Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images

(CNN)—Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, son of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, the former Emir of Qatar known as the 'Father Emir', posted archival photos of him, offering condolences on his death, which was announced by the Qatari Emiri Diwan on Sunday.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad posted the photos on his X platform (formerly Twitter) page, accompanied by a lengthy statement, as follows:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

With great satisfaction and submission to the will of Almighty Allah, we mourn the father, the supreme example, and the guide, my master His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, may Allah have mercy on him.

We have bid farewell to a man whose journey encapsulated the pride of a nation and the renaissance of a state, and a people never far from his imagination and mind, making the name of the homeland a title of glory and leadership in every forum.

I was fortunate to be raised in his school and to live in his shadow. He was not just a leader who steered the helm of governance with wisdom and competence, but a model of silent giving and compassionate fatherhood that extended to his people before his own children. The most precious thing I own and the greatest achievement I take pride in my life is that I lived with him and breathed from the abundance of his wisdom. How much pride and gratitude I feel today that my children and his grandchildren, who were blessed to live with him and be close to him in the last years of his life, have joined the source of this great school, and that he was their guide and teacher to draw from his firm values and principles that will remain engraved in their conscience.

He began his journey in a long struggle and endeavor, overcoming difficulties to create a dignified reality for our country. He never looked at the impossible, but with his sincere determination and strong will, he turned distant dreams into the reality we live today. Even in the days when he was a ruler and under the burden of his immense responsibilities towards an entire nation, that did not distract him from his home and family. He would take time from his schedule to shower us with his immense mercy and kindness. In his awe and greatness, he was a very simple person who captivated hearts with his closeness and great humility.

In his majlis, we learned that leadership is a responsibility and a trust, and that the dignity of nations is built with sincerity and sacrifice and preserved by adherence to principles. His upbringing of us was not without paternal firmness at our stumbles to correct our path, teach us right, and make us men capable of facing life and bearing the trust.

Today, I feel deep gratitude because I was a student and servant to him, and that I was lucky in this world to have grown up as a son to him in his small family, and also as a son to him in his larger family as a Qatari citizen who lived under his historic leadership.

And as a Qatari citizen before being a son, I extend condolences and sympathy to every household in this land, for he, may Allah have mercy on him, was a true father to every 'Ahl Qatar' (people of Qatar) and those living on its land. He knew them well, knew their families and fathers, and remembered their good deeds. His approach was 'Qatar before all,' his creed and principle on which he lived and died. As he once said: 'It is the first thing the eye fell upon, and the first thing the imagination clung to.' Therefore, today our sorrows as a family merge and dissolve into the calamity of an entire nation weeping for its father and leader.

Although the body has passed, he remains alive in us, not dead, enduring through his legacy, principles, and fragrant biography that absence does not fold. And although this painful departure leaves a great void in our souls that words cannot fill, our sincere promise to him is to continue on his path and preserve this great legacy he left as a trust upon us. And today, the State of Qatar continues with steady steps and firm resolve under the wise leadership of my master, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the revered Emir of the country, may Allah protect him, who continues to carry the trust with the same sound approach so that our banner always remains high and lofty.

I ask Almighty Allah to envelop the great departed of the nation and builder of its renaissance with His vast mercy and forgiveness, and to accept him in the highest ranks with the prophets and the truthful, and to reward him for Qatar and for the Arab and Islamic nations the best reward He gives to His sincere servants.

The righteous depart, but their deeds remain alive. We pledge to you, O inspiration of the homeland, to remain steadfast in our covenant of loyalty, completing the journey so that our country remains always as you wished it... first, and before everything.

('Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.')