Osama bin Laden

Saifullah Shaykh Osama bin Laden (March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011) was an Islamic scholar (Mujtahid) and jihadist (Mujahid). He was the head and founder of the Muslim terrorist organization Al Qaeda, who were behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States which led to the deaths of over 3,000 people and ignited a global conflict often referred to as the "War on Terror."

He studied Islam at King Abdul-Aziz University under Muhammad Qutb^[1](the yournger brother of Sayyid Qutb) and Shaykh Dr. Abdullah Azzam. Abdullah Azzam had a doctorate in Islamic law from Al-Azhar University. However, there are also reports that indicate he studied civil engineering there.

In a 2004 poll conducted by Zogby International, 18% of United Arab Emirates citizens chose Osama bin Laden as their "most admired" world leader. "No one" finished first with 22%.^[2] An Al-Jazeera Arabic poll involving 41260 participants in September 2006 found that a huge 49.9% of Arab Muslims support him.^[3]

Osama bin Laden was also supported by the Supreme Authority of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia. Many of them concurred with Osama bin Laden with regard to the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. Those that did were dismissed by the House of Saud.

He also at one point found support from among one of Lebanon's top Islamic clerics - Fathi Yakan, who is described by Islamic website IslamOnline as a prominent scholar with a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In a televised interview broadcast on Al Jazeera (March 16, 2007) he refers to Bin Laden as a man after his own heart, and said he considers the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be "fine" and he was not sad or depressed that it happened.^[4]

In 2007, the Ulema Council of Pakistan (the biggest of its kind in the country with 2,000 scholars)^[5] awarded him the title 'Saifullah' (Sword of Allah), their highest honor.^[6]

Bin Laden was killed in his million-dollar, three-story mansion by a team of Americans in a covert operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, about 50 km (31 mi) north of Islamabad. Following his death, a 2011 Gallup survey found that the majority of Pakistanis were grieved by his passing.^[7]