Sheik Rashid ibn Said al Maktum; Ruler of Dubai

Sheik Rashid ibn Said al Maktum, co-founder of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. Official sources put Sheik Rashid’s age at 84, but the International Who’s Who, a reference book, said he was born in 1914. Sheik Rashid was also vice president and prime minister of the oil-rich Emirates, the federation of sheikdoms that includes Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras al Khaima, Ajmaan, Umm al Qaiwain and Fujaira. The seven sheikdoms that stretch from Qatar to Oman along the Persian Gulf previously had been ruled together under an agreement with Great Britain. Sheik Rashid founded the federation in 1971 with his brother-in-law, Sheik Zayed ibn Sultan al Nuhayan, who is the president of the federation of gulf states and ruler of Abu Dhabi. On Sunday in Dubai of what sources said was old age after being seriously ill for about four years.