United Arab States United Arab States The United Arab States (UAS) was a short-lived confederation of the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) and North Yemen from 1958 to 1961. The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state formed by the union of Egypt and Syria in 1958. The same year, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (North Yemen), which had already signed a defense pact with Egypt, joined with the new state in 1958 in a loose confederation called the United Arab States. One reason for this decision was the fact that, for a long time, Yemen had felt threatened by its considerably
Bahá'í Faith in the United Arab Emirates Bahá'í Faith in the United Arab Emirates The Bahá'í Faith in the United Arab Emirates began before the country gained independence in 1971. The first Bahá'ís arrived in Dubai by 1950, and by 1957 there were four Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in the region of the United Arab Emirates and a regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Arabian Peninsula. Recent estimates count some 75,000 Bahá'ís or 1.6% of the national population - second only to Iran in number of Bahá'ís in the nations of the Middle East - though the World Christian Encyclopedia estimates closer to 51,700, 1.3%, in 2005.