also Āl Thānī ("Thānī family")
Ruling family of Qatar.
They are from the Tamīm tribe, which migrated eastward from central Arabia to the Qatar peninsula in the mid-19th century. There have been eight leaders from 1868 to the present. The second sheikh , Qāsim ibn Muḥammad (1878–1913), is considered Qatar's founder. The seventh sheikh, Khalīfah ibn Ḥamad (r. 1972–95), was instramental in obtaining Qatar's independence from Britain in 1971 and became the first emir. The clan comprises about two-fifths of the native Qatari population.