Auda Abu Tayeh or Awda Abu Tayih, nicknamed the Commander of the People or the Desert Falcon, was the Sheikh of a section of the Howeitat or Huwaytat tribe of Bedouin Arabs at the time of the Great Arab Revolt during the First World War. The Howeitat lived in what is now Saudi Arabia/Jordan.
Photograph of Auda abu Tayi, probably taken by G. Eric Matson (1888–1977).Tabuk, Hejaz 1921
Auda Abu Tayi (marked with an X) of the Howeitat offers allegiance to the King; a soldier next to him bears the Arab flag. (1917)
Al-Jafr castle in Jordan, 1927, this building was started by Auda Abu Tayi after WWI. However, he died before the completion of the building.
The Howeitat or Huwaitat are a large Judhami tribe that inhabits areas of present-day southern Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula and Sharqia governate in Egypt, the Negev, and northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Howeitat have several branches, notably the Ibn Jazi, the Abu Tayi, the Anjaddat, and the Sulaymanniyin, in addition to a number of associated tribes.
Sheikh Auda Abu Tayi and men of his tribe with a group of officers of the Arab Army in 1916.
Auda abu Tayi, chief of the Howeitat tribe, offers allegiance to King Faisal in 1917.
