Auda ibu Tayi

Auda abu Tayeh
Hand-colored photograph of Auda abu Tayi, probably taken by G. Eric Matson (1888-1977).Tabuk, Hejaz 1921
Born	Hejaz, Saudi Arabia
Allegiance	Bedouin Arabs
Service/branch	Howeitat
Battles/wars	Arab Revolt Siege of Medina Battle of Fwelia Battle of Aba el Lissan Battle of Aqaba Battle of Talifeh Battle of Deraa Capture of Damascus
Relations	Mohammed el Dheilan, a cousin. Ibn Zaal, a nephew

Auda Abu Tayeh (Awda abu Tayeh Arabic: عودة أبو تايه‎‎ c. 1874 – 1924) was the leader (shaikh) 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.

Auda was a significant figure in the Arab Revolt; outside Arabia he is mainly known through his portrayal in British Col. T. E. Lawrence's account Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and from the partly fictionalised depiction of him in David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia.

Lawrence recorded that the Jazi Howeitat had formerly been under the leadership of the House of Rashid, the amirs of Ha'il, but had since fragmented and that Auda had come to control the Eastern Howeitat, known as the abu Tayi. Auda had taken up the claims of his father, Harb abu Tayi (? - 1904), who had contested the tribe's chieftainship with Arar ibn Jazi. Auda and his ibn Jazi rival, Arar's half-brother Abtan, diverted the energies of the Howeitat - previously settled farmers and camel herders - into raiding, greatly increasing the tribe's wealth but introducing a mainly nomadic lifestyle. Tensions between them and the Ottoman administration had increased after an incident in 1908, when two soldiers were killed who had been sent to demand payment of a tax that Auda claimed to have already paid.