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By Root 717 0

” [My Father Renovated al-Aqsa Mosque, with a Loss], Al-Umma al-Islamiyya, October 18, 1991. He told Jamal Ismail, “God Almighty was gracious enough for me to be born to Muslim parents in the Arabian Peninsula, in al-Malazz neighborhood in al-Riyadh, in 1377 Hejira”—which could be 1957 or 1958, depending on the month. Jamal Ismail, “Osama bin Laden: The Destruction of the Base,” presented by Salah Najm, al-Jazeera, June 10, 1999. Bin Laden allegedly gave his birth date as March 10, 1958, during that interview, but it was not a part of the transcript. Moreover, Saudi men of his age typically do not know their actual date of birth, since birthdays are not celebrated. Saudi authorities arbitrarily assigned many men the same birth date for passports and other official documents. For instance, bin Laden’s friend Jamal Khalifa was “officially” born on February 1, 1957; by chance, he found a notation in a family diary that he was actually born on September 1, 1956. The bin Laden family records, such as they are, do not give a particular date of his birth.

72 “Rest his soul”: “Walidee Ramama al-Aqsa Bilkhasara” [My Father Renovated al-Aqsa Mosque, with a Loss], Al-Umma al-Islamiyya, October 18, 1991.

73 The children rarely saw: interview with Ali Soufan, who says, “His brothers told me he never saw his father more than three or four times.”

he would call them: interview with Jamal Khalifa.

gold coin: interview with anonymous Saudi source.

he rarely spoke: “Half-brother Will Pay to Defend bin Laden,” AP, July 5,2005. Yeslam bin Laden spoke of being afraid of his father on the al-Arabiya satellite channel, but his comments were misinterpreted in an English-language AP story to say that he had been beaten.

“I remember reciting”: “Walidee Ramama al-Aqsa Bilkhasara” [My Father Renovated al-Aqsa Mosque, with a Loss], Al-Umma al-Islamiyya, October 18,1991.

religious debates: Reeve, The New Jackals, 159.

“He gathered his engineers”: Salah Najm and Jamal Ismail, “Osama bin Laden: The Destruction of the Base,” al-Jazeera, June 10, 1999.

marrying off ex-wives: interview with anonymous bin Laden family spokesperson.

Mohammed al-Attas: interview with Khaled Batarfi.

Osama was four or five: interview with Jamal Khalifa.

74 another teenage bride: interview with Michael M. Ameen, Jr.

so charred: interview with bin Laden family spokesperson. Bin Ladin, Inside the Kingdom, 65.

“King Faisal said”: Reeve, The New Jackals, 159.

for the next ten years: Mohammed Besalama, “Al-Sheikh Mohammed Awad bin Laden al-Mu‘alem” [Sheikh Mohammed Awad bin Laden, the Teacher], Okaz, June 2, 1984.

75 Only Osama remained behind: interview with anonymous Saudi source.

al-Thagr: interview with Prince Amr Mohammed al-Faisal.

class of sixty-eight students: interview with Ahmed Badeeb. The two princes were Abdul Aziz bin Mishal bin Abdul Aziz and Abdul Aziz bin Ahmed bin Abdul Rahman.

found him shy: Brian Fyfield-Shayler, quoted in “Meeting Osama bin Laden,” PBS, January 12, 2005.

Some ascribe the change: interviews with Tarik Ali Alireza and Ahmed Badeeb.

Osama stopped watching: “Half Brother Says bin Laden Is Alive and Well,” www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/03/18/osama.brother, March 19, 2002.

76 “In his teenage years”: Khaled Batarfi, “An Interview With Osama bin Laden’s Mother,” The Mail on Sunday, December 23, 2001.

right after isha: interview with Khaled Batarfi.

“beginning of his path”: Michael Slackman, “Bin Laden’s Mother Tried to Stop Him, Syrian Kin Say,” Chicago Tribune, November 13, 2001.

77 companions of the Prophet: Rahimullah Yusufzai, “Terror Suspect: An Interview with Osama bin Laden,” ABCNews.com, December 1988.

“The Abu Bakr group”: interview with Khaled Batarfi.

78 “I decided to drop out”: “Walidee Ramama al-Aqsa Bilkhasara” [My Father Renovated al-Aqsa Mosque, with a Loss], Al-Umma al-Islamiyya, October 18,1991.

wedding party: interview with Khaled Batarfi.

“constantly pregnant”: bin Ladin, Inside the Kingdom, 160.

“Only nerds”: interview with Jamal Khashoggi.

He studied economics: interview with Jamal Khalifa, who is the