Actually, this is something which I believe can be discussed here. In the early days of the UAE (70s and 80s), back when Sharjah was actually the "hot" city, not Dubai, many of the Sheikhs took non Emirati wives.
I don't know if Sharjah was hot city before in 70s and 80s.Which Sheiks took non-Emirati wifes?See that Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid is married to his cousin Sheikha Roda.Do you mean that like Sheikh Mohammed?His first wife was Manal's mother.
Over the past ten years, promulgated by Sheikh Zayed himself, there has been a push for Emiratis to marry Emiratis. This has been published from time to time in the news papers, both Arabic and English.
He has a point in that because Emirates has still not a big population but I think Emiratis people have to marry with a love ,not without love.(Like now)
In many cases, the Emirates, due to the small size of it's national population, is a country in which the people follow what they see within the ruling families. So, in today's world, it will be very difficult for a prominent sheikh or even businessman, to take for his first wife someone who is not Emirati.
What did ruling families do?You mean firstly marry with non-Emirati wifes?
I don't understand if they want to big population ,firstly they have to accept to marry with a love and not to marry with non-Emirati wifes.Why did they marry with non-Emirati wifes if they want a big population?
And when an individual is from a ruling family, arranged, or family decided, marriages are still the norm. These days, this is done mainly to strengthen ties between the families.