Former Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who oversaw the modernisation of the gas-rich Gulf state, has died aged 74.
Qatar’s authorities have announced a four-day period of public mourning, with government work suspended and flags lowered to half-mast.
After ousting his father in a palace coup in 1995, Sheikh Hamad steered the transformation of Qatar into a global investor and an outsized actor in regional and international diplomacy, at times frustrating its Arab neighbours while garnering a reputation as a maverick.
“His revolutionary vision became the embodiment of Qatari strategic culture,” said Andreas Krieg of King’s College London in a post on X. “As a regional disrupter, his confidence and tolerance to accept risk created friction with regional players — but ultimately his vision prevailed and Qataris owe their security, stability and prosperity to him.”
Sheikh Hamad kick-started Qatar’s economy by borrowing vast sums to exploit untapped natural gas resources to develop his state as a liquefied natural gas hub. The gamble paid off handsomely: Qatar became one of the world’s largest LNG exporters and one of its wealthiest countries.
The former ruler realised that ensuring Qatar’s relevance to international powers and integration into the global economy was the best defence for the tiny state, which is found between regional heavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In co-ordination with the US, Qatar built the vast Al Udeid Air Base in the desert outside Doha, which became the biggest American military base in the Middle East. Energy giants came in to develop Qatar’s massive gas reserves, which are shared with Iran, while investors were drawn by the riches of its sovereign wealth fund.
In concert with his relative Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who served as the former emir’s prime minister and foreign minister, Qatar became one of the globe’s most active sovereign investors, snapping up trophy assets such as London’s Harrods department store and Paris Saint-Germain football club.
Sheikh Hamad and his wife, Sheikha Moza, became one of the Gulf’s highest-profile couples, as they invested heavily in education and culture at home and sought to project Qatar on the global stage.
Heading one of the world’s richest nations, they also pursued dialogue rather than confrontation with Islamist movements that others viewed as a threat to regional stability.
That stirred fury among neighbouring autocratic rulers who feared that the rise of the pan-Arab Islamist Muslim Brotherhood during the 2011 popular Arab uprisings threatened to tear down the region’s established order.
Support for Islamist groups in the civil wars in Syria and Libya opened Qatar up to accusations from its critics that weapons and money channelled through Doha benefited extremists, including some factions in Syria affiliated to al-Qaeda — a charge vehemently denied by Qatar.
Qatar’s state-owned news network Al Jazeera also shook up staid regional media, beaming democratic debate into Arab homes in a challenge to regional autocrats.
With the US’s green light, it hosted the Taliban and Hamas political offices, enabling it to forge a role as a vital interlocutor between Washington and its foes. But it also fuelled criticism that it was supporting radical groups.
Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University’s Qatar campus, said Sheikh Hamad had “defied the odds in many respects”, citing his ability to transform Qatar “into an influential regional and global player” despite its small size.
“He can rightly be considered the father of modern-day Qatar as it was during his rule that Qatar became known globally for many of its trendsetting initiatives such as a world-class airline, a 24-hour satellite news channel [Al Jazeera] and an active hub of diplomacy,” Kamrava said.
However, Qatar’s independent foreign policy approach was viewed as a challenge by its powerful neighbours, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, cleaving open a Gulf divide that pitted Doha against Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
Amid this pressure, Sheikh Hamad took the unusual decision in 2013 to abdicate in favour of his son, Sheikh Tamim. Known since then as the “father Emir”, Sheikh Hamad had played a backroom role over the past decade.
Sheikh Tamim assumed power in perilous times. Neighbouring Gulf states withdrew their ambassadors in 2014 before launching an unprecedented trade and travel embargo against Qatar in 2017.
In that moment of national jeopardy, Sheikh Hamad was rumoured to have donned military fatigues as Doha prepared for the worst.
The embargo finally ended at the beginning of 2021 after Saudi Arabia and other regional states sought to de-escalate tensions, while Sheikh Tamim took a more conservative approach to foreign policy.
The following year, Qatar became the first Middle East or Muslim nation to host the football World Cup — another highlight of Sheikh Hamad’s soft-power strategy as Doha had won the rights to host the tournament under his leadership in 2010.
Qatar then played a leading role in mediating an end to Israel’s war in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack triggered a wave of regional conflict.
But the hostilities have also underscored Qatar’s vulnerability to attack in the volatile region.
In June last year, Tehran fired missiles at Al Udeid base after the US briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. In September, Israel launched air strikes at Hamas’s office in Doha.
Iran has also fired multiple barrages of missiles and drones at Qatar since the US and Israel launched their latest war against the republic in February, including striking the Gulf state’s main LNG facility.
Doha had long maintained more cordial relations with Tehran than many of its neighbours and in recent weeks it has taken a leading role in efforts to mediate between the US and Iran.
It was instrumental in brokering last month’s memorandum of understanding between the warring parties that was supposed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
With that process at risk of unravelling as the US and Iran trade tit-for-tat strikes, Qatar and other Gulf states once again find themselves being targeted by Iranian fire.
But as Qatar prepares to bury “father Emir”, Doha’s emissaries continue their attempts to prevent a resumption of all-out war in the Gulf.
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