Background and career
Osama bin Laden (c. 1957/1958 – 2 May 2011) was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda, a Salafi jihadist militant organization, from 1988 until his killing in 2011. He was one of the most significant supporters of Islamic terrorism and jihadist militant movements around the world, aiming to found a pan-Islamic caliphate and end Western nations' interventionism in the Middle East. Most notably, he helped orchestrate al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001, which directly killed 2,977 victims and caused the U.S.-led global war on terror. He also led al-Qaeda and its allies in numerous wars, including the Second Afghan Civil War (1992–1996), Bosnian War (1992–1995), and Algerian Civil War (1992–2002), the latter of which he helped instigate. Born into the wealthy bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden used his personal fortune to build a network that trained militants in Europe, West Asia, and Africa. He moved from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) to help Afghan Muslims resist the Soviet Union's occupation of the country. In 1984, he co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat to recruit foreigners into the Afghan mujahideen resistance. In 1988, he founded al-Qaeda. Following the Soviet withdrawal, he commanded a mujahideen force during the First Afghan Civil War (1989–1992). Upon returning to Saudi Arabia, bin Laden publicly promoted anti-Western causes and opposed the Saudi royal family, leading to his expulsion from the country in 1991. He went back to Afghanistan, then moved to Sudan later that year. In 1993, al-Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center complex in New York City. In 1996, bin Laden returned to Afghanistan after being expelled from Sudan; Afghanistan came under Taliban control later that year. Al-Qaeda allied with the Taliban, and they collaborated in the Third Afghan Civil War (1996–2001). In 1996 and 1998, bin Laden declared holy war on all Americans. Al-Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, and the U.S. and United Nations officially declared bin Laden a terrorist. That year, al-Qaeda also began an ongoing insurgency in Yemen. The 9/11 attacks were planned primarily by bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and certain intelligence sources allege they were aided by Saudi Arabia, despite bin Laden's prior expulsion. Nineteen al-Qaeda members hijacked four American passenger planes, intending to crash them into U.S. landmarks. American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon in Virginia, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania before reaching the hijackers' unknown target in Washington, D.C., and the World Trade Center towers collapsed after being struck by American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. An estimated 25,000 injuries, as well as 5,000 deaths from inhalation exposure, have been attributed to the attacks. After 9/11, many nations passed stringent anti-terrorism legislation, while an international manhunt for bin Laden began. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan, deposed the Taliban, and forced bin Laden to relocate to Pakistan sometime before February 2002. He purchased land in Abbottabad to construct a new compound, which he moved into in 2005. Al-Qaeda fought the U.S. and its allies in the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the Iraq War (2003–2011), while continuing to enact major terrorist attacks worldwide. By 2009, U.S. intelligence considered bin Laden relegated to being al-Qaeda's "ideological figurehead", with Ayman al-Zawahiri instead acting as "strategic commander". In 2010, U.S. intelligence discovered the Abbottabad compound, and in 2011, bin Laden was killed inside it during a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs codenamed Operation Neptune Spear. Al-Zawahiri succeeded him as al-Qaeda's emir. Polls show that Muslims at large have a negative view of bin Laden, while many Islamists consider him heroic. Elsewhere, he is overwhelmingly seen as a symbol of terrorism and mass murder.
