Once and for all, is bin laden saudi or from yemen?

Question

a lot of saudis keep telling me hes not not from saudi arabia and that hes as much a saudi as bush is

Answer 1

South Yemen by origin but raised in Saudi by a millionaire

Answer 2

Well his Origin(family) is 4m Yemen. Most of  the Yemanies have family names with bin on ba. but have settled in Saudi 4m long long time back. Most rich Saudi(businessmen) r non Saudi Origins like India, Bukhara, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt .......

Answer 3

.....as what I know, he is a saudi. Their family is very wealthy here and have lots of companies operating here until today....

Answer 4

he's Saudi. he's a son of a wealthy Saudi family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Laden

Answer 5

he's saudi, but he was kicked out in the early 90s. so he's not saudi anymore.

Answer 6

he was  Saudi in the sense that any one in USA whose ancestors are European and came across the mayflower...

People immigrate.. So his ancestors came from yemen.. Maybe yours came from Ireland or somewhere 100years ago to USA.. same difference.. Once Saudi became a legal sovereign country.. anyone inside could claim to be a citizen, no matter where they were from..

Now having said this.. he is stripped of his Saudi nationality.. He is banned from the country.. So he probably claims Afghani citizenship now... (or who knows.. he might even have US diplomatic papers.. after all.. it was USA who invented him in the first place.. its all political)

Answer 7

He was a Saudi. He was born and raised in Saudi, in a typical nighbourhood in Jeddah. He was a normal guy that time.

His ethnic group is from Yemen. His father came to Saudi Arabia when he was young and established a strong family.

When he was fighting against Soviet Union in Afghanistan, US supported him a lot, and encouraged so much the Saudis to support him. Reagan used to call his group "freedom fighters", the heros.

Later on, in mid-1990s, when Osama started to call for the fight against the US, and he started to have the signs of terrorism, even against his country, Saudi decided to abondon his nationality and prevent him from entering Saudi again.

So, it depends from which angle you are looking at it, you can say, he is Saudi or not.

In all ways, his Saudi side has nothing to do with his violent ideas and actions. It is the US - USSR war, that started this type of thinking.

If you are really interested about all of these issues, I recommend "Behind the Mask or a terrorist" is a book about Osama in details with a lot of background of many cultural and political history in the whole region. It is a great book, fair and without propagandas.

Answer 8

He's originally from Hadhramout in Yemen, he was a Saudi National but was stripped of his citizenship.

www.wahhabimyth.com

Answer 9

He's a Saudi... and a Muslim, which makes him a brother in Islam.

Answer 10

Well, his Saudi nationality was taken away from him, so does that make him a Saudi? or a non Saudi?

Heres the reason you hear two versions... ( both true, only different angles )

Many Yemenis go to Saudi for work, and have been doing so for a long time now. Until the gulf war, they didnt need a visa to get into Saudi.

Many of them became Saudi over the time, and those involved in business are known to come from "Hadhramoot" in Yemen. People from Hadrhamoot are known for being great at business, not being flashy at all ( you'd see a very simple man in sandles and not know hes a millionaire ), and for travelling for business.

Add hajj to the subject and you end up with many who are originally from Hadhramoot, Yemen, and are now Saudi.

If you go to Malaysia, you will find many businessmen who are originally from Hadhramoot, and especially indonesia. So they mix into the societies that they do business in.

Many of their last names start with "ba" ( ie Ba Khashab , Ba Wazeer, Ba Ashin etc ), but not always.

Bin Ladin is from one of those families from Hadhramoot originally, and became Saudi. They are known for being into the construction business especially. Their family even gave loans to the Saudi government at one point, and did lots of construction in Makkah and Madinah, charging only costs ( no profit ).

Many of them are still Saudi, some I think are now Saudis that live in the west ( Theres so many of them ). The "Bin Ladin" you're asking about, has been stripped from his Saudi citizenship a long time ago.

Those who say he isnt Saudi mean one of two things, or both.

1- That the family were naturalized citizens ( not sure how many generations ago)

2- Hes been stripped from his citizenship

He however, I believe was born and raised in Saudi, and as a Saudi ( having ties with original country shouldnt make a difference, at least not technically or legally )

Thats the story, so consider him Saudi, Yemeni, Afghani, or whatever.