Osama bin Laden was born in year 1377 of the Hegira (1957). In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he was one of 50 children born to Mohammad bin Laden and one of his various wives. As well as being one of fifty children, Osama was raised in the company of about fifty cousins, his uncle's children, and a couple aunts as well. Despite the large family, Osama received a traditional education, finishing his secondary education at Jedda high school in 1973. About the same time he married his first wife, Osama enrolled at King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda. Here he received a degree in management and economics and was, more importantly, influenced by one of his professors, Sheik Abdullah Azzam. Being a devout Muslim, Azzam was dedicated to the task of liberating Islamic lands from foreign influences, and reintroducing the strict tenets of the faith to young Muslims. Osama's belief in the faith and thought of these missions was increased when he worked with his family's firm to rebuild several mosques of Medina and Mecca. His version of Islam grew more extreme and militant than Azzam's, which has revealed horrifying results to people and countries around the world.
In 1972, bin Laden's father, Sheikh Mohammed, died. The man, being the owner of a largely prestigious business known as the Bin Laden Corporation, left his company to his sons with each son getting a share of the wealth. Several of the sons distanced themselves or gave up their portions of the company, eventually leading to Osama being in a high position with the corporation. On December 26, 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama answered the call of jihad (holy war) against the power that had attacked their brethren in Afghanistan. With the resources of his family's company, bin Laden financed and organized an active opposition to the Soviet Union. He bought arms, established training camps, dug trenches for the war effort, and provided food and medical care. Being a member of the Afghan resistance, also known as the mujahedeen, bin Laden fought in several battles. He was praised for his efforts, and was notorious among the people. Although the United States backed the mujahedeen in the resistance, Osama still greatly despised their presence in Saudi Arabia, saying that it went against his belief in Muslim independence.
Bin Laden did many other things with the money from his company. With his inheritance, estimated at $250 million, Osama moved to Sudan and invested heavily in the country. He established legitimate businesses, and began expanding al-Qaeda, the network of veterans of the mujahedeen and other Islamic militants that he founded during the end of the Afghan-Soviet conflict. In expanding the network, bin Laden built numerous terrorist camps for the purpose of training and equipping terrorists. Why would someone build and fund a group of terrorists? The answer lies in his Islamic faith. According to the Koran, a Muslim is to be devoted to advancing Islam through military force. To many, including bin Laden, this means destroying any sign of western civilization, Christians and Americans to name a few. This was due to the fact that foreign influences brought with the United States in coming to Islamic territory often changed the way people looked at things including faith and religion, which most threatened the Islamic world. Because of his devotion to the faith, Osama has gained the respect and loyalty of innumerable Muslims over the years.
Bin Laden's movement had linked him to a good deal of terrorist activity by the mid 1990's, including the World Trade Center bombings in 1993. The next year, Saudi revoked his citizenship and froze his assets, causing his family to disown him. In 1998, bin Laden called for the death of all Americans. On August 7 of that same year, two truck bombs exploded outside the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (killing a total of 224 people and injuring around 4,585). Bin Laden denied taking part in these actions, but due to other evidence prosecutors say that he was guilty. Osama has also been linked to a failed plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve of 1999, as well as the suicide bombing attack on the U.S.S. Cole on October 27, 2000 (killed 17 naval personnel and injured many others). However horrifying these events were, they do not compare to September 11 when the hijacked flights flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, which was another of bin Laden's acts. The estimated death toll of that horrible day surmounted 4,000 people.
Because of his devotion to the strict rules of Islam, Osama bin Laden set out to kill for Allah, assuring his entrance to Paradise. No one will ever know the exact number of his followers; we can only guess that it comes to hundreds. There is currently no information available to the commonwealth on the whereabouts of the wanted terrorist. However, there is a high suspicion that he is currently living with his family in a cave in Afghanistan, a country that still continues to support this man. If the United States does find this man, many will probably celebrate. But will finding Osama bin Laden be enough to stop terrorism? Knowing that he has so many followers and a whole network of terrorists, it is clear that it will not end.
*********Sources*********
~American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us by Steven Emerson-Chapter 7; published by The Free Press in New York, New York; copyright 2002
~In The Name of Osama Bin Laden by Roland Jacquard-selected reading, mostly chapter 1; published by Duke University Press; copyright 2002
~Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America by Yossef Bodansky-selected reading; published by Prima Publishing in Rocklin, California; copyright 1999
~www.biography.com -search Osama bin Laden. Direct link: http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=23987.