lit a candle 2 Sept 2026Some people leave a mark on the world that doesn't fade. Hamad was one of them.
Their story
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled Qatar as its Emir from 1995 until he stepped aside in 2013, was born on 1 January 1952 and died on 12 July 2026. For a year at the start of his reign, between 1995 and 1996, he also served as the country's…
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled Qatar as its Emir from 1995 until he stepped aside in 2013, was born on 1 January 1952 and died on 12 July 2026. For a year at the start of his reign, between 1995 and 1996, he also served as the country's prime minister.
His schooling began in Qatar and continued in Britain, at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, from which he graduated in 1971. A series of senior military appointments followed at home, among them chief of staff of the Qatar Armed Forces and minister of defence. In 1995 he took power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a palace coup that was carried out without bloodshed. Over the eighteen years that followed, he pushed forward the development of Qatar's natural gas reserves, and liquefied natural gas above all, with annual production climbing to 77 million tonnes. The wealth that flowed from it made Qatar the richest country in the world measured per head of population, with average income reaching 86,440 US dollars a year. He governed as an absolute monarch, holding final authority over every branch of the state, and political parties were not permitted.
Qatar drew the world's attention repeatedly under his rule. The country hosted the 2006 Asian Games, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup and the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and Doha gave its name to both the Doha Agreement and the Fatah-Hamas Doha Agreement. It was also during his reign that Qatar was chosen to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He set up the Qatar Investment Authority, which by 2013 had placed more than 100 billion dollars around the globe, taking stakes in The Shard, Barclays Bank, Heathrow Airport, Harrods, Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Volkswagen, Siemens and Royal Dutch Shell. That investment strategy is widely credited with helping Qatar become the first Arab and Muslim nation to host the World Cup. Two American military bases were established on Qatari soil, even as relations with Iran were maintained, and he sought warmer ties with both Iran and Israel than his father had pursued. In 1996 he founded the news group Al Jazeera, the first channel in the Arab world to report critically on Arab governments, though it has refrained from criticising Qatar's own rulers. He also had a hand in talks between the United States and the Taliban.
In June 2013 he appeared briefly on television to announce that he was passing power to his fourth son, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, whose mother was his second wife, Moza bint Nasser. In Qatari usage he was afterwards known as the Father Emir. He is remembered as the man who laid the groundwork for the modern Qatari state, bringing in its first permanent constitution and elections to the advisory Central Municipal Council, overseeing an extraordinary growth in national wealth from gas exports, and introducing far-reaching economic, cultural and social reforms that lifted Qatar's standing in the world.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), retold in our own words. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
5Emir of the State of Qatar Hamad bin Sheikh Khalifa Al Thani in the Polish Senate
by People Forever
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Qatari Amir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in Doha, Qatar, on June 23, 2013. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
by People Forever
The Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has arrived in Azerbaijan on a working visit. President Ilham Aliyev has met with the Emir of
by People Forever
His Highness Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, during a visit to the Pentagon, June 11, 1997.
by People Forever
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