Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Saeed bin Juwaid Al Ghailani

Born in the Omani city of Sur in 1828 and died in 1943 at the age of about 115. One of the great merchants of Sur, he maintained varied commercial relations in Iraq, India, Yemen and Africa. He managed his trade himself, aided by his sons: at sea, the business was entrusted to his two sons Mubarak and Juma, while his son Nasser was charged with staying with him in Sur to manage his trade, and his son Hamad was given responsibility for managing his money, farms and orchards stretching from Jaalan to the Wilaya of Al Qabil, which exceeded 65 farms and orchards. These produced dates, unripe dates and lemons, which were dried for export to Iraq and India. The camel caravans that carried his trade to and from Sur, Jaalan, Bidiyah, Al Qabil and Wadi Bani Khalid were proverbial for their great size and the number of their camels and workers, so much so that people spoke of "the caravans of Bin Juwaid". He owned a number of ships, sailing in some of them in his youth, then entrusting their command to several of his sons and to other nakhodas of the Wilaya of Sur. The start of the monsoon (kaws) by which ships advanced towards Sur came to be known as "the kaws of Bin Juwaid", as he was always the first to arrive. He maintained commercial relations with many merchants in Oman, India and Africa, which led the Indian government to grant him a plot of land in India to establish commercial projects, in recognition of his great economic role — but he declined, preferring to remain in his homeland, Oman.   Source: the book "Wilayat Sur"