Personal life of Osama bin Laden
In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria.[4][5] Osama bin Laden married at least four other women;[6] he fathered between 20 and 24 children.
Childhood
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was born in
Education and radicalization
Osama bin Laden was raised as a devout
In the mid-1960s, around age 10, bin Laden briefly attended
He seemed to have stayed in Latakia for a period. He moved back to Jeddah in the following September.[16] From 1968 to 1976 he attended Al Thager academy.[18] Bin Laden was probably in the fifth or sixth grade when he began attending school.[19] 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.[citation needed]
Bin Laden earned a
Bin Laden was described by University friend
In regard 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",
Bin Laden is reported to have married at least five women,[6] although he later divorced the first two. Three of Osama bin Laden's wives were university lecturers, highly educated, from distinguished families. According to Wisal al Turabi, bin Laden married them because they were "spinsters", who "were going to go without marrying in this world. So he married them for the Word of God".[4][5] His known wives were:
- Najwa Ghanhem (born 1960), a Syrian, also known as Umm Abdullah (mother of Abdullah).[26] Najwa was "promised" in marriage to bin Laden.[27] Bin Laden married her in 1974 in Latakia in northwestern Syria.[4][5] 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 Laden, as well as at least 10 more children. She co-authored Growing Up bin Laden with her son Omar.[28] Her children did not like life in Khartoum and even less life in Afghanistan.[29] 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.[30] Her father is the brother of bin Laden's mother, Hamida al-Attas (born Alia Ghanem).[27]
- Khadijah Sharif, also known as Umm Ali (mother of Ali). She was a university lecturer who studied and worked in Saudi Arabia.
- Khairiah Saber, also known as Umm Hamza (mother of Hamza). A child psychologist with a PhD in Islamic studies,jihadi cause".[33] News reports suggest that she was living in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistanat the time of bin Laden's death.
- Siham Sabar, also known as Umm Khaled (mother of Khaled). A teacher of Arabic grammar, she kept her university job and commuted to Saudi Arabia during their time in Sudan.[34] 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 (born March 27, 1982) was bin Laden's youngest wife.[30] Born Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah in Yemen, she married bin Laden in 2000. The marriage between Amal al-Sadah and bin Laden was apparently part of a "political arrangement" between bin Laden and "an important Yemeni tribe, meant to boost al-Qaeda recruitment in Yemen".[35] 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.[36] She was injured in the calf in the raid.[30] Bin Laden commissioned Rashad Mohammed Saeed Ismael to choose the bride and arrange the marriage.[37]
On 27 April 2012, BBC News reported that the three widows as well as eleven children of Osama bin Laden were deported to Saudi Arabia from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. However, since the youngest of his widows, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, is a Yemeni, it is believed that she will travel on to Yemen.[38]
Children
Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 24 children.
Appearance and behavior
The
In terms of personality, bin Laden was described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man.[44] 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.[45]
The author
Bin Laden may have been an enthusiast for
Bin Laden's "wealth and generosity ... simplicity of ... behaviour, personal charm and ... bravery in battle" have been described as "legendary."[52] According to Michael Scheuer, bin Laden claims to speak only Arabic. In a 1998 interview, he had the English questions translated into Arabic.[53] But others, such as Rhimaulah Yusufzai and Peter Bergen, believe he understood English.[54]
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."[55]
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."[56]
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.[57] He had dyed his beard to cover the streaks of gray.[58] In 2001 he restaged a recitation of a poem intended for Arab television when he was not 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.[59] "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'".[59]
See also
References
- ^ Michael Scheuer, Through Our Enemies' Eyes, p. 110
- ^ "BIN LADEN'S FATWA". PBS. Archived from the original on October 31, 2001. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
- PBS. Archived from the originalon September 1, 2006. Retrieved August 21, 2006.
- ^ a b c d "PeterBergen.com – Articles – Vanity Fair excerpt of the book "The Osama bin Laden I Know"". Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
- ^ a b c d "Vanity Fair excerpt of the book "The Osama bin Laden I Know" By Peter Bergen
- ^ a b "American Morning With Paula Zahn". CNN. February 7, 2001. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
- PBS. Retrieved August 21, 2006.
