Lecture 10 Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali (1) PDF

The Modern History of Qatar Modern State Building and Preludes to Independence II: The Reign of Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali, 1960-1971  Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali’s Reign Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali born c. 1920 in Doha, ruled Qatar 1960-1971, after his father, Shaykh Ali, abdicated. 1960: Shaykh...

The Modern History of Qatar Modern State Building and Preludes to Independence II: The Reign of Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali, 1960-1971  Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali’s Reign Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali born c. 1920 in Doha, ruled Qatar 1960-1971, after his father, Shaykh Ali, abdicated. 1960: Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad became crown prince with the agreement of the ruling family. Period of rapid development in Qatar due to oil revenue Qatar became more closely related to larger Arab society and its Gulf neighbors  Key Transformations, 1961-1972 Increasing financial resources = major administrative and executive developments Most important transformations of the early years: I: 1960: Cancellation of position of British advisor to the Shaykh (Hancock) – had been in effective control of all government agencies Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad, the Crown Prince, took over British advisor’s, and became similar to a President. Shaykh Khalifa quickly took responsibility for government planning, policies and execution.  Key Transformations, 1961-1970  1962: Dr. Hassan Kamil (Egyptian) became Director of the General Government (new position). Supervised government agencies and major ministries.  British political agent remained (Mr. Moberly). New British General Consul responsible for consular affairs was added. Political agent stayed until 1971, but his responsibilities decreased. II. Organic law (constitution) issued, 1970 cabinet formed. III. 1971: Qatar obtained political independence from the British, position of British political agent terminated. IV: New oilfields discovered, offshore drilling in Qatar’s regional waters, increased revenue V: 1971: Qatar joined the Arab League after independence, reflects increased involvement in the Arab world and interest in Arab affairs especially in 1960’s when Arab nationalism spread.  Administrative Structure Oil economy = modernizing administrative system. Government organization: I: The Ruler (the Emir): sovereignty and ultimate authority over the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. Exercised those powers himself or through the crown prince. Until independence he was called “the Ruler”, after independence the “Emir.” II: Crown Prince: Ruler’s Deputy. Responsible for: 1. Planning government projects and submitting them to the Ruler for approval. 2. Suggesting laws 3. Issuing administrative decisions and regulations 4. Plans executed by the President, the Finance Minister and the President of the Judicial Council.  1960’s: Rising importance of the Crown Prince, Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad. He served as Director of Security, President of the Judicial Council, and first Minister of Finance in 1960 (Ministry of Finance second ministry after Ministry of Education in 1957).  Legal and Legislative Developments 1960: Dr. Hassan Kamil became legal advisor to the government, Qatar moved towards a modern legislative system to keep up with fast-paced developments. Series of laws organizing Qatar’s affairs and administration, including:  Law #1: Founded an official gazette for publishing all the laws and regulations issued by the state Law #2, Qatar Nationality Law of 1961 Law #3, Company Law  Law #4, Regulating private professions such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, etc.  1960’s: witnessed also the issuing of laws related to administrative organization.  Most important administrative developments: 1962  Law organizing a higher administration for government agencies was issued. Chaired by Dr. Hassan Kamil, supervised by crown prince and Ruler’s deputy. The higher administration was responsible for: 1. Preparing public policy, basis of extensive government role in economic, social, cultural and administrative affairs 2. Monitoring the government 3. Appointing and relieving public officials General administration was made up of three main arms:  Administrative affairs agency, Financial affairs agency, Oil affairs agency. Later a legal affairs agency was added. After increases in infrastructure, social services, health and education projects, government agencies were formed for all of these. By the beginning of the 70’s the administrative structure had 33 agencies.  Foreign affairs: under British control until 1968 when the Foreign Affairs Department was established, this was basis for the Foreign Ministry established at independence in 1971. The Qatari government building in the late 1960’s  The Judicial Authority Before oil, the judiciary in Qatar was based on the framework of the tribe. No written regulations or laws. Rulings related to conflicts on land referred to tribal shaykhs or the Shar’i judge. Ship captains dealt with pearling-related conflicts at sea. 1913: Shaykh Abdullah bin Jassim called on Shaykh Muhammad bin Abd al-Aziz al-Mani’, a famous jurist, to develop the Qatari judiciary. He built a special building, known as the school, in the Jisra area of Doha, and he taught and settled disputes there. He resigned in 1938. Judges issued oral rulings. If a litigant requested a written ruling, the judge would provide one, but judges did not have records of cases and rulings and there were no court scribes to create records.  The Judicial Authority 1941: Shaykh Abdullah appointed Shaykh Abdullah bin Zayd Al Mahmoud as head of the judiciary in Qatar. Shaykh Abdullah bin Zayd established and chaired a Sharia court in Doha Started a system for keeping records of cases and rulings, appointed Shaykh Hassan bin Muhammad al-Jaber to record testimonies and marriage contracts, and Shaykh Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Ansari to oversee urgent cases, sign marriage contracts and issue decisions and testimonials. After Shaykh Ansari died al-Sayyid Ibrahim bin Yousuf al-Sade was appointed in his place. Chair’s Office of the Sharia court in Doha in the 1960’s  Judicial Authority 1958: Directorate of the Sharia courts established, Shaykh Abdullah bin Zayd Al Mahmoud first chair. 1962: Law #4 created Labor Court to deal with expansion of government agencies, increase in population, and increasingly complicated labor cases. 1968, Traffic Court 1969, Municipal Affairs court dealing with cases related to facilities and building codes. This court was abolished in 1970, replaced by a regular Qatari circuit court Large scale presence of foreigners created new judicial problems that the Sharia court could not deal with, so the court of the British political agent was created. This court was abolished with independence in 1971 and its jurisdiction went to Qatari courts.  