Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the father of Qatar’s current emir and the architect of the Gulf state’s modern foreign policy, died on Sunday in Doha at the age of 74. The Qatari emiri diwan announced four days of national mourning, with flags at half-mast and government offices closed from Monday. Funeral prayers were held after sunset at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, followed by burial in Lusail cemetery. Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will receive condolences from visiting heads of state, members of ruling families and citizens at Lusail Palace from Monday through Wednesday.

Condolences from Arab capitals and Islamist movements alike underlined the former emir’s role in leveraging Qatar’s gas wealth to back Arab and Islamic causes. In the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates’ president, vice presidents and rulers of individual emirates sent successive cables of sympathy, as did Dubai’s Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed. Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recalled the late emir’s “special relationship” with Algeria, while Morocco’s King Mohammed VI praised his support for the kingdom’s development projects and just causes. Lebanon’s Speaker Nabih Berri described him as “a friend who healed our wounds,” a reference to Qatari-funded reconstruction after the 2006 war with Israel. The Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement both issued statements recalling his visit to Beirut’s bombed southern suburbs and his role in brokering the Doha Agreement that ended Lebanon’s 2008 political crisis.

Non-Arab reactions focused on bilateral ties and his developmental legacy. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed the late emir’s “influential role in expanding brotherly relations and friendly cooperation” between Tehran and Doha, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered condolences to the “brotherly nation of Qatar.” In South Asia, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar praised his “visionary leadership,” and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as a “farsighted leader” who steered Qatar to prosperity. Statements also arrived from Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia, Somalia and the Palestinian Authority.

Sheikh Hamad seized power in a bloodless coup in 1995 and ruled until his voluntary abdication in 2013, a rare peaceful transfer in the region. Under his guidance, Qatar used liquefied natural gas revenues to build Al Jazeera, host major sporting events, and pursue an activist foreign policy that often diverged from its larger Gulf neighbours. He positioned Doha as a mediator in conflicts from Lebanon to Darfur and backed Islamist movements during the Arab Spring, a stance that led to a four-year blockade by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt before reconciliation. The breadth of the tributes underscores how his strategy of investing diplomatic capital abroad has left enduring channels of influence that his son and successor now inherits.

The funeral rites were conducted with the attendance of the Qatari leadership and foreign dignitaries. Official mourning is set to continue with the emir’s reception of condolences in Lusail, marking the start of a period of reflection on the legacy of a ruler who, for nearly two decades, projected a small peninsular state into the centre of regional diplomacy.