The Gulf state of Qatar climbed to a pinnacle of wealth and influence in a remarkably short time, and from a starting point of obscurity and insignificance. This astonishing transition is the direct result of the efforts nearly 200 years ago of one visionary man – Jassim bin Muhammad Bin Thani, born in 1825 and known as ‘the Leader’. This publication in Arabic traces the story of Jassim’s life from his youth in the fragmented region of the 1830s – a desert peninsula without security or borders, where coastal communities depended on pearling for survival – to his ascension as the first leader of a new country and the establishment of power in Doha.
