Childhood, education and personal life of Osama bin Laden
Encyclopedia
Osama bin Laden
, a militant Islamist and founder of al Qaeda in 1988, believed Muslim
s should kill civilian
s and military personnel
from the United States and allied countries until they withdrew support for Israel
and withdrew military forces from Islamic countries
. He was indicted
in United States federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
and Nairobi
, Kenya
, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
list.
In 1974, at the age of 17, Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia
, Syria. Osama bin Laden married at least four other women; he fathered between 20 and 26 children.
, Saudi Arabia
. In a 1998 interview, later televised on Al Jazeera
, he gave his birth date as 10 March 1957. His father, the late Mohammed Awad bin Laden
, was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Before World War I
, Mohammed emigrated from Hadhramaut
, on the south coast of Yemen
, to the Red Sea
port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he began to work as a porter. Starting his own business in 1930, Mohammed built his fortune as a building contractor for the Saudi royal family during the 1950s.
Though there is no definitive account of the number of children born to Mohammed bin Laden, it is generally put at 58. Various accounts place Osama as his seventeenth son. Mohammed bin Laden was married 22 times, although to no more than four women at a time per Sharia law
. Osama was the only son of Mohammed bin Laden and his tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas
, née Alia Ghanem, who was born in Syria
.
Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born, according to Khaled M. Batarfi, a senior editor at the Al Madina
newspaper in Jeddah who knew Osama during the 1970s. Osama's mother then married a man named Muhammad al-Attas, who worked at the bin Laden company. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister. Osama and his family moved to the Al-Musharifah
neighbourhood of Jeddah
several years after he first enrolled at Al-Thager Model School
.
and that may have been in connection to his mother's frequent visits to Latakia
, Syria. By the time Osama was an 8th grader, "he was a solid if unspectacular student." Osama's mother remembered that he was "not an A student. He would pass exams with average grades."
In the mid-1960s, around age 10, Osama briefly attended Brummana High School
, a Quaker school in Brummana
, Lebanon
, along with several of his half brothers. Five former administrators and students said Osama attended for less than a year before returning home; they did not say or recall why he left. This was not due to poor behavior or grades. Renee Bazz, a former administrative staff member, said that Osama went to another school in Lebanon before he attended Brummana. British comedian
and journalist
Dom Joly
claimed on an episode of BBC's
Would I Lie To You?
that he attended Brummana High School with Osama.
He seemed to have stayed in Latakia for a period. He moved back to Jeddah in the following September. From 1968 to 1976 Osama attended the élite Al-Thager Model School
. Osama was probably in the fifth or sixth grade when he began attending Al-Thager. In the 1960s, King Faisal
had welcomed exiled teachers from Syria
, Egypt
, and Jordan
, so that by the early seventies it was common to find members of the Muslim Brotherhood
teaching at Saudi schools and universities. During that time, bin Laden became a member of the Brotherhood and attended its political teachings during after-school Islamic study groups.
Bin Laden earned a degree
in civil engineering
in 1979 from King Abdulaziz University
in Jeddah. At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both in interpreting the Quran and charitable work. A close friend reports, "we read Sayyid Qutb
. He was the one who most affected our generation." Sayyid Qutb himself, author of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq
, or Milestones, one of the most influential tracts on the importance of jihad against all that is un-Islamic in the world, was deceased, but his brother and publicizer of his work, Muhammad Qutb
, lectured regularly at the university. So did another charismatic Muslim Brotherhood member, Abdallah Azzam, an Islamic scholar from Palestine who was instrumental in building pan-Islamic enthusiasm for jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and in drawing Muslims (like bin Laden) from all over the Middle East to fight there.
Osama was described by University friend Jamal Khalifa as extremely religious. Neither man watched movies nor listened to music, because they believed such activities went against the teachings of the Qur’an. During his University career he witnessed many world-changing events, especially in 1979. First he watched the Iranian Revolution, in which Ayatollah Khomieini successfully overthrew Iran’s Western supported government to install an Islamist state
. Then he saw the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca
by radicals in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government’s dependent response and reliance on Western power. It was not until the French special forces came in that the government was able to regain control of Mecca’s holiest site. Bin Laden was disgusted with his government’s lack of ability to protect the sacred city, and began to see the royal family more and more as corrupt. Finally, he ended 1979 ready to fight off the invading Soviets in Afghanistan
.
