the prowess of Dr. Sheikh Sultan of vision and support steered through various daunting years for arts and writers’ institutions.

In the main speech, Dr. Sheikh Sultan who is the Honorary President of the union expressed his affectionate speech with many visions and ideas about the roles of knowledge and science. He said that the intellectuals should highlight the issues going on in the society and compared it with the French Enlightment and the prominent French intellectuals like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Emile Zola. He stressed the fact that culture must remain engraved in the society, it cannot be bartered and should serve as a guide to the direction that people should take.

Recalling the historical achievement of French scholars, Dr. Sheikh Sultan, on this note, explained how the scholars changed Sorbonne University, which was initially a religious center of learning into a melting point of science and literature. Noting that what is happening now is a societal power that can mobilize change within the society, he said: “That power belongs to the intellectuals. ”

The Ruler of Sharjah put record on the subject of culture as the tool of empowering science, literature and arts. He also sought to explain the history of the Intellectuals in societies, an aspect illustrated by the appearance of William Shakespeare in Britain in 1613 AD. Shakespeare in theatre and literature enriched the cultural renaissance of England making it different from other European countries of that period.

To some degree, Dr. Sheikh Sultan’s speech honored Emirati writers and blessed the significance of the intellectual and the cultural assets for society. The event added up to the reflection of Sharja’s desire to encourage a rich culture and to support its writers and thinkers.