(AFP/Getty Images)
In a part of the world rife with xenophobia, antisemitism, female oppression, and religious intolerance, sadly, a bright Middle East light that represented none of these things no longer shines.
Last Saturday, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani slipped the surly bonds of earth to be in the presence and behold the glory of Allah. He ruled Qatar as a monarch with absolute and unquestionable authority from 1995 until 2013. After 2013, he was referred to and respected within Qatar and throughout the Middle East as the “Father Emir” because, at age 61 and being in good mental and physical health, he did something unknown in the Middle East among absolute monarchs: he voluntarily gave up his absolute and unquestionable authority to rule Qatar to his 4th son Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani declaring: “The time has come to open a new page in the journey of our nation that would have a new generation carry the responsibility with their dynamic potential and creative thoughts”.
The Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani carrying the remains of his father in the funeral procession for the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
The Father Emir is the architect of the modernized Qatar we know today. As the New York Times said, “he oversaw Qatar’s transformation from a little-known desert peninsula in the Persian Gulf into a country with vast wealth and global influence”. Key to that transition was the Father Emir altering the role of women in Qatar’s society. In 1999, Qatar was the first Gulf state in the Middle East to grant women the right to vote and run for elective municipal office; it would be over 10 years before Saudi Arabia granted the same right to its female population in 2015. In 2000, he created the Qatari Businesswomen Association to promote the active economic participation of women and empower them as entrepreneurs, another Gulf state first.
Key to Qatar developing the immense soft power and global influence it enjoys today was the Father Emir’s Emiri decree, which created the news network Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera revolutionized Arab broadcasting because, for the first time in the Middle East, it gave airtime to truthful information about and criticism of Middle Eastern authoritarian governments that had state-controlled news media that either broadcast positive false propaganda about their governments, refused to broadcast true negative facts about their governments, or both.
Then-Qatari leader Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and his wife Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned hold the World Cup trophy after the 2010 announcement that Qatar would host the FIFA World Cup Tournament in 2022
Al Jazeera was one of the contributing factors that led Qatar’s Gulf nation neighbors, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt in 2017 to simultaneously sever their bilateral relations with Qatar. One of their demands to resume diplomatic relations with Qatar was the shutdown of Al Jazeera; fortunately, Qatar was able to reach an agreement 4 years later in 2021 to end the crisis that didn’t involve the shutdown of Al Jazeera. The soft power that Al Jazeera generates for Qatar and the Father Emir’s establishment of Qatar as a mediator between Western nations, its Gulf nation neighbors, and Islamic resistance groups, like Hamas, for brokering ceasefires and hostage exchanges make Qatar a diplomatic powerhouse that punches far, far above its weight for a country with a population of only 3.1 million people.
The main way the Father Emir was able to prevent military retaliation from its Islamic neighbors, for his progressive policies and politics, was by reaching an agreement with the United States to host the Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, located in Doha, the capital and largest city of Qatar. As a sign of appreciation for America’s military commitment to Qatar’s peace and security, after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Father Emir donated $100 million to the city of New Orleans to benefit victims of Katrina.
Then-Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2008, an unpopular and bold move for any Islamic leader at the time
One component of Father Emir’s progressive politics that was frowned upon by many of his Islamic neighbors was in 1996 when he established unofficial trade relations with Israel; at the time, Oman was the only other Islamic Gulf nation to do so. For a period of time, Israel even had a trade bureau in Qatar. Unfortunately, after the unofficial trade relationship existed for approximately 13 years, Father Emir felt he had to sever trade relations with Israel in 2009 following Israel’s Gaza War.
In 2010, Qatar offered to restore trade relations with Israel and allow the reinstatement of the Israeli mission in Doha, on the condition that Israel allow Qatar to send building materials and money to Gaza to help rehabilitate its infrastructure, and that Israel make a public statement expressing appreciation for Qatar’s mediation role. Israel refused on the grounds that Qatar’s supplies could be used by Hamas to build bunkers and reinforced positions from which to fire rockets at Israeli cities and towns, and Israel said it did not want to get involved in the competition between Qatar and Egypt over Middle East mediation. But even though Israel refused the offer, Qatar still ended up mediating talks between Hamas and Israeli officials.
The Father Emir abdicated his throne while he was young enough to live long enough to stand behind his son the succeeding Emir, enabling him to mentor, advise, and support his son as his son now charts Qatar’s future
Of all the progressive things Father Emir accomplished in his 18-year reign as an absolute, unquestionable monarch, his decision to voluntarily abdicate and hand over all absolute power and authority to his son might be his greatest accomplishment.
Because by turning over all power and authority when he did not only set a great precedent for the Qatari monarchy, it also set a great example for all the Middle Eastern absolute monarchies to follow, and it allowed the Father Emir to live an additional 13 years in sound mind and body, enabling him to be an experienced mentor and advisor for the first 13 years of his son’s reign as he established his own reign in his own right, thereby guaranteeing that the bright light of the Father Emir’s progressive reign will continue to shine on through his son’s absolute unquestionable monarchy.