In regards to his Islamic learning, Bin Laden was sometimes referred to as a "sheikh," considered by some to be "well versed in the classical scriptures and traditions of Islam", and was said to have been mentored by scholars such as Musa al-Qarni
. He had no formal training in Islamic jurisprudence however, and was criticized by Islamic scholars as having no standing to issue religious opinions (fatwa
). A claim circulates that Osama had received a letter of acceptance to Oxford University, but turned down the school due to his interest in the Muslim Brotherhood.
d the first two. Three of Osama bin Laden's wives were university lecturers, highly educated, and from distinguished families. According to Wisal al Turabi, bin Laden married them because they were "spinster
s," who "were going to go without marrying in this world. So he married them for the Word of God". His known wives were:
, Saad
and Mohammed. His son Mohammed bin Laden (born c. 1983) married the daughter of the former al-Qaeda military chief Mohammed Atef
(aka Abu Haf) in January 2001, at Kandahar, Afghanistan
.
described Osama bin Laden as tall and thin, between 6'4" and 6'6" (193–198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Interviewees of Lawrence Wright
, on the other hand, described him as quite slender, but not particularly tall. He had an olive complexion, was left-handed
, and usually walked with a cane. He wore a plain white turban
and did not wear the traditional Saudi male headdress, generally white.
In terms of personality, bin Laden was described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man. His soft voice was also a function of necessity. Interviews with reporters had reportedly left his vocal cords inflamed and bin Laden unable to speak the following day. His bodyguard contended Soviet chemical weapons were to blame for this malady; reporters have speculated that kidney disease was the cause.
The author Adam Robinson has alleged that bin Laden supported Arsenal Football Club, visiting the team's stadium twice when he visited London in 1994.
In early November 2001, the Taliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghan citizenship
on him, as well as Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef
, and Shaykh Asim Abdulrahman
.
Bin Laden's "wealth and generosity ... simplicity of ... behaviour, personal charm and ... bravery in battle" have been described as "legendary." According to Michael Scheuer, bin Laden claims to speak only Arabic. In a 1998 interview, he had the English questions translated into Arabic. But others, such as Rhimaulah Yusufzai and Peter Bergen, believe he understood English.
Bin Laden had been praised for his self-denial, despite his great wealth – or former great wealth. While living in Sudan, a lamb was slaughtered and cooked every evening at his home for guests, but bin Laden "ate very little himself, preferring to nibble what his guests left on their plates, believing that these abandoned morsels would gain the favor of God."
Bin Laden was said to have "consciously modeled himself" since childhood "on certain features
of the Prophet
's life", using "the fingers of his right hand," rather than a spoon when eating, believing it to be Sunnah "the way the Prophet did it, ... choosing to fast
on the days that Prophet fasted, to wear clothes similar to those the Prophet may have worn, even to sit and to eat in the same postures that tradition ascribes to him."
At the same time, other actions of his were motivated by concern for appearances. Bin Laden was known for his media savvy, using the Islamic imagery of the cave in Tora Bora
"as a way of identifying himself with the prophet in the minds of many Muslims," despite the fact the caves in question were tunnels dug with the modern technology of earth moving machinery to store ammunition. He had dyed his beard to cover the streaks of gray. In 2001 he restaged a recitation of a poem intended for Arab television when he wasn't satisfied with the original video results done before an audience at his son's wedding dinner. The second take, done the next day after the wedding was over, had a handful of supporters crying in praise to simulate the noise of the full room the day before. "His image management extended to asking one of the reporters, who had taken a digital snapshot, to take another picture because his neck was 'too full'".
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, a militant Islamist and founder of al Qaeda in 1988, believed Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s should kill civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s and military personnel
Combatant
A combatant is someone who takes a direct part in the hostilities of an armed conflict. If a combatant follows the law of war, then they are considered a privileged combatant, and upon capture they qualify as a prisoner of war under the Third Geneva Convention...
from the United States and allied countries until they withdrew support for Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and withdrew military forces from Islamic countries
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
. He was indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
in United States federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
and Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
list.
