Life
Auda abu Tayi is considered a hero of the Arab revolt. T.E. Lawrence would describe him as "the greatest fighting man in northern Arabia".
Auda had an impressive lineage. He could trace his roots back through many generations of great desert Howeitat warriors of the Arabian peninsula. His reputation epitomized everything noble, powerful and proud about the Bedouin. Lawrence wrote of Auda:
“He saw life as a saga, all the events in it were significant: all personages in contact with him heroic, his mind was stored with poems of old raids and epic tales of fights.”
As was customary in the desert Auda was known for his hospitality and generosity which "kept him always poor, despite the profits of a hundred raids". He claimed he had been married 28 times and wounded more than a dozen times in action. Legend had it that he had killed 75 Arabs by his own hand; he didn't even bother to keep count of the Turks. In battle Auda became a wild beast assuaged only after he had killed. He was hot-headed but always kept a smile on his face. Despite his fierce reputation he was described as modest, direct, honest, kind-hearted and warmly-loved.
Auda lived in the desert near the Hejaz railway. He preferred the isolation which became necessary after he killed one too many debt collectors from Constantinople and the Turks put a price on his head. The desert landscapes were the exact areas Faisal and Lawrence needed to operate in to avoid close attention from the Turks. Lawrence wrote:
“Only by means of Auda abu Tayi could we swing the tribes from Ma'an to Aqaba so violently in our favour that they would help us take Aqaba and its hills from their Turkish garrisons.”
Read more about this topic: Auda Ibu Tayi
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