Abu Dhabi the capital, Arabic the official language, and a dirham fixed at 3.6725 to the dollar

Background

Every dirham figure in today's UAE items, from the AED 292.5 billion federal budget plan to Dubai's Dh2.1 trillion of projects, converts at a rate the UAE has held fixed for decades. Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the UAE, a constitutional federation of seven emirates, and it was Constitutional Amendment No. 1 of 1996 that made Abu Dhabi City the capital of the federation. Article 7 of the Constitution makes Arabic the official language of the federation and Islam its official religion, and Article 1 names the seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah. The country is four hours ahead of GMT and its currency is the Emirati Dirham, abbreviated AED, which is pegged to the US dollar at 1 USD equal to AED 3.6725. The UAE lies in the Middle East on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula; its only neighbouring countries are Saudi Arabia and Oman, and it borders the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, which is known in the UAE as the Arabian Gulf. Its highest point is Jebel Jais, which stands at 1,934 metres in Ras Al Khaimah's Hajar Mountains.