Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut Al Nahyan was the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, one of the Trucial States which today form the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 1833 to 1845.
A public outcry and the intervention of Sultan stopped him from delivering the same sentence to two prominent merchants and he settled for having one beaten, his property confiscated and exiled to Lingeh.
[2] This action of Khalifa's led to the secession of most of the Al Bu Falasah section of the Bani Yas during the pearling season of that year, establishing themselves in the town of Dubai to the North of Abu Dhabi.
[2] In an egregious breach of the Bedouin laws of hospitality, Khalifa bin Shakhbut was murdered by his hosts in July 1845, when he accepted an invitation to a feast on the beach at Abu Dhabi.
With most of the inhabitants of the town away pearling or tending the date plantations, his maternal nephew Isa bin Khalid al-Falahi, who had long had designs on power, killed him at the conclusion of the feast.