Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Arabic: حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني; 1 January 1952 – 12 July 2026) was Emir of Qatar from 1995 until his abdication in 2013. He was also prime minister of Qatar from 1995 to 1996.
Hamad received his education in Qatar before attending the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After graduating in 1971, he held several senior posts in the Qatar Armed Forces, including as chief of staff and minister of defense. Hamad seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a bloodless palace coup d'état in 1995. During his 18-year rule, he promoted the development of Qatar's natural gas, in particular liquefied natural gas (LNG), which reached 77 million tonnes in annual production. This made Qatar the richest country in the world per capita with the average income in the country being US$86,440 a year per person. As emir of Qatar, Hamad ruled the country as an absolute monarch, with supreme authority over all branches of state power, and no political parties were allowed.
During his reign, several sports and diplomatic events took place in Qatar, including the 2006 Asian Games, 2011 AFC Asian Cup, 2012 UN Climate Change Conference, Doha Agreement, Fatah–Hamas Doha Agreement, and the decision to hold the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the country. He established the Qatar Investment Authority. By 2013, it had invested over $100 billion around the world, including The Shard, Barclays Bank, Heathrow Airport, Harrods, Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Volkswagen, Siemens, and Royal Dutch Shell. Hamad's investment strategy is credited with Qatar becoming the first Arab and Muslim country to host the FIFA World Cup. Qatar began hosting two U.S. military bases while also maintaining relations with Iran. Hamad sought closer ties with both Iran and Israel compared to his father's approach. Hamad founded news media group Al Jazeera in 1996, which became known as the first news channel in the Arab world to provide critical coverage of Arab governments, though it has avoided criticizing Qatar's own government. He also played a part in negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban.
In June 2013, Hamad, in a brief televised address, announced that he would hand power to his fourth son, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was born to his second wife, Moza bint Nasser. Following his abdication, he became known as the Father Emir in Qatari terminology. He is credited with setting the foundation of the modern Qatari state, including the adoption of its first permanent constitution and holding elections for the advisory Central Municipal Council; for presiding over a massive expansion in state revenue and national wealth due to LNG exports; and for his sweeping economic, cultural, and social reforms; which contributed to Qatar's rise on the international stage.
Early life, education, and career
Hamad was born in Doha, Qatar on 1 January 1952. His mother died soon after his birth and he was raised by his uncle. He received his early education in Qatar.
He graduated from the British Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1971, and was then commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in Qatar's armed forces. A few months later he returned to Qatar and was made commander of a mobile brigade, which later became a force called "Hamad Brigade". In 1972, Hamad had the rank of general, and became army chief of staff. Next he was appointed commander-in-chief of Qatar's armed forces with the rank of major general. In 1977 he was named minister of defense. He was eventually promoted to the ranks of lieutenant general and full general. His tenure as minister of defense coincided with the Gulf War, and Hamad met United States defense secretary Dick Cheney in 1991, during discussions about the postwar security architecture for the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Hamad also promoted Qatar's participation in international sports, founded the Qatar Open tennis tournament, and led the Supreme Council for Youth Welfare from 1979 to 1991.
Hamad was appointed Heir Apparent of Qatar in 1977. In the early 1980s, he led the Supreme Planning Council, which sets Qatar's basic economic and social policies. Starting in 1992, Hamad's father began gradually handing over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the country, including the development of Qatar's oil and natural gas resources, rendering him the effective ruler of the country. However, his father ultimately retained control over state finances. Hamad came to be regarded as the de facto leader of the country, while his father's role as emir was considered a formality. He began to change Qatar's foreign policy from other Gulf Arab states by increasing contact and trade with Israel, calling for the lifting of international sanctions against Iraq, and improving relations with Iran. Qatar became the first Gulf monarchy to re-establish relations with Iraq after the Gulf War. Hamad met Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati in 1994, who described Iran's relations with Qatar as "fraternal and good". Hamad also maintained cooperation with the United States, which included the building of a military base in Qatar, despite its criticisms of Qatar's increasing ties with Iraq and Iran.
After securing the support of most senior members of his family, as well as that of the United States, Hamad staged a bloodless coup d'état on 27 June 1995 when his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani was on vacation in Geneva, Switzerland, at which point he officially became the Emir of Qatar. The deposition came after a falling out between Hamad and his father, who had tried regaining some of the authority that he gave to Hamad starting in 1992. Thereafter, his father lived in exile in France and Abu Dhabi until he returned to Qatar in 2004. On 11 July 1995, Hamad announced his first cabinet, which included himself concurrently serving as prime minister, minister of defense, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He remained as prime minister until 29 October 1996, when he named his half-brother Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani to the post and asked him to form a government.
Hamad then engaged an American law firm to freeze his father's bank accounts abroad in order to deter a possible countercoup. However, a counter-coup was attempted against Hamad in February 1996 under the leadership of former Economy Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani. The coup failed, and several of Qatar's traditional Arab allies were implicated in the plot, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
In a break with traditional role, his second wife Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned became a visible advocate for education and children's causes. In 1995, the couple founded the Qatar Foundation.
Autocracy and political reform
During Hamad's reign, the country enacted its first permanent constitution, following the 2003 Qatari constitutional referendum. While Hamad "hailed the event as a great step toward bringing democracy to the country", the constitution actually gave the emir "near-absolute powers", and in practice Hamad ruled an autocratic regime in Qatar. In 1999, Qatar held elections for the first time, to the advisory Central Municipal Council, in which women were also allowed to vote and stand as candidates. This made Qatar the first Gulf country to allow women to vote.
Mehran Kamrava of Georgetown University in Qatar has suggested that Qatar's highly publicized campaign of political liberalization was meant to help stabilize the regime under Hamad, especially through support from the West, and that once sufficient stabilization was achieved, "both the rhetoric and the pretext of democratization were abandoned". Other scholars have also called Hamad's domestic political reforms "largely performative" steps, intended mostly to bolster Qatar's international image without enacting meaningful change, or said that Qatar's "political trajectory reflects a model of selective and symbolic democratization—embracing electoral forms while avoiding their full democratic substance." Although the ministry of information was abolished in 1998, with the press occasionally allowed to criticize the economy or the status of foreign workers, journalists continue to face a "draconian system of censorship". It has been noted in scholarship that the Qatari government "made great play" of the abolition of the Ministry of Information promising greater press freedom, and that in reality the step was a "highly symbolic gesture" intended to signal reform to international partners while attempting to "carefully, selectively, and pre-emptively remain in control of content".