Bin Laden's name is most commonly romanized from Arabic as Osama bin Laden, but can also be spelled with the names Usama and bin Ladin. Generally, during his life, U.S. intelligence internally referred to him as Usama bin Laden, and used the initialism 'UBL'. He was named after Usama ibn Zayd, one of the companions of Muhammad; Usama means 'lion'. Bin, also spelled ibn, means 'son of'; bin Laden's full name, as spelled here, is Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden—Osama, son of Muhammad, son of Awad, son of Laden. Muhammad, his father, is spelled here as Muhammad bin Ladin. The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to Osama as 'Osama', 'Osama bin Laden', or similar romanizations, not bin Laden alone, as bin Laden is a patronymic surname, not a surname in the Western manner. In the West, he is nonetheless nicknamed bin Laden, which often begins sentences about him ("Bin Laden was..."), even though at the start of a sentence, ibn would be more accurate to Arabic ("Ibn Laden was..."). Bin Laden also went by Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden; Sheikh Osama bin Laden; Mujahid Sheikh; the Prince; the Emir; Hajj; the Director; and Abu Abdallah. Sheikh (or shaykh) and emir are Islamic titles for a government or military leader. A mujahid, plural mujahideen, is a participant in jihad—struggle in the name of Islam (peaceful or violent). Hajj is the traditional pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca. Abu Abdallah is a kunya, a parent's name based on their child's; Abu means 'father of', and Abdallah is his son.
Osama bin Laden's exact date of birth is unknown. In a 1998 interview, he reportedly gave 10 March 1957 as his date of birth. However, this date did not appear in the transcript of the interview. Saudi men of his generation generally did not know their exact dates of birth because birthdays were not celebrated. The authorities arbitrarily assigned the same date of birth to many men in passports and other official documents. In a 1991 interview, bin Laden gave the month of Rajab in the Islamic year 1377, which could be 1957 or 1958. His first wife, Najwa, gave 15 February 1957 as his date of birth. Researchers generally agree that his birthplace was Riyadh, the city he identified as his birthplace, though FBI and Interpol documents once listed it as Jeddah. Osama's father Muhammad was born in modern Yemen and his mother, Hamida al-Attas (born A'alia Ghanem), was born in Syria. Muhammad was married 22 times and al-Attas was his tenth wife. Osama was the 17th of Muhammad's approximately 52 children, and the only one by his union to al-Attas. The bin Laden family originated in Yemen, and in the early 20th century, Muhammad bin Ladin moved to Saudi Arabia. He founded the Saudi Binladin Group in 1931, and by the 1950s became immensely wealthy through his connection to the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. The royals gave the Saudi Binladin Group the exclusive right to construct religious buildings in Saudi Arabia, and later, the company became the royal family's official construction contractor. Muhammad's sons attended the same schools as the royal children.
Six months after Osama was born, he and his parents moved to the Saudi region of Hejaz and divorced afterward in 1960. He lived in Hejaz until adulthood. In the early 1960s, his mother married Mohammed al-Attas, an employee of the Saudi Binladin Group. The two had four children, and raised them alongside Osama. Muhammad bin Ladin died in 1967. Osama's inheritance was estimated in 2000 at about $300 million and in 2001 at $50–60 million, not adjusting for inflation. As of 2026, the bin Laden family still owns the Saudi Binladin Group, and still has ties to the House of Saud. From 1968 to 1976, Osama attended the prestigious Al-Thager Model School in Jeddah, and then an English-language course in Oxford, England, in 1971. Decades later, he said that when he had been asked in 1972 to continue his studies in England, he refused on the grounds that "a pious Muslim should not go to the lands of the West. I had the impression that they were people of loose morals." He said that in general, the British were "morally degenerate". In the late 1970s, he started studying economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. One source claims that bin Laden left university during his third year without attaining a degree. Others say that he either earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or in public administration in 1981. In university, bin Laden's main interest was Islam. He studied the Quran and jihad, and did charity work.
Bin Laden was reportedly an avid reader, and often quoted Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle. He was raised into Sunni Islam, and subscribed to the Athari school of Islamic theology which interprets the Quran literally, rather than figuratively. For religious reasons, he was against gambling, homosexuality, intoxicants, masturbation, music, premarital sex, and usury. He once wrote a letter to the American public (released posthumously) urging them to work with then-United States president Barack Obama's administration to prevent further climate change, and "save humanity" from the greenhouse gas emissions "that threaten its destiny".
Western sources consider bin Laden an Islamic extremist. The German intelligence agency BfV writes:
