Al Khater


The Al Khater family is a prestigious family in the Middle East. They belong to Al Buainain of Banu Tamim. The family expands in many Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. The Al Khater are the ones who built two major cities in the Middle East which are Jubail in Saudi Arabia and the former capital of Qatar, Al Wakrah.
The Al Khater has close family and political ties with Al Saud, the rulers of Saudi Arabia; Al Khalifa, the rulers of Bahrain; and most closely, Al Thani, the rulers of Qatar.

Al Khater and Al Saud Tareekh Al Mamlaka, Ali Ibrahim Al Sudairy, 1983 2nd Edition

The relation between the two families started when Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater found Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal; the last ruler of the Second Saudi State seeking refuge in his mosque in Bahrain when he got defeated by Al Rashid and forced into exile, where he offered him and those with him his house to sleep in, Mohammed bin Hassan then helped Abdul Rahman reach Isa ibn Ali Al-Khalifa. The relationship then took another turn when Al Khater fought against Al Saud in the unification war when king Abdul-Aziz bin Saud was trying to unify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, later on Al Khater joined forces with Abdul-Aziz bin Saud and they helped in the unification war in the region that Al Khater controlled and in the nearby territories. After the unification war King Abdul-Aziz had a strong relationship with leaders of Al Khater where he used to visit them from time to time and he even wanted to marry one of the daughters of Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khater ruler of Jubail at that time but Sheikh Mohammed respectively refused the marriage.

Al Khater and Al Khalifa Madhi Al Bahrain, Khalifa Al Khalifa, 1987

Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater had solid ties with the heads of Al Khalifa, his relationship with them was based on respect and good manners, he himself used to own many farms in Bahrain including the one that is still there near Bahrain International Airport where everyone nowadays can see part of one of his old farms during landing and take off. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan helped in trading Sheikh Ibrahim bin Ali Al Khalifa for Sheikh Qassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani where Sheikh Ibrahim was captured in Qatar and Sheikh Qassim was captured in Bahrain.

Al Khater and Al Thani Al Madeed Wa Qatar, Ibrahim bin Dakhna Al Sherifi, 1999 1st Edition

Al Khater and Al Thani have close ties, Sheikh Qassim bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani was prisoned in Bahrain, and members of Al Khater were the ones responsible for getting him out of prison where they traded Sheikh Qassim for Sheikh Ibrahim bin Ali Al Khalifa who was captured in Qatar. Later on the family ties got stronger where Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater married Sheikha Sabika daughter of Sheikh Qassim. The ties got stronger and stronger as Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Hassan Married Sheikha Nora the only daughter of Sheikh Ali bin Qassim Al Thani and granddaughter of Sheikh Qassim, also Sheikha Mariam bint Khater Al Khater married Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Qassim the head of Al Abdulrahman of Al Thani. The family ties between Al Khater and Al Thani is one of the strongest ties in Qatar due to the marriages that occur between these two families.

Dispute over Al Khater Lamahat Min Tareekh Bani Tamim, Nasser Abdulla Al Bakr, 2009 1st EditionAl Madeed Wa Qatar, Ibrahim bin Dakhna Al Sherifi, 1999 1st Edition

As Al Khater grew bigger and stronger, families and tribes of the Middle East had many relationships with the family, many of those relationships lead many families and tribes to try to get closer to Al Khater by either calling them their cousins or calling them a family of the same tribe. Banu Khalid for example; whom descends from Khalid ibn al-Walid and many other Arab tribes fought to get Al Khater to join them in order to honor their own tribe with the name of Al Khater, this led to a lot of misunderstanding about the family history line of Al Khater where many of those tribes have indeed called Al Khater one of its many families. Al Khater never agreed nor refused to join any other tribe and made it clear that they belong to Banu Tamim and was clear that whoever called Al Khater one of their families is just to honor that tribe and had nothing to do with the family but it was the choice and decision of that tribe such as Banu Khalid when they named Al Khater a family of their own.

Figures Qatar Al Ams, Mohammed Al-Maadeed, 1972 1st EditionAl Madeed Wa Qatar, Ibrahim bin Dakhna Al Sherifi, 1999 1st EditionLamahat Min Tareekh Bani Tamim, Nasser Abdulla Al Bakr, 2009 1st Edition