Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [159]
With seven sons, accidents were not uncommon. I remembered the time when little Mohammed was running and playing in the desert, and dropped from sight. He had fallen into a deep hollow carved in the earth, and was unconscious for a full day. Thanks be to God, Mohammed’s brothers were in the area and after a day began a big search, finally finding him in that burrow. Had his general location not been known, no one could have guessed where to look and perhaps wolves would have found him first. Another time Sa’ad was driving recklessly and flipped his car over. Ladin was sitting in the back seat and crawled out with a broken hand.
I realized that if Omar were to meet with disaster, no one would know where to begin a search. My husband did not object to Omar’s solitary rides in the desert, reminding me that he done the same when he was a young man in Saudi Arabia. My husband seemed to love Omar more for his solitary spirit, giving his son the nickname of Omar “Alfarook,” which is an Arab name that means “sword.”
Many people were recognizing Omar’s special traits. One of my sister-wives thought so highly of Omar that when she saw him walking towards us she would say, “Here is the father of wisdom.” Another named him “Omar the generous,” because he was known to be the most charitable of all my sons, saving what little money he could get to help others who were worse off.
Although I was pregnant again, I had many more things on my mind than myself.
In fact, it was in early 1999 that Osama decided the time had come for our daughter Fatima, who was born in 1987, and his daughter Kadhija with Siham, who was a year younger than Fatima, to be married. It is not unusual for girls of such a young age to wed in our culture. Besides, such decisions were Osama’s alone. I was glad to hear that he conferred with Omar, asking my wise son for his advice regarding the fighting men Omar knew best. My husband instructed Omar to find good husbands for both his daughters.
Omar took the search seriously, carefully observing the men who were attached to my husband’s work. Finally Omar recommended two Saudi soldiers, Mohammed and Abdullah, whom he believed to be intelligent and kindly men. Both potential grooms were from Saudi Arabia, which seemed to please Osama, and were nearing the age of thirty. One was a bodyguard for my husband, so Osama knew him better than most.
Omar recommended that Fatima be married to Mohammed and that Kadhija be married to Abdullah. Once the choice was made, everything was handled in the traditional Islamic way. Osama discussed the matter with me, and with Siham. We both accepted our husband’s decision.
As is proper, Osama then called in each daughter separately, telling her about the husband he had selected. Osama was careful to adhere to our religion and to advise each daughter that if she was not in favor of this husband, that the marriage would not take place. If that was the case, there would be a search for another groom.
Both daughters very shyly said yes, they would be pleased to marry the men selected for them by their father. At that time Osama arranged for the grooms to have a chaperoned meeting with his daughters. Once our daughters and the potential grooms said that they agreed to marry each other, their engagements were announced.
My daughter’s wedding would be first. And so it came to be that my darling Fatima was married to a Saudi man named Mohammed. Fatima’s wedding was very simple, held in our home at Kandahar. Of course, the men and the women did not mingle. Food was scarce during