Osama bin Laden

Us?mah bin Muhammad bin `Awad bin L?din (born March 10, 1957) ({{lang-ar|????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ????}}), commonly known as Osama bin Laden, or Usama bin Laden, ({{lang-ar|أسامة بن لادن}}), is the founder of al-Qaeda, a Sunni Islamist terrorist network that has been involved in attacks against civilians and military targets around the world. He and his organization are widely believed to be responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001 on New York City and Washington, D.C. which killed at least 2,752 people.

Background

Family and childhood

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Muhammad Awad bin Ladin, a wealthy businessman involved in construction and with close ties to the Saudi royal family. There is no definitive account of the number of children born to Mohammed bin Laden, but the number is generally put at 54. In addition, various accounts place Osama as his seventeenth son, while others say he was the last of 25 sons.

Related Topics:
Riyadh - Muhammad Awad bin Ladin - Saudi royal family

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The large number of bin Laden siblings is the result of polygyny; his father was married ten times, although to no more than four women at a time per Islamic law. Osama is the only son of the elder bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas, who is reportedly of Syrian descent. A woman who in 1971 had attended an English language course with bin Laden recalled him saying with some sadness that his mother was a concubinehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1595000/1595205.stm.

Related Topics:
Polygyny - Islamic law - Syria - 1971 - Concubine

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His family originally came from Hadhramaut, Yemen and he was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. After his graduation from secondary school in 1973, bin Laden went to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and allegedly frequented strip clubs, bars, and discos. As a college student, he studied business and project administration. He also earned a degree in civil engineering from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah in 1979, possibly in preparation for taking over parts of his father's extensive construction and civil engineering business.

Related Topics:
Hadhramaut - Yemen - Sunni - Muslim - 1973 - Beirut - Lebanon - Strip clubs - Bars - Discos - Degree - Civil engineering - King Abdul Aziz University - Jeddah - 1979

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After his father died, bin Laden inherited what was once estimated to be a fortune of US$300 million although more recent estimates put his holdings at about US$25 million.

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In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife (and first cousin), Najwa Ghanem. Bin Laden reportedly married four other women, divorcing one. A female author named Kola Boof claims she was kept in Morocco against her will as a mistress for Osama in 1996, but the credibility of her claim is disputed. Bin Laden has fathered at least 24 children. Najwa, a Syrian and his mother's niece, reportedly had 11 children by bin Laden, including Abdallah, Omar, Saad, and Muhammad. Saad, born in 1979, is reportedly active in an Iran-based al-Qaeda network, although it is widely known that Iran has contempt for al-Qaeda.http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,892694,00.html Omar and Abdallah were reportedly organizing the U.S. branch of the World Congress of Muslim Youth in Falls Church, Virginia during the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Kola Boof - Falls Church, Virginia

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Bin Laden?s position within his huge family has always been unclear. His immensely wealthy family publicly disowned him in 1994, shortly before the Saudi Arabian government revoked his citizenship. He attended his son's wedding in January 2001, but since 9/11 is believed only to have had contact with his mother on one occasion.

Related Topics:
His immensely wealthy family - 1994 - Saudi Arabian - Government - Citizenship

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Appearance and manner

Bin Laden is often described as lanky — the FBI describes him as tall and thin, being 6' 4" (193 cm) to 6' 6" (198 cm) tall and weighing 160 pounds (75 kg). He has an olive complexion, is left-handed and usually walks with a cane. He wears a plain white turban and no longer dons the traditional Saudi male headdress.

Related Topics:
FBI - Cane - Turban

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It has been claimed (by U.S. military figures) that Bin Laden employs at least one double to act as a decoy, in order to evade would-be captors. This belief has been expressed several times, from many quarters http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3067365/. No proof of this claim, nor any supporting evidence, has ever surfaced.

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He reportedly suffers from various medical conditions including kidney disease.

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Names

Bin Laden's name can be transliterated in several ways. The form used here, Osama bin Laden, is used by most English-language mass media, including CNN and the BBC. The second most common English-language form of the name is Usama bin Laden (used by the FBI and FOX News) commonly abbreviated to UBL (favored by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld). Less common renderings include Ussamah Bin Ladin and Oussama Ben Laden (used in French-language mass media). The latter part of the name can also be found as ibn Laden, Binladen or Binladin.

Related Topics:
Transliterated - English-language - Mass media - CNN - BBC - FBI - FOX News - Secretary of Defense - Donald Rumsfeld - French-language

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Strictly speaking, under the Arabic naming convention, it is incorrect to use "bin Laden" as though it were a Western surname. His full name means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of `Awad, son of Laden." However, the bin Laden family (or "Binladin," as they prefer to be known) generally use the name as a surname, in the Western style. The family company is known as the Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry and is one of the largest corporations in Saudi Arabia. For this reason, although the Arabic convention would be to refer to him either as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden," using "bin Laden" is in accordance with the family's own usage of the name and is the near-universal convention in Western references to him.

Related Topics:
Arabic - Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry

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Bin Laden has several aliases and nicknames, including the Prince, the Emir, Abu Abdallah, Mujahid Shaykh, Hajj, and the Director.

Related Topics:
Aliases - Nickname

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