'Amair bin 'Omar

Seated portrait of ‘Amair bin ‘Omar, a tribesman of the Bayt Imani lineage of Rashid Bedouin'Amair bin 'Omar, known to Wilfred Thesiger just as 'Amair, accompanied Wilfred Thesiger on three major Arabian expeditions. 'Amair bin 'Omar, a tribesman of the Bayt Imani lineage of Rashid Bedouin, was one of only five members of Thesiger's First Empty Quarter Crossing party who completed the traverse in 1946–7. 'Amair bin 'Omar would also go on join Thesiger for his Second Empty Quarter Crossing in 1947–8, and for his 1948 journey from Al Ain to Liwa Oasis and Al Dhafra. Despite 'Amair bin 'Omar's support for Thesiger's venture, the relationship between the two men was complicated. Thesiger found him competent and reliable, but also described him as cool and calculating (1960: 209), and their personalities sometimes clashed. At the time of the Second Empty Quarter Crossing in 1947–8, 'Amair bin Omar would have been around 20 years old (1960: 199).

Reference

Wilfred Thesiger, 1960. Arabian Sands, Longmans, Green and Co Ltd: London.

Photographs of Amair bin Omar