In 1974, at the age of 17, Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia
Latakia
Latakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
, Syria. Osama bin Laden married at least four other women; he fathered between 20 and 26 children.
Childhood
Osama Mohammed bin Laden was born in RiyadhRiyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. In a 1998 interview, later televised on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
, he gave his birth date as 10 March 1957. His father, the late Mohammed Awad bin Laden
Mohammed bin Laden
Sheikh Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a wealthy investor, businessman, and patriarch of the bin Laden family. He was a Yemeni emmigrant to Saudi Arabia, and married 22 times, fathering at least 54 children...
, was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Mohammed emigrated from Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt is the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman...
, on the south coast of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, to the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he began to work as a porter. Starting his own business in 1930, Mohammed built his fortune as a building contractor for the Saudi royal family during the 1950s.
Though there is no definitive account of the number of children born to Mohammed bin Laden, it is generally put at 58. Various accounts place Osama as his seventeenth son. Mohammed bin Laden was married 22 times, although to no more than four women at a time per Sharia law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Osama was the only son of Mohammed bin Laden and his tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas
Hamida al-Attas
Hamida al-Attas , born Alia Ghanem , is the mother of Osama bin Laden. She came from a Sunni Syrian family of two brothers and another sister, although it has been rumoured that her family are Alawites. She married Mohammed bin Laden in Latakia in 1956 and moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband....
, née Alia Ghanem, who was born in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
.
Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born, according to Khaled M. Batarfi, a senior editor at the Al Madina
Al Madina Press
Al Madina Press is the oldest newspaper and publishing house in Saudi Arabia. Al Madina Press is now one of the Kingdom's most prominent media companies....
newspaper in Jeddah who knew Osama during the 1970s. Osama's mother then married a man named Muhammad al-Attas, who worked at the bin Laden company. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister. Osama and his family moved to the Al-Musharifah
Al-Musharifah
Al-Musharifah is a neighbourhood in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.In the late 1960s Al-Musharifah was one of the newest residential areas in the city. At that period of time, patches of open desert wasteland were located between the houses of Al-Musharifah; local children played games on those parcels of...
neighbourhood of Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
several years after he first enrolled at Al-Thager Model School
Al-Thager Model School
A secondary school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Al-Thager Model School is a two-story building that used to house both primary and secondary grades, as well as residential dormitories on the second level.-History:...
.
Education and politicization
Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi. Osama's father ensured that he was regularly attending school. Osama attended schools with some Western curricula and culture and that there was no evidence that Osama ever received full time education in a religious madrassa. Osama likely was educated for some of his primary school years in SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and that may have been in connection to his mother's frequent visits to Latakia
Latakia
Latakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
, Syria. By the time Osama was an 8th grader, "he was a solid if unspectacular student." Osama's mother remembered that he was "not an A student. He would pass exams with average grades."
In the mid-1960s, around age 10, Osama briefly attended Brummana High School
Brummana High School
Brummana High School is a secondary school in Lebanon. It is located in the village of Brummana, situated in Metn, Mount Lebanon, east of the capital city Beirut.This school was established in 1873, by the Quaker Theophilus Waldmeier...
, a Quaker school in Brummana
Brummana
Brummana is a town in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate in Lebanon. It is located east of Beirut, overlooking the capital and the Mediterranean.-Overview:...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, along with several of his half brothers. Five former administrators and students said Osama attended for less than a year before returning home; they did not say or recall why he left. This was not due to poor behavior or grades. Renee Bazz, a former administrative staff member, said that Osama went to another school in Lebanon before he attended Brummana. British comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Dom Joly
Dom Joly
Dominic John Romulus "Dom" Joly is a British television comedian and journalist. He came to note as the star of Trigger Happy TV, a hidden camera show that was sold to over seventy countries worldwide...
claimed on an episode of BBC's
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Would I Lie To You?
