Musallim bin Tafl

Portrait of two Bedouin men in Wilfred Thesiger's travelling party cutting up meat from a slaughtered camel in the Wadi Hawshi. They are separating the meat from the hide. The man on the left is Musallim bin Tafl, a tribesman of the Bayt Kathir Bedouin.In the autumn of 1945, Musallim bin Tafl was appointed to Wilfred Thesiger's travelling party by the Wali of Salalah. A tribesman of the Bayt Kathir Bedouin, Musallim bin Tafl was then a retainer to the Wali of Salalah, and was well known in the region for his exceptional hunting skills. During Thesiger's First Crossing of the Empty Quarter, Musallim bin Tafl was one of only two members of the Bayt Kathir party to continue on with Thesiger when the rest of the Bayt Kathir Bedouin party turned back at Ramlat al Ghafah. Although Musallim bin Tafl proved to be an intelligent, loyal and reliable guide, Wilfred Thesiger's relationship with Musallim bin Tafl was complicated, and Thesiger disliked that Musallim bin Tafl had had so much experience of the outside world while living at the Wali's palace (1960: 47). After Thesiger's 1946–7 crossing, he ceased travelling with Musallim bin Tafl.

Reference

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

Photographs of Musallim bin Tafl