osama

i’d always read that osama was a saudi, but he wasn’t!

his father, mohammed bin awad bin laden, was orginally from yemen and his mother, hamida al-attas, née alia ghanem, was from syria (and, possibly, from an alawite family, like the assads).

so, osama was obviously an arab, but not a saudi arab.

the bin ladens are hadhrami people from the hadhramaut region of yemen:

“The family traces its origins to a poor, uneducated Hadhrami named Awad bin Laden, a Kendah tribesman from the village of Al Rubat, in the Wadi Doan in the Tarim Valley, Hadramout governorate, Yemen. He died in 1919. His son was Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (died 1967). Mohammed bin Laden was a native of the Shafi`i (Sunni) Hadhramaut coast in southern Yemen and emigrated to Saudi Arabia prior to World War I. He set up a construction company and came to Abdul Aziz ibn Saud’s attention through construction projects, later being awarded contracts for major renovations at Mecca, where he made his initial fortune from exclusive rights to all mosque and other religious building construction not only in Saudi Arabia, but as far as Ibn Saud’s influence reached. Until his death, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden had exclusive control over restorations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Soon the bin Laden corporate network extended far beyond construction sites.” [wikipedia]

good deal!

here’s where al rubat is, where the bin ladens were originally from:

update 05/03 – at least i know who osama bin laden was. (~_^)

“Teens Don’t Know Who Osama Bin Laden Is, According to Yahoo! Search Trends”

“However, it seems teens ages 13-17 were seeking more information as they made up 66% of searches for ‘who is osama bin laden?'”

kids these days. *facepalm*

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