The Al Khater (Arabic: آل خاطر) family is a prestigious family in the Arabian Peninsula. They belong to Al Buainain of Banu Tamim. The family expands in several Arabian Peninsula countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. The Al Khater are the ones who built two major cities in the Arabian Peninsula which are Jubail in Saudi Arabia and the former capital of Qatar, Al Wakrah.[1]
The Al Khater has close family and political ties with Al Saud, the rulers of Saudi Arabia; Al Khalifa, the rulers of Bahrain; and, Al Thani, the rulers of Qatar.
The relation between the two families started when Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater found Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal; the last ruler of the Second Saudi State seeking refuge in his mosque in Bahrain when he got defeated by Al Rashid and forced into exile, where he offered him and those with him (including his son the later King Abdul Aziz) his house to sleep in, Mohammed bin Hassan then helped Abdul Rahman reach Isa ibn Ali Al-Khalifa.In Saudi Arabia, in the unification war when Abdul-Aziz bin Saud was trying to unify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Al Khater (Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khater ruler of Jubail) joined forces with Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (e.g. battle of Kinzan, 1915) and they helped in the unification war in the region that Al Khater controlled and in the nearby territories. After the unification war King Abdul-Aziz had a strong relationship with leaders of Al Khater where he used to visit them from time to time and he even wanted to marry one of the daughters of Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khater ruler of Jubail at that time but his daughters were married.[2]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater had solid ties with the heads of Al Khalifa (ruling family of Bahrain), his relationship with them was based on respect and good manners, he himself used to own many farms in Bahrain including the one that is still there near Bahrain International Airport where everyone nowadays can see part of one of his old farms during landing and take off. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan helped in trading Sheikh Ibrahim bin Ali Al Khalifa for Sheikh Qassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani where Sheikh Ibrahim was captured in Qatar and Sheikh Qassim was captured in Bahrain.[3]
Al Khater and Al Thani (the ruling family of Qatar) have close ties, Sheikh Qassim bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani (second ruler of Qatar) was prisoned in Bahrain, and members of Al Khater were the ones responsible for getting him out of prison where they traded Sheikh Qassim for Sheikh Ibrahim bin Ali Al Khalifa who was captured in Qatar. Later on the family ties got stronger where Sheikh Mohammed bin Hassan Al Khater married Sheikha Sabika daughter of Sheikh Qassim. The ties got stronger and stronger as Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Hassan Married Sheikha Nora the only daughter of Sheikh Ali bin Qassim Al Thani (Jouan) and granddaughter of Sheikh Qassim, also Sheikha Mariam bint Khater Al Khater married Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Qassim the head of Al Abdulrahman of Al Thani. The family ties between Al Khater and Al Thani is one of the strongest ties in Qatar due to the marriages that occur between these two families.[4]
As Al Khater grew bigger and stronger, families and tribes of the Arabian Peninsula had many relationships with the family, many of those relationships lead many families and tribes to try to get closer to Al Khater by either calling them their cousins or calling them a family of the same tribe, in order to honor their own tribe with the name of Al Khater. For example Banu Khalid; whom descends from Khalid ibn al-Walid. In fact, the alliance between Al Khater and Banu Khalid led to this misunderstanding. However, the historical sources clearly stated the root of Al Khater family is belong to Banu Tamim, as well a Al Khater made it clear that they belong to Banu Tamim. It was clear that whoever called Al Khater one of their families is just to honor that tribe and had nothing to do with the family but it was the choice and decision of that tribe such as Banu Khalid when they named Al Khater a family of their own.[5] [6]