Would I Lie To You? (TV series)
Would I Lie to You? is a comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for BBC One. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007.-Format:The show was presented by Angus Deayton in 2007 and 2008, and by Rob Brydon from 2009 onwards...
that he attended Brummana High School with Osama.
He seemed to have stayed in Latakia for a period. He moved back to Jeddah in the following September. From 1968 to 1976 Osama attended the élite Al-Thager Model School
Al-Thager Model School
A secondary school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Al-Thager Model School is a two-story building that used to house both primary and secondary grades, as well as residential dormitories on the second level.-History:...
. Osama was probably in the fifth or sixth grade when he began attending Al-Thager. In the 1960s, King Faisal
Faisal of Saudi Arabia
Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamic Nationalism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian...
had welcomed exiled teachers from Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, so that by the early seventies it was common to find members of the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
teaching at Saudi schools and universities. During that time, bin Laden became a member of the Brotherhood and attended its political teachings during after-school Islamic study groups.
Bin Laden earned a degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
in 1979 from King Abdulaziz University
King Abdulaziz University
King Abdulaziz University was founded in 1967 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Designed by English architect John Elliott, it had 2,000 teachers and more than 37,000 students in 2000/2001....
in Jeddah. At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both in interpreting the Quran and charitable work. A close friend reports, "we read Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
. He was the one who most affected our generation." Sayyid Qutb himself, author of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq
Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq
Ma'alim fi al-Tariq, also Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq, or Milestones, first published in 1964, is a short book by Egyptian Islamist author Sayyid Qutb in which he lays out a plan and makes a call to action to re-create the Muslim world on strictly Qur'anic grounds, casting off what Qutb calls Jahiliyyah,...
, or Milestones, one of the most influential tracts on the importance of jihad against all that is un-Islamic in the world, was deceased, but his brother and publicizer of his work, Muhammad Qutb
Muhammad Qutb
Muhammad Qutb, , is an Islamist author, scholar and teacher best known as the younger brother of the Egyptian Islamist thinker Sayyid Qutb...
, lectured regularly at the university. So did another charismatic Muslim Brotherhood member, Abdallah Azzam, an Islamic scholar from Palestine who was instrumental in building pan-Islamic enthusiasm for jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and in drawing Muslims (like bin Laden) from all over the Middle East to fight there.
Osama was described by University friend Jamal Khalifa as extremely religious. Neither man watched movies nor listened to music, because they believed such activities went against the teachings of the Qur’an. During his University career he witnessed many world-changing events, especially in 1979. First he watched the Iranian Revolution, in which Ayatollah Khomieini successfully overthrew Iran’s Western supported government to install an Islamist state
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. Then he saw the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca
Grand Mosque Seizure
The Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20, 1979, was an armed attack and takeover by Islamist dissidents of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam...
by radicals in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government’s dependent response and reliance on Western power. It was not until the French special forces came in that the government was able to regain control of Mecca’s holiest site. Bin Laden was disgusted with his government’s lack of ability to protect the sacred city, and began to see the royal family more and more as corrupt. Finally, he ended 1979 ready to fight off the invading Soviets in Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
.
In regards to his Islamic learning, Bin Laden was sometimes referred to as a "sheikh," considered by some to be "well versed in the classical scriptures and traditions of Islam", and was said to have been mentored by scholars such as Musa al-Qarni
Musa al-Qarni
Musa al-Qarni is a former mufti of Osama bin Laden. al-Qarni is from Saudi Arabia.].Al-Qarni: ["The uproar and the chaos that we see today in the human race – the killing, the acts of aggression, the rape, the robbery, and the disgrace of honor – what causes this is that the banners which are...
. He had no formal training in Islamic jurisprudence however, and was criticized by Islamic scholars as having no standing to issue religious opinions (fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
). A claim circulates that Osama had received a letter of acceptance to Oxford University, but turned down the school due to his interest in the Muslim Brotherhood.
