Qatar: Doha the capital, Arabic the official language, and a land area of about 11,636.8 sq km

Background

Qatar is a peninsula on the Arabian Gulf whose terrain is desert and beach. Its capital is Doha — in Arabic ad-Dawha, which means 'the big tree' — and the city too stands on the coast. The Qatar Atlas of the National Planning Council puts the total land area of Qatar at approximately 11,636.8 square kilometres, a figure calculated from the total zone area for the census of 2020. The peninsula lies between latitudes 24° 27' and 26° 10' North and longitudes 50° 40' and 51° 40' East. Arabic is the official language of the country and Islam is its official religion, with Shari'a, Islamic law, as the principal source of legislation. The ruling line is the Al Thani family: Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani, named as the founder of the State of Qatar, took over the affairs of the country after his father died on 18 December 1878, and the present ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, assumed his duties as Amir on 25 June 2013.