How Qatar’s leadership is working for Iran

When pride and glory went to Qatari leadership’s head, it gave birth to treason. Perhaps one of the most significant advantages which resulted from the four countries’ boycott of Qatar is that this pushed it to openly take the stance it had held secret for over two decades.

It has not been three months since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt boycotted Doha and the latter has announced sending its envoy back to Iran. The terrorist and sectarian Tehran, which works to destabilize countries and sows seeds of chaos, lured Doha’s diplomats after Qatari leadership did not allow Saudi planes to transport Qatari pilgrims on the expenses of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Doha’s delusions

Thus, Doha decided to abandon Riyadh and choose Tehran. Its iniquity is thus two-faced as the Iran-Qatar axis is supporting both Sunni and Shiite terrorist murderers and is operating their intelligence cells. The duplicity of Qatari leaders is now thoroughly exposed. Qatari leaders have started destroying their own country. Hamad bin Khalifa is now destroying the very delusions he had himself believed in and promoted.

One of Hamad bin Khalifa’s and Hamad bin Jassim’s delusions was to deprive Saudi Arabia of the leadership of Sunnis, which they considered would pass on to the Brotherhood or to Turkey’s sultan. However, their attempts have yielded nothing them nothing but failure. They had also harboured the idea that they would perhaps inherit Wahhabism but they ended up aligning themselves with Tehran’s politicized clergy and followers of brutal Khomeinism.

Another delusion of Hamad bin Khalifa was to seize Saudi Arabia’s political legitimacy by claiming his lineage to the Najdi tribe of Bani Tamim. He has also claimed his peerage back to Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab, but the Sheikh’s family has clearly rejected his claims.

In the thrall of Persia

Under Hamad’s leadership, Qatar produced a series about Al-Qaqa ibn Amr. Hamad bin Khalifa even named one of his sons after the Bani Tamim tribe and took pride in its historical role in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah against the Persians. According to historians, Assem ibn Amr — the brother of Al-Qaqa ibn Amr and a commander during the battle — praised Arabs for defeating foreigners. When the Qatari crisis erupted – and before it had even escalated – Hamad betrayed Arabs and chose to be an agent working for non-Arabs in Persia against them.

Hamad’s propaganda machine, media and movements project him as the architect of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the savior of Arabs. However, when the crisis first erupted, he presented himself as partner and servant of the Persians and of their fundamentalist mission which opposes Arabs. In fact, he claimed to be capable of avoiding the impact of the crisis by adopting the most foolish approach of running forward towards it!

Qatar shall endure in spite of the deluded

What the crisis has clearly shown so far is that the Qatari leadership does not take into its consideration the good of neither the Qatari ruling family nor of the Qatari people. Hamad had become the emir after staging a coup against his father and sought his extradition by getting an Interpol warrant issued against him. He also expelled thousands of Qatari tribesmen. After the crisis erupted, the actions he took were similar to his now familiar approach of rejecting the mediation of Sheikh Abdullah II and his general disregard for the desire among Qataris to perform the annual Muslim pilgrimage. His actions also showed that he does not care about the interests of his own people in Saudi Arabia. He headed towards Iran although it goes against his people’s culture, sectarian affiliations, tribal extensions and strategic interests. This was clearly seen when he publicly embracing Tehran and supported a group of mercenaries which he had gathered around him for years.

Ultimately, Qatar will endure because of the good in its people, the ruling family and deeply entrenched Arab values, in spite of the misadventures of a few deluded men who refuse to re-examine their actions and back down.

This article is also available in Arabic.
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Abdullah bin Bijad al-Otaibi is a Saudi writer and researcher. He is a member of the board of advisors at Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center. He tweets under @abdullahbjad.