Haider Darwish (1894 to 1969) was a Muscat merchant and the grandfather of Ali Adnan Haider Darwish. BHD stands for Bin Haider Darwish, "son of Haider Darwish". BHD Group carries his name, and this article sets out what the family archive records about him.
All facts here come from the family heritage page on bhd.om. That page rests on documents and photographs that the Darwish family keeps. Where a fact rests on family accounts and not on a document, the page says so.
Born in Muscat, written down by his father
Haider was born in Muscat on the night of Wednesday 10 October 1894. In the Hijri calendar, the date was 10 Rabi al-Thani 1312. His father Darwish wrote down the birth in his own hand. He recorded the hour, 9 at night, and a prayer that the boy be blessed. He also wrote the family line back five generations to Nizam Al-Zaabi.
That page is the oldest document the family holds.
Family accounts say Darwish was a translator and scribe in Muscat. He married Fatima, sister of Abdulrahim. Their sons were Ahmed, the elder, and Haider. Darwish died while the boys were young. They grew up in the house of their maternal uncle Abdulrahim. The family tree also records a third son, Hassan.
A merchant at P.O. Box 69
Haider became a Muscat merchant. His firm wrote to the world from P.O. Box 69, Muscat. The archive keeps a registered airmail letter from that address to a marine insurer in Rome.
The 1946 letter with his brother Ahmed
In June 1946, Haider and his elder brother Ahmed wrote together to Haj Ali bin Issa Al-Zadjali. They asked him to receive a guest of the state. The letter is dated 12 June 1946. It is signed "Ahmed and Haider Darwish".
From Muscat to Bombay and Manama
The family's world ran from Muscat to Bombay and Manama. His son Hassan married in Bombay in 1946. Hassan later kept a shop in Manama souq, and a photo shows it in the late 1960s. His son Mohsin married in Bombay on 2 October 1958. The invitation went out in Haider Darwish's name. Sawt Oman, a paper published in Cairo, reported the marriage that year.
The archive also holds a class photo from the Saidiya School, Muscat, dated 15 April 1951. His son Aziz Haider Darwish is named among the pupils of class 5.
The 1957 portrait labelled Founder
In 1957, Haider Darwish sat for a portrait. The mount is labelled "Founder". It carries his own inscription, dated 9 October 1957. Another photo shows him seated in the centre with his peers, each name written under the man.
Death in Bahrain, 1969
Haider Darwish died in Bahrain at noon on Monday 3 February 1969. In the Hijri calendar, the date was 15 Dhu al-Qadah 1388. His son Hassan wrote down the date on the same page where Darwish had recorded Haider's birth. Seventy-five years separate the two entries. One page holds his birth and his death, in the hands of his father and his son.
The name today
BHD Group gives 1894 as its founding year, the year Haider was born. His grandson Ali Adnan Haider Darwish carries the name forward as BHD Group, from Muscat. Ali has led the group as founder and CEO since 2019.
The heritage page is available in English and in Arabic.
Related: Building a company group under my grandfather's name, About Ali