Thani bin Mohammed

He was born in Zubarah and emerged as a successful pearl trader.^[1]

He died in 1825. By the early 1825s,^{[clarification needed]} his second eldest son Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani emerged as the most important figure in Qatar and an important government official in the Persian Gulf.

The Al Thani family can be traced back to Mudar ibn Nizar, a descendant of Ishmael.^[2] The tribe moved from the Najdi town of Ushaiger and settled at the Gebrin oasis in southern Najd (present-day Saudi Arabia) before they moved to Qatar.^[3] Around the 17th century, the tribe lived in Ushaiger, a settlement north-west of Riyadh. They settled in Qatar around the 1720s. Their first settlement in Qatar was in the southern town of Sikak, and from there they moved north-west to Zubarah and Al Ruwais.^[4] They settled in Doha in the 19th century under their leader Mohammed bin Thani.^[3] The group was named after his father Thani bin Mohammed.^[3]

The family is made of four main Arab houses: Banu Qasem, Bani Ahmed, Bani Jaber, and Bani Thamer^[5][6] As of the early 1990s, the number of the family members was estimated to be about 20,000.^[6]

Sheikh Mohammed had 5 children, all of whom were sons.^{[citation needed]}