- ^ "The Osama bin Laden infoplease". Infoplease. Retrieved August 21, 2006.
- ^ David Johnson. "Osama bin Laden infoplease". Infoplease. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ 9/11 report
- ^ Letter From Jedda, Young Osama, How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America Archived December 7, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, by Steve Coll, The New Yorker Fact, Issue of 2005-12-12, Posted 2005-12-05
- ^ "Salon.com News – The making of The Osama bin Laden". Salon.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2006.
- ^ Beyer, Lisa (September 24, 2001). "The Most Wanted Man In The World". Time. Archived from the original on September 16, 2001. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ a b Coll 140
- ^ Coll 140–141
- ^ a b Coll 141
- ^ Freeman, John (April 4, 2008). "A book about the father and family of Osama bin Laden". The Seattle Times.
- The New Yorker Fact. Issue of December 12, 2005. Retrieved on May 7, 2011.
- ^ Coll 142.
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.79
- ^ Mohammed Jamal Khalifa in Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.79
- ^ "How Did Sayyid Qutb Influence Osama bin Laden?". Archived from the original on October 17, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
- ^ Kepel, Jihad (2002),[full citation needed] p.145–147
- Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin LadenVerso, 2005, p.xvi
- ^ Musa al-Qarni on Jihad
- ^ The Scotsman: Bin Laden 'fantasised over' Whitney Houston - Last accessed August 26, 2006
- ^ a b Bar'el, Zvi (September 12, 2002). "Qaida's Lebanese Hydra". Archived from the original on November 16, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ Andrew Lee Butters (27 October 2009) Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Son Speaks Time. Accessed 24 December 2009.
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.194, p.338
- ^ a b c d The Guardian 13 May 2011 page 16
- ^ The Scotsman
- ^ RACHEL WILLIAMS The Scotsman, "Bin Laden 'fantasized over Whitney Houston", 22 August 2006
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.252
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.194
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.338
- ^ the CNN Wire Staff. ""U.S. granted access to speak to bin Laden's wives", May 10, 2011". Cnn.com. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ "Osama bin Laden said: 'Find me a wife'", by Tom Finn, The Guardian, May 11, 2011
- ^ "Bin Laden wives and children deported to Saudi Arabia". BBC News. April 26, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
- ^ "Osama bin Laden – A profile of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.333-4
- ^ "Osama bin Laden". www.fbi.gov. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
- ^ Lawrence Wright, Looming Tower (2006)
- ^ "Most Wanted Terrorist – Usama Bin Laden". FBI. Archived from the original on March 10, 2006. Retrieved June 8, 2006.
- ^ "I met Osama Bin Laden". BBC News. March 26, 2004. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower (2006), p.263
- ISBN 1-55970-640-6.
- ^ Newman, Lily Hay. "Inside Bin Laden's Files: GIFs, Memes, and Mr. Bean". Wired.
- ^ "Osama Bin Laden had copy of Resident Evil, smut, in compound".
- ^ Newman, Lily Hay. "Inside Bin Laden's Files: GIFs, Memes, and Mr. Bean". Wired.
- ^ "Osama the gamer: A list of Bin Laden's video games from his hard drive".
- ^ "The Weirdest Things on Osama Bin Laden's Personal Computer | Digg". November 2, 2017.
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, (2002),[full citation needed] p.315
- ^ "Interview Osama bin Laden". Hunting bin Laden. PBS. May 1998. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
- ^ Through Our Enemies' Eyes, Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America, by "Anonymous" aka Michael Scheuer, Brassey's, c2002
- ^ interview by Wright with ObL friend Issam Turabi, in Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.200, 167
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.200
- ^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.233
- ^ Videos destroy aura: Osama rehearsing lines, dyeing beard - The Times of India. Published May 9, 2011. Retrieved 09 May 2012.
- ^ a b Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.333-4
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