Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled Qatar from 1995 to 2013, will be laid to rest at Lusail Cemetery in Doha.Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the architect of Qatar’s remarkable transformation into an ultra-wealthy modern nation with global influence, has been laid to rest in Doha following his death at the age of 74.Sheikh Hamad’s death was announced on Sunday morning, and his simple funeral ceremony was held after the daily evening prayer at sunset at the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in the capital.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listMourners wearing traditional Qatari dress stood with their hands clasped in front of them during a funeral prayer, facing the shrouded body of Sheikh Hamad.Afterwards, close family members, including his son and successor as emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, carried his body out of the mosque. Sheikh Hamad was laid to rest at the Lusail Cemetery north of Doha.Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the ceremony was “a humble event” and Sheikh Hamad was “buried in a simple grave”.“The simplicity really is in keeping with Islamic tradition but also emblematic of how the father emir carried himself in his life,” Basravi said. “He did not concern himself with the trappings of wealth but was focused on the welfare of his own people.”During Sheikh Hamad’s reign from 1995 to 2013, Qatar’s gross domestic product rose more than 24-fold, largely because of his focus on developing the country’s massive g …