Economic Development Oil fields discovered during the reign of Shaykh Ahmad bin Ali: 1. Jaunary 1964, production started in the Idd al-Shargi Field, first offshore field developed 2. 1963 larger field, Maydan Mahzam, discovered 3. 1965 large station for collecting oil from offshore fields established on Halul Island. 4. 1965, discoveries in the Abu al-Hanin field, production started there in 1977. 1961: Qatar joined OPEC, a year after its establishment in Baghdad. The organization’s goal was to set a fair price for oil, important for increasing the country’s resources.  Currency Developments Currencies Qatar used before oil: French riyal, Mother Theresa dollar, Turkish lira (Ottoman period 1871-1915), Indian rupee post WWI, 1958 the red Gulf Rupee issued by the Indian Government. 1961: Kuwait issued the Kuwaiti dinar, this encouraged the other emirates in the Gulf to issue their own currency. 1964: Qatar National Bank (QNB) founded, first bank owned 50% by the government and 50% by Qatari citizens. Development of oil revenue created need for a national currency. Qatar and Dubai agreed to create the Qatar Dubai currency council, issued a new currency in 1966, the Qatar Dubai riyal. 1973 (reign of Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad): new Qatar Currency Agency issued Qatari riyal after Dubai joined the United Arab Emirates.  The British Withdrawal from Qatar and the Gulf 1968: British Labor Government decided to withdraw from Qatar before 1971. British reasons: 1. Increased presence of the US and its oil concessions in the region and the US’s insistence that the British follow open market policies. 2. Increasing spread of Arab nationalism and anti-colonial sentiment in the Gulf and Qatar. 3. Soviet activities extending their ideology to the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. 4. Decay of British economic power after WWII, need to decrease military expenses. 5. British public opinion pressured the government to stop paying to protect the oil interests of the countries benefitting from the region. 6. British government realized that its traditional military presence in the region was unnecessary considering new weapons technology, especially long-range missile bases and aircraft carriers. No need for  The Unification Project with the UAE, 1968  Feb. 1968: Qatar involved in project to create a United Arab Federation in the Gulf. Discussions started after British announced 1971 withdrawal. Rulers of the nine Gulf emirates (Ras al-Khaymah, Sharjah, Dubai, Fujairah, Um Quwain, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain) tried to create a federation to fill the power vacuum  25-27 Feb.: nine rulers met in Dubai, issued the Dubai Agreement, stipulated creation of a federation of the nine Arab emirates. Federation project terminated because of competition between federation members. Qatar saw itself as qualified to take a leadership position based on its progress in politics, its economic development and its regional position. Qatar built modern state institutions, issued its basic law (constitution) and created a cabinet on 28 May 1970.  Qatar’s Participation in International Organizations Before Independence  Qatar had an international reputation independent of the British before 1971 Britain due to: Limiting the role of the British political agent to consular affairs. Last political agent was Edward Henderson.  Qatar had state-like legal characteristics before independence. Early 1960’s: Qatar participated in regional and international activities, joined UN technical and cultural organizations (UNESCO, the World Health Organization, etc.) Participated in international Arab conferences related to politics and the economy: OPEC conferences and conferences related to the Arab boycott of Israel. In 1963 Qatar established an office devoted to boycotting Israel. Qatar was among the first to call for the establishment of a shared Gulf market.  The Basic Law of 1970 (The Constitution) 2 July 1970: Temporary basic law issued, first cabinet created on 28 May. Developed constitutional political climate, political freedoms, guarantees of equality and justice between citizens. Temporary basic law: 77 articles in 5 sections on system of governance, essential principles of state policy, organization of general authority, defining authorities, rights and duties of citizenry Stipulated that Qatar is an Arab Islamic country, issuing laws in accordance with the Islamic Sharia, and its people are part of the Arab Ummah. State of Qatar would work to strengthen its ties with neighbors and allies, to struggle for Arab causes, most importantly the Palestinian cause, to support the Arab nations, to commit to the charter of the Arab League and the UN, and to strengthen ties between Arab nations in order to achieve unity.  The Basic Law of 1970  Emir (Ruler of Qatar) has executive authority, assisted by the Crown Prince (Deputy Ruler), and the cabinet, appointed by the Ruler. Article 22 of the Temporary Basic Law stipulated that the rulership of the state is inherited within the Al Thani family. Because of the issuance of this law in 1970, the 33 government agencies were changed into 10 ministries on 28 May 1970, and the first cabinet met on 3 June 1970.  Legislative: basic law created advisory council to discuss the legal bills suggested by the council of ministers before they were submitted to the ruler for ratification and issuance. Council would also discuss state policy in any field including political, economic and social affairs.  1971: Independence Political independence September 1, 1971 after cancelling the 1916 protection treaty. The treaty left foreign policy in British control, so by cancelling it Qatar became free of British restrictions. Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad, the crown prince and deputy ruler at the time of independence, issued an announcement of independence at that time including the following: 1.Ending the treaty relationships between Britain and Qatar 2. Ending the agreements, commitments and regulations signed with the British government 3.Qatar became an independent state responsible for its own affairs 4. Qatar’s joining the Arab League and the United Nations 5. Support for the rights of the Palestinian people 6. Establishment of a Foreign Ministry led by the crown prince 7. Exchanging the protection treaty for a treaty of friendship between Qatar and the British.  1971: Independence 3 September 1971, Qatar becomes independent by terminating the 1916 British protection treaty  11 September: member of the Arab League 16 September: member of the UN Qatar was under British protection for 55 years, 1916-1971 22 February 1972 Shaykh Khalifa bin Hamad, the deputy Ruler and the crown prince, became the new Emir of Qatar.