Ancestral Birthplace:

Hadramawt – southern tip of Saudi Arabian Peninsula; currently province in Yemen.

Very fertile mountainous valley with ideal climate and soil. A wide variety of trees can be grown here. Valuable spices such as frankincense and myrrh came from these trees.

Regional capital of Hadramawt province is Mulkalla or ‘Bride of the Arabian Sea’. Other important cities include Ash Shirh, Dowan, Seyun, Shibam, and Tarim.

Tarim is the oldest town and for hundreds of years it has been an influential scientific and religious center. It has a library that boasts of having a large collection of rare and ancient parchments. In early 1900’s a farmer named Awad bin Laden lived hear Tarim. The family had an acre of land to grow food and raise goats. The largest source of income came from raising honey bees. Bee-keeping was a major industry of the Hadramwt area and the honey was acclaimed for its high quality and many uses for thousands of years. Awad was known as an expert bee keeper and he was hired by the wealthy families of the region to advise them on how to manage their hives.

Awad had 2 sons. The older was named Mohammad and the second was called Abdullah. Sometime in late 1929 or early 1930 Awad bought ship passage for Mohammad from Mulkalla to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia. The idea was that Mohammad would work as a porter in the busy seaport of Jeddah and send part of his paycheck to the family back home. Mohammad loved the opportunity to experience life beyond the confines of his birthplace. The busy seaport of Jeddah was a wonderful opportunity to talk and learn from many different merchants and businessman that were traversing. Mohammad learned valuable knowledge and business skills that were far beyond his humble and uneducated upbringing.

Saudia Arabia was growing and expanding at a phenomenal pace. Mohammad saved enough money to buy some old construction equipment and because the need for rapid expansion was outstripping building contracts, Mohammad was able to get his first contract. By 1940, Mohammad was a wealthy man. He had his own construction company employing hundreds of people.

Mohammad grew not only in wealth, but also in influence. He became very close to the king and royal family. He became the Al Saud family’s private and most preferred builder. He built many of the royal palaces and was awarded numerous lucrative government contracts such as constructing the Dharain airport.

Mohammad had 10 or 11 wives of various nationalities including Saudia Arabian, Yemeni, Syrian, and Palestinian. He had 54 children and the last born son in 1957 was Osama. His mother’s name was Hamida. Her family resided in Damascus, Syria and Mohammad had business ties with her father. Osama was Hamida’s only son to Mohammad. Hamida was soon disliked by Mohammad because she was outspoken and chose to be independent from the remaining wives and families. Mohammad ostracized her and she could never be at the same residence as her husband. He frequently sent her to his home in Tabuk. Osama was required to spend most of his time at his father’s side in Jeddah. Osama grew up missing his mother and resenting his siblings because they had their mother’s closeness and presence in their upbringing. Basically, Osama grew up as a very shy, quiet, and introverted young man. He did not have much opportunity for developing a relationship with his father because his father died when he was 10.

Left Jeddah in August 1973 for schooling in Beirut, Lebanon. In the early ‘70’s Beirut was called the , “Paris of the Middle East”. Osama led a very flamboyant and nonmuslim lifestyle. He shaved his beard and acquired a yellow Mercedes convertible. He began wearing stylish clothing. He stopped praying 5 times each day. He went to the nightclubs and gaming houses with liberal muslims and Lebanese Christians. He was very attractive and did not go unescorted as he toured the town for most of the night. He liked blonde haired women. His first real girlfriend was a Lebanese Christian and he mingled with the Christian/Muslim social group. Osama drank alcohol beginning at age 16. It was about this time that Osama discovered he had a sensitive stomach and he had to learn how to moderate what he ate. Osama was called back to Jeddah when civil war broke out April 13, 1975.

The Bin Laden family forced Osama to enroll at King Saud University in Riyadh in 1975 to study economics and Islamic economics. He tried to re-create the liberal lifestyle he had lived in Lebanon, but Saudia Arabia was a strict religious muslim country. He persisted as best he could until 1977. His older brother Salim was going to make his first Hajj and he invited Osama to accompany him. This experience completely changed him away from his “sinful” life and back to being devoutly religious. He grew the long beard and made sure he prayed the required 5 times every day.

In 1979, he left his management position with the Bin Laden construction company and flew to Afghanistan. He was incensed that the godless Soviets would occupy muslim land. He entered the country at Peshawar Pakistan. This city is the spiritual home of the Pathan People. Peshawar was the staging point for nonafgan muslims who wanted to organize and fight the atheistic soviets. It is surmised that Osama was doing this to atone for his sinful past life. He felt there was a special place in the hereafter for those who participated in jihad.

February 15, 1989 Soviets pull our of Afghanistan. Osama had spent 10 years of his life in the war against the soviets. He was discouraged because immediately after the Soviets vacated the country, it fell into a protracted civil war. The afghani muslim people were left in worse living conditions that before the Soviet invasion. The country was composed a factions warring against one another.

Summer of 1989 Osama returned to Saudia Arabia. He was welcomed back as a hero. He quietly took an office in the Bin Laden Construction building and settled into managing the building of roads. However, his Jeddah office quickly becomes a base for keeping track of his mujahideen lieutenants and highly trained extremely loyal men. He has begun calling this operation “THE BASE” or AL Qaeda. He spends a good portion each working day organizing men and supplies to go into areas of the world where the faithful muslims are being persecuted and killed or the reigning Arab governments has become too liberal.

In 1990 the royal family of SA learns that Osama has secretly been funding insurgencies. They require him to surrender his passport. Osama has been attending meetings in mosques warning that Saddam Huessin has plans of invading Kuwait and then Saudia Arabia. He contacts the King’s office and offers an arab fighting force of 10,000 warriors to protect the country.

August 2, 1990, Saddam invades Kuwait. Again, Osama attempts to contact the King’s office, but no reply for his urgent message that he can defend the kingdom. Instead, it is announced that the United States will be doing this work. Osama is completely insulted.

Determines King Fahd is not a good muslim and needs to be replaced.

April 1991, tricks his older brother, Bakr to get back his passport and flies to Karachi, Pakistan with plans to making his way to his base in Afghanistan. When he arrives, there is a hugh celebration from old friends and fellow soldiers. He goes to Pakistan to get away from the watchful eye of the SA intelligence community. He does not remain long in his old camp in the outback areas of Afghanistan because the country is torn by civil war. Osama cannot effectively manage his army here. He leaves and flies to Sudan late in 1991. The Sudanese ruler give Osama complete freedom to build his training camps; to launder his money and to fly “busninessmen” in from all over the world to consult with how to wage war against the American, Christians, and Jews. It is from here that he sends muslim fighters to Bosnia and then later another large operation is organized for the Somalia muslims.