Funeral prayers have been held for the Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, at Qatar’s national mosque, attended by dignitaries, members of the ruling family and citizens, ahead of his burial at Lusail Cemetery.
#Qatar's Amir Sheikh @TamimBinHamad Al Thani carries the coffin of his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Amir, during the funeral prayers at Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in #Doha on Sunday evening. Qatar observes four days of national mourning.
"The Father Emir is gone. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who died on Sunday at 74, was the architect of modern Qatar. But that description, however apt, undersells the magnitude of what he actually achieved. He did not merely modernise a small Gulf state. He rewrote the operating system of sovereignty itself—proving that a nation of barely 300,000 citizens could achieve global indispensability not through armies, but through a brilliantly brutal recalibration of what power actually means in the twenty-first century.
When Sheikh Hamad seized power in a bloodless palace coup in 1995, Qatar was a sleepy backwater, a peninsula that barely registered on the world’s diplomatic radar. Eighteen years later, when he voluntarily abdicated—shattering Gulf tradition in a move as unprecedented as it was wise—he left behind a nation that had become the world’s indispensable interlocutor.
During his reign, Qatar’s GDP increased more than twenty-fourfold. By 2006, it had become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Today, its production capacity stands at 77 million tonnes per annum.
But the numbers are merely the scaffolding. The architecture is what matters.
Sheikh Hamad understood something that larger powers have never quite grasped: in a world of overwhelming military asymmetry, the weak do not survive by matching the strong. They survive by making themselves structurally necessary to the strong. This was not soft power. It was harder than any missile. It was the weaponisation of necessity itself.
Consider the pillars he built. In 1996, he launched Al Jazeera, breaking the state monopoly on Arab media and giving Qatar a voice that reached 60 million viewers from Casablanca to Cairo. In 1995, he established the Qatar Foundation, transforming Doha into an educational sanctuary where Ivy League universities planted their flags and, to date, nearly 10,000 students have graduated across 60 academic programmes."
✍️ Opinion by Kurniawan Arif Maspul
https://t.co/AN364j7GDd
Deeply saddened by the passing of His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Father Emir of Qatar.
His visionary leadership and service to Qatar will be remembered.
On behalf of the Government and people of Sri Lanka, I extend heartfelt condolences to HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Royal Family and the people of Qatar.
May his soul rest in peace.
As #Qatar mourns the passing of the Father Amir, @dohanews looks back at one of the most defining moments of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s legacy. On 23 October 2012, then the #Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad became the first head of state to enter #Gaza, through the Rafah crossing with Sheikha @mozabintnasser.
في وداعة الله يا عمود البيت واطنابه في وداعة الله يا ثوبنا الضافي ترحل بعد أن صنعت لنا تاريخ قطر المشرّف الذي أسسته أنت بكل كبرياء وشموخ ترحل بعد أن جعلت بلدي صغير المساحة كبير في مواقفة بلد لا يقبل الذل ولا الركوع ولا الخنوع،علمتنا أن الكرامة لا تباع ولا تشترى وأن قطر بلد حر لا تتبع سياسته أحد سوى مصلحة الوطن والمواطن كنت الشجاع في وجه أعداء قطر وكنت العطوف الحليم أمامنا يا من لا توفي كلماتنا حق مواقفك العظيمة التي سطرتها سنوات حكمك في حق شعبك ووطنك أوصيتنا على أن الثبات على الحق منهج ودستور ونعاهد الله ونعاهدك أن نثبت على الحق مهما تبدل أو تغيٌر الحال..
حمد بن خليفة تاريخ لا يطوى لا يطوى
حمد بن خليفة صفحة قطر الخالدة
حمد بن خليفة صانع إستقلال قطر الحقيقي.
حمد بن خليفة بصمة قطر وهويتها ورمزها
#حمد_بن_خليفة
#رمز_الوطن
#قطر
Flags at Amiri Diwan and National Museum of Qatar fly at half-mast following announcement of mourning period over the passing of Father Amir, HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP
Read more about the visionary leader: https://t.co/oYw5SjQSbP
Qatar's Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani launched Al Jazeera Media Network in 1996. Now widely regarded as the “godfather” of the channel, this was his speech marking its 25th anniversary.
The Amiri Diwan announced four days of national mourning throughout the country on the passing of His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
https://t.co/GAQgCbk7kI
The Amiri Diwan also announces that HH the Amir will receive condolences from mourners from heads of state, members of the ruling family, dignitaries, and citizens at Lusail Palace as follows:
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, July 13, 14, and 15, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM and after Asr prayer until Isha prayer.
#QNA #Qatar
اللهم اغفر له وارحمه وعافه واعف عنه وأكرم نزله ووسع مدخله واغسله بالماء والثلج والبرد ونقه من الخطايا كما ينقى الثوب الأبيض من الدنس وأبدله دارا خيرا من داره وأهلا خيرا من أهله وزوجا خيرا من زوجه وأدخله الجنة وأعذه من عذاب القبر ومن عذاب النار . .
اللهم آمين