Marriages
Bin Laden is reported to have married at least five women, although he later divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d the first two. Three of Osama bin Laden's wives were university lecturers, highly educated, and from distinguished families. According to Wisal al Turabi, bin Laden married them because they were "spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
s," who "were going to go without marrying in this world. So he married them for the Word of God". His known wives were:
- Najwa Ghanhem (born 1960) a Syrian, also known as Umm Abdullah (mother of Abdullah). Najwa was "promised" in marriage to Osama. Bin Laden married her in 1974 in LatakiaLatakiaLatakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
in northwestern Syria. After the birth of their first son, Abdullah, they moved from his mother's house to a building in the Al-Aziziyah district of Jeddah. She is the mother of Saad bin LadenSaad bin LadenSa'ad bin Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden , better known as Saad bin Laden, is one of the sons of Osama bin Laden. He continued in his father's footsteps by occupying a position within Al-Qaeda...
, as well as at least 10 more children. She co-authored Growing Up bin Laden with her son Omar. She was the youngest and least educated of Osama's wives. Her children did not like life in Khartoum and even less life in Afghanistan. She left bin Laden around 2001, about the same time as his marriage to Amal al-Sadah. She returned to Syria and was last reported living in Latakia. Her father is the brother of Osama's mother, Hamida al-AttasHamida al-AttasHamida al-Attas , born Alia Ghanem , is the mother of Osama bin Laden. She came from a Sunni Syrian family of two brothers and another sister, although it has been rumoured that her family are Alawites. She married Mohammed bin Laden in Latakia in 1956 and moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband....
(born Alia Ghanem). - Khadijah Sharif (born 1948) also known as Umm Ali (mother of Ali). She was a university lecturer who studied and worked in Saudi Arabia. Umm Ali bin Laden spent holidays in Khartoum, Sudan, where Osama later settled during his exile in the years 1991 to 1996. According to Wisal al Turabi, the wife of Sudan's ruler Hassan Turabi, Umm Ali taught Islam to some families in Riyadh, an upscale neighborhood in Khartoum. According to Abu JandalAbu JandalAbu Jandal is a former member of al-Qaeda and former chief bodyguard of Osama bin Laden.He is a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent. Abu Jandal was arrested by Yemeni authorities in connection with the USS Cole bombing in October 2000,...
, bin Laden's former chief bodyguard, while living in Sudan, Umm Ali asked Osama for a divorce because she said that she "could not continue to live in an austere way and in hardship". - Khairiah Saber, also known as Umm Hamza (mother of Hamza). A child psychologist with a PhD in Islamic studies, she was reportedly Osama's favorite wife, and the most mature, being seven years his senior. She had only one child, a son. Though she had a frail constitution and was not beautiful, she was from "a wealthy and distinguished family," exuded a "regal quality," and "was deeply committed to the jihadi cause". News reports suggest that she was living in bin Laden's compound in AbbottabadAbbottabadAbbottabad is a city located in the Hazara region of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan. The city is situated in the Orash Valley, northeast of the capital Islamabad and east of Peshawar at an altitude of and is the capital of the Abbottabad District...
, PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
at the time of bin Laden's death. - Siham Sabar, also known as Umm Khaled (mother of Khaled). A teacher of Arabic grammarArabic grammarArabic grammar is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with the grammar of other Semitic languages....
, she kept her university job and commuted to Saudi Arabia during their time in Sudan. News reports suggest that she was living in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan at the time of bin Laden's death. - Amal Ahmed al-Sadah. Osama's youngest wife, born 1981. Born Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah in Yemen, she married Osama in 2000. However, according to a Yemeni passport, she was born in 1987. The marriage between Amal al-Sadah and bin Laden was apparently part of a "political arrangement" between Osama and "an important Yemeni tribe, meant to boost al-Qaeda recruitment in Yemen". Amal al-Sadah was identified as living in the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan at the time of bin Laden's death, along with Siham Sabar and Khairiah Sabar, the other two wives of bin Laden. She was injured in the calf in the raid. Osama commissioned Rashad Mohammed Saeed IsmaelRashad Mohammed Saeed IsmaelRashad Mohammed Saeed Ismael,also known as Abu Al-Fida, is a citizen of Yemen alleged to be a close associate of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.According to The Times he worked with bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan....
to choose the bride and arrange the marriage.
