Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned (Arabic:موزا بنت ناصر المسند; born 8 August 1959)[1] is one of the three consorts of SheikhHamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the formeremir of Qatar. She is the mother of the current emir, SheikhTamim bin Hamad Al Thani.[2] She is the co-founder and chair of theQatar Foundation, the largest state-owned nonprofit organization in the country.[3]The Guardian has labelled her "the enlightened face of a profoundly conservative regime" and that she "represents one of the world’s most repressive families".[4][5][6][7]
Sheikha Moza is the daughter of Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Missned,[8] a well-known opposition activist and former head of theAl-Muhannada confederation ofBani Hajer. Born in Qatar, she spent much of her childhood in Kuwait during her father's exile following imprisonment for political activities and defiance against the policies of the deposed emirAhmad bin Ali Al Thani. Nasser returned to Qatar with his immediate family in 1977, the same year Moza marriedHamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the heir apparent of Qatar.[9][10] Sheikha Moza is the second of his three wives.[6]
She has had a major role in the opening of US universities inEducation City in Doha. Dubbed, “The woman behind Doha’s Education City” as part of Qatar’s soft power strategy on Western universities.[15]
Sheikha Moza co-founded and chairs theQatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), which was set up in 1995.[17] She has dedicated her efforts to advancing education reforms in Qatar through the QF. This non-profit organization was established by her husband the same year he assumed the role of emir.[6] Sheikha Moza established Education Above All in 2012, aiming to make education accessible to marginalized children globally.
Sheikha Moza has been vocal in advocating for the protection of education in warzones,[18] and Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC) was established under the auspices of Education Above All with the aim of promoting and providing education to children living in areas of conflict and war. After Qatar advocated for the establishment of 9 September as theInternational Day to Protect Education from Attack, established by unanimous resolution of the UN General Assembly,[19] Sheikha Moza has spoken at each observance of the Day: online in 2020[20] and 2021,[21] at UNESCO in Paris in 2022,[22] at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2023,[23] and in Doha in 2024.[24]
Sheikha Moza has acted as chairperson ofSilatech since 2008, chairperson of theArab Democracy Foundation, and founded the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in 1998.[25][26] She was vice president of the Supreme Education Council from 2002 until 2012 and was madeUNESCO's Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education in 2003,[27] a position she resigned in November 2023, because of UNESCO's silence about the plight of Palestinian children.[28] In 2002, she and former emirHamad bin Khalifa Al Thani opened theWeill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.[29] She is a member of the Board of Overseers ofWeill Cornell Medicine.[30] and chairperson ofSidra Medical and Research Center, a high-tech women's and children's hospital in Doha.[31] She also endowed this medical center with $7.9 billion.[32]
In 2007 and 2010, Sheikha Moza was listed as one of the '100 Most Powerful Women' by Forbes.[33][32][34][35] She was also listed in the 'Top 100 most powerful Arabs' from 2013 to 2017 byGulf Business.[36][37][38] In 2011 she placed second on theVanity Fair International Best Dressed Women's list,[39] and in 2015 she was named in the Vanity FairInternational Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.[40][41] According toVogue, she has customisedhaute couture designs to fit Qatari modesty rules.[42] She has been involved with Fashion Trust Arabia (FTA), launched in September 2018, which focuses on womenswear designs.[43]
She has said that she is not afeminist. Her EEF, Education Above All program requires non-Qatari female students who wish to study to provide a "signed consent letter and undertaking by family guardian (allowing EAA to access and confirm private information of the family)."[44]
In 2010, she played a key role in the campaign to host the2022 FIFA World Cup.[45] She denies the accusations of Qatari corruption in the FIFA world cup process.[46]
In 2020, A book, called,Pregnancy and Miscarriage in Qatar: Women, Reproduction and the State, published the changing role of women in Qatari society and analyses how Qatari women navigate the competing expectations placed upon them, in which Sheikha Moza played an essential role in reflecting the nation as a centre of Arab modernity, availing themselves of the new opportunities in work, politics and public life.[47]
According to reports, Sheikha Moza plays a significant role in shaping Qatar's political, social, and foreign relations as part of the country's soft power strategy.[48] She holds considerable influence and often utilizes her public platform to express strong political opinions.[49]
Sheikha Moza has been an important figure in theQatar Foundation, an organization instrumental in Qatar's global outreach and image rebranding. Co-founding and chairing the foundation, she contributes significantly to fostering Qatar's international relations through initiatives such as the establishment of campuses of Western universities in Qatar. This aligns with Qatar's broader strategy of building connections with Western states through philanthropy and educational partnerships.[48] Sheikha Moza's influence is evident in the nation's strategic decisions and her active role in shaping Qatar's international image, particularly in the realms of education and humanitarian efforts.[5][50][6][48][51]
In January 2024, a global media campaign launched, carrying the slogans "It's in your hands" and "You have the power". The campaign called on Sheikha Moza to leverage her authority to ensure the release of136 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.[52] This has been called a "shadow campaign" and some of the names behind have been found to be fictitious.[53]
Sheikha Moza writes online on issues related to theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict. Actively engaging on social media, she predominantly focuses on the situation in Gaza, aligning her sentiments with Qatari policy.[54][55] Following theOctober 7 Hamas attack on Israel, during which Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and abducted 245 hostages and the Israeli response that day which killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, Sheikha Moza posted a picture on her Instagram account of a man with hands on his head in front of a demolished building, accompanied by the caption: "O Allah, we entrust Palestine to you." It was reported that since then, Sheikha Moza has regularly criticized Israel on social media. She has posted on Instagram mostly about the destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes, often posting news about the thousands of children being killed.[55][56] On 9 September 2024, she published an opinion piece in Le Point on "The Human Cost of War".[57][58] On October 18, 2024 she posted onX (formerly Twitter) a tweet marking the death of the militant leader ofHamas,Sinwar who wasspecifically designated a terrorist by the US in 2015 and killed by Israel on October 16.[59][60] She wrote that, as his name means "the one who lives", his memory will live on.[61]
Because of her multiple roles in recent Qatari history and heading the Qatar Foundation, Sheikha Moza has been referred to as "the actual ruler of Qatar".[6][5]
^"Biography".Mozabintnasser.qa. Office of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, State of Qatar. Archived fromthe original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved29 August 2015.
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