Al Khater

The Al Khater (Arabic: آل خاطر‎) family is a prestigious family in the Middle East. They belong to Al Buainain of Banu Tamim. The family expands in many Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. The Al Khater are the ones who built two major cities in the Middle East which are Jubail in Saudi Arabia and the former capital of Qatar, Al Wakrah.

The Al Khater has close family and political ties with Al Saud, the rulers of Saudi Arabia; Al Khalifa, the rulers of Bahrain; and most closely, Al Thani, the rulers of Qatar.

Al Khater and Al Saud

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. The relationship then took another turn when Al Khater fought against Al Saud (rulers of Saudi Arabia by that time) in the unification war when king Abdul-Aziz bin Saud was trying to unify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, later on Al Khater joined forces with Abdul-Aziz bin Saud 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 Sheikh Mohammed respectively refused the marriage.