Children
Bin Laden fathered anywhere from 20 to 26 children. The children of his first wife, Najwa, include Abdallah (born c. 1976), OmarOmar Osama bin Laden
Omar bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden , better known as Omar bin Laden, is one of the sons of Osama bin Laden and his first wife and first cousin Najwa Ghanem . He is the 4th eldest son among twenty children of Osama bin Laden...
, Saad
Saad bin Laden
Sa'ad bin Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden , better known as Saad bin Laden, is one of the sons of Osama bin Laden. He continued in his father's footsteps by occupying a position within Al-Qaeda...
and Mohammed. His son Mohammed bin Laden (born c. 1983) married the daughter of the former al-Qaeda military chief Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef was the alleged military chief of al-Qaida, although his role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years...
(aka Abu Haf) in January 2001, at Kandahar, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
Appearance and behaviour
The FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
described Osama bin Laden as tall and thin, between 6'4" and 6'6" (193–198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Interviewees of Lawrence Wright
Lawrence Wright
Lawrence Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, screenwriter, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law...
, on the other hand, described him as quite slender, but not particularly tall. He had an olive complexion, was left-handed
Left-handed
Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...
, and usually walked with a cane. He wore a plain white turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...
and did not wear the traditional Saudi male headdress, generally white.
In terms of personality, bin Laden was described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man. His soft voice was also a function of necessity. Interviews with reporters had reportedly left his vocal cords inflamed and bin Laden unable to speak the following day. His bodyguard contended Soviet chemical weapons were to blame for this malady; reporters have speculated that kidney disease was the cause.
The author Adam Robinson has alleged that bin Laden supported Arsenal Football Club, visiting the team's stadium twice when he visited London in 1994.
In early November 2001, the Taliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghan citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
on him, as well as Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef was the alleged military chief of al-Qaida, although his role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years...
, and Shaykh Asim Abdulrahman
Asim Abdulrahman
The son of Omar Abdur Rahman, Asim Abdulrahman was described as "among the closest" of Osama bin Laden's followers in the days following the September 11th attacks in 2001....
.
Bin Laden's "wealth and generosity ... simplicity of ... behaviour, personal charm and ... bravery in battle" have been described as "legendary." According to Michael Scheuer, bin Laden claims to speak only Arabic. In a 1998 interview, he had the English questions translated into Arabic. But others, such as Rhimaulah Yusufzai and Peter Bergen, believe he understood English.
Bin Laden had been praised for his self-denial, despite his great wealth – or former great wealth. While living in Sudan, a lamb was slaughtered and cooked every evening at his home for guests, but bin Laden "ate very little himself, preferring to nibble what his guests left on their plates, believing that these abandoned morsels would gain the favor of God."
Bin Laden was said to have "consciously modeled himself" since childhood "on certain features
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
of the Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's life", using "the fingers of his right hand," rather than a spoon when eating, believing it to be Sunnah "the way the Prophet did it, ... choosing to fast
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
on the days that Prophet fasted, to wear clothes similar to those the Prophet may have worn, even to sit and to eat in the same postures that tradition ascribes to him."
At the same time, other actions of his were motivated by concern for appearances. Bin Laden was known for his media savvy, using the Islamic imagery of the cave in Tora Bora
Tora Bora
Tora Bora , known locally as Spīn Ghar , is a cave complex situated in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan, in the Pachir Wa Agam District of Nangarhar province, approximately west of the Khyber Pass and north of the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan...
"as a way of identifying himself with the prophet in the minds of many Muslims," despite the fact the caves in question were tunnels dug with the modern technology of earth moving machinery to store ammunition. He had dyed his beard to cover the streaks of gray. In 2001 he restaged a recitation of a poem intended for Arab television when he wasn't satisfied with the original video results done before an audience at his son's wedding dinner. The second take, done the next day after the wedding was over, had a handful of supporters crying in praise to simulate the noise of the full room the day before. "His image management extended to asking one of the reporters, who had taken a digital snapshot, to take another picture because his neck was 'too full'".
External links
- Osama in America: The Final Answer by Steve Coll, The New Yorker, June 30, 2009
- Osama Bin Laden's Beginnings – video report by National Geographic