Allen J. Fromherz - Qatar : a Modern History

Allen J. Fromherz is Assistant Professor of History at Georgia State University. He was previously Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History at Qatar University. He received his PhD from the University of St Andrews in Scotland after graduating from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship to Morocco. In 2010 he was awarded the Gerda Henkel Stiftung fellowship to pursue research on the history of nationalism in the Middle East. He is also the author of The Almohads: The Rise of an Islamic Empire (I.B.Tauris 2010) and Ibn Khaldun, Life and Times (2010).

Allen Fromherz has written an excellent book on Qatar based on a thorough knowledge of historical sources and enriched by his own experience in the country. This book will be essential reading to anyone interested in Qatar and useful to anyone interested more broadly in the dynamics of the Arab Gulf states.

JILL CRYSTAL, Professor of Political Science, Auburn University, and author of Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants of Kuwait and Qatar

Qatar: A Modern History fills a major gap as it provides for the first time the necessary historical basis for understanding this Gulf state in all of its contradictions and importance.

G. R. GARTHWAITE, Jane & Raphael Bernstein Professor Emeritus in Asian Studies and Professor Emeritus of History, Dartmouth College

A MODERN HISTORY

ALLEN J. FROMHERZ

2012 Allen J. Fromherz. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd in the United Kingdom

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fromherz, Allen James.

Qatar : a modern history / Allen Fromherz.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58901-910-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Qatar--History. 2. Qatar--Economic conditions. 3. Qatar--Politics and government. 4. Qatar--Foreign relations--Middle East. 5. Middle East--Foreign relations--Qatar. 6. Qatar--Strategic aspects. 7. Khalifah ibn Hamad Al Thani, Amir of Qatar, 1929- 8. Al Thani, Hamad ibn Khalifah. 9. Petroleum industry and trade--Qatar. 10. Gas industry--Qatar. I. Title.

DS247.Q35F76 2011 953.63--dc23

2011037928

This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

15 14 13 12 <3-m space> 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing

Printed and bound in Great Britain by T.J. International, Padstow, Cornwall

I could not have completed this book without the support and inspiration of my colleagues, students and mentors in Qatar. Although I was able to remain in Qatar for only one year, it was long enough to enjoy the hospitality, warmth and graciousness of the Qatari people. I was also inspired by the many hardworking expatriates, the men and women from all corners of the world who left their families and friends and who travelled so far to make Qatar such a remarkable place.

My editors at I.B.Tauris, especially Dr Lester Crook, Joanna Godfrey and Cecile Rault, must be thanked for their patience and perseverance. Thank you, Iradj Bagherzade for contacting me about this project in 2008. I want to thank the anonymous reviewers contacted by I.B.Tauris and by Georgetown University Press for their many helpful comments and suggestions.

I acknowledge my colleagues at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and my family in Oregon for encouraging me to continue writing despite the temptation to be distracted by other projects. My grandmother Lois is always an inspiration. I want to thank Robin, Rebecca, Amy, and Allen for supporting me from afar. My friends in Atlanta, especially Joe Maxwell and Glenn Faulk, have made the life of the non-fiction writer much more bearable.

I am fortunate to have the continuing support of mentors and colleagues including Professors Gene Garthwaite, Dale Eickelman and Dirk Vandewalle at Dartmouth, Brian Catlos at the University of Colorado, Jinnyn Jacob at Harvard, Hugh Kennedy at SOAS, Steven Wright, Sheikha Misnad and Sheikha bint Jabor at Qatar University, Amira Sonbol and Mehran Kamrava at Georgetown. Of course, any errors of fact or interpretation in this book are entirely my own.

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my best friend and colleague, Dr Mickie Mathes. Dr Mathes, who was named associate dean of Qatar University after one year as a Fulbright fellow, passed away in 2011 during her valiant struggle with cancer. Mickie devoted her life and boundless energy to bridging the cultures of America, Qatar and Japan. Her unflinching belief in the power of universal human kindness and understanding made her not just a friend to Qatar and Qataris who grew to adore her and treat her as family, but an example of the power of perseverance and love. Mickie left the world with too much to be done. Mickie, In Sha Allah we will have another, heavenly dinner and share our stories once again. I hear there is an open reservation for you anywhere in Qatar.

The completion of my manuscript was supported by a generous fellowship from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.

So rarely has a country of so few seemed to change so quickly over such a short period of time. Qatars rise from an economically devastated backwater to the worlds richest nation per capita in a matter of decades appears unprecedented. This rise is even more striking since Qatars previous status as among the poorest of poor nations is within the living memory of the older generation of Qataris. The pearl price collapse and the disruptions of the Second World War had harmed the traditional exports of the Gulf. Yet even by dismal Gulf standards, Qataris were more marginal, more economically underdeveloped than the poor citizens of Kuwait, Bahrain or Dubai. In 1940 the British Political Resident provided a glimpse of Doha, capital of Qatar:

[Doha is] little more than a miserable fishing village straggling along the coast for several miles and more than half in ruins. The suq consisted of mean fly-infested hovels, the roads were dusty tracks, there was no electricity, and the people had to fetch their water in skins and cans from wells two or three miles outside the town.

The entire population of Qatar had fallen to 16,000. Entire villages that had survived for centuries were depopulated as tribes emigrated en masse to neighbouring, more prosperous shores. In 1944 only 6,000 fishermen were engaged in the pearl harvest as opposed to 60,000 some 20 years before. In stark contrast to today, many Qataris were in dire straits. The one thing that may have made it better than equally poor places on earth was the fact that it was not a theatre of war.

Only some 15 years after 1950, the end of the years of hunger, however, a visitor could remark that Doha had become: