Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [46]
Chapter 8
Many Children for Osama
NAJWA BIN LADEN
In 1988 another girl, Kadhija, was born to Osama’s newest wife, Siham. And so it came to be that our family consisted of four wives and nine children. The following year brought the blessing of two additional children to our ever-growing family. Siham had a quick second pregnancy, giving birth twice in two years as she welcomed her first son, baby Khalid. From that time Siham was happy to be known as Um Khalid.
Most exciting for me was that my sweet friend Khairiah, Osama’s third wife, gave birth to her first child, a little boy named Hamza. Khairiah now also wore the highly prized mantle of being known as Um Hamza.
We could all proudly say that we were the mothers of sons, which is an important distinction for a woman in Saudi Arabia.
Suddenly Osama traveled less frequently to Pakistan and Afghanistan. I felt my spirits lift when told that the long war in Afghanistan had finally ended. The Soviets were out of Afghanistan as of February 15, 1989, which was particularly auspicious because it was also Osama’s thirty-second birthday. Although Muslims do not typically celebrate birthdays, Osama said that he felt that day was filled with the most important gift, that the war he had fought for so long had finally been won.
For me, the most important gift was the thought that my husband could now resume the life of an industrious Saudi businessman. No longer would Osama be a warrior. No longer would I spend hours filled with worry that I might receive a message that my husband had been killed on the battlefield.
I was told that my husband was a hero in many Muslim eyes. But Osama seemed a reluctant hero, failing to enlighten me of the many awards received and of the widespread adoration that put his name on the tip of many tongues.
Osama soon settled into his routine of going to work in the mornings and coming home in the afternoons, although he now had four wives and alternated his time with each family. This meant that my husband came to me only once every four nights. When we all went to the farm, he would alternate his time with us there as well.
Osama was certainly achieving his goal of having many children for Islam. In fact, 1990 brought three more babies into our busy lives. This was the year that Osama’s second wife, Khadijah, had her second child and second son, Amer. During this same season, two other pregnancies occurred nearly simultaneously, with an amusing conclusion.
It came to be that I was pregnant with my eighth child at the same time my husband’s fourth and newest wife, Siham, was pregnant with her third child, although Siham’s baby was due a few months later than mine.
As usual, Osama was in attendance when the time was near for me to give birth. As God would have it, the moment I began to have labor pains, one of the maids dashed from Siham’s apartment with the news that her mistress was in premature labor. At first we thought perhaps Siham’s pains were not real labor, for her child was not due for another two months. But we soon realized that was not the case.
The circumstances were beyond belief. Had I not been feeling so poorly, I would have smiled watching my husband struggle to settle two pregnant women into the backseat of his new Mercedes.
The drive was surreal as Siham and I sat side by side, clasping our stomachs, wanting nothing more but to gain some relief from the pain. As might be expected, there was a bit of bedlam at the hospital as the staff dashed about trying to admit two women into labor rooms at the same time. There was such a commotion that several of the nurses had no idea that we were all together.
The most humorous moment arrived after a bright-eyed nurse witnessed Osama dashing from my room into Siham’s. The woman was a dainty Filipina, yet she was very bold, scolding my tall husband, telling him that he must remain in his wife’s room. That little nurse warned him, “You will get into serious trouble for peeking at another woman!”
I’m sure she was astonished