Osama's Mama

In all the discussion of Osama bin Laden this week, I have heard something about everyone around him and in his life  - except his mother.  I decided to do some checking.  The most information I found comes from a book, Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of a Terrorist by Adam Robinson.

Bin Laden's mother was a beautiful young Syrian woman named Hamida who caught the eye of Osama's father, Mohammed, late in his life. Mohammed bin Laden was wealthy, powerful and had 10 or 11 wives and somewhere around 54 children.  Hamida did not like living in Mohammed's compound among his many wives and children and she was divorced soon after Osama was born.  In the time she did live there, she was ostracized by the other women.  Hamida was called "the slave" and therefore Osama was called "son of the slave."  Osama was raised mainly by nurses and nannies in the compound after his mother was sent away following the divorce.

When Mohammed bin Laden died in a helicopter crash when Osama was ten, Osama went to live with his mother whom he barely knew.  He felt abandoned after his father's death.  His mother tried to reach out to him but he kept his distance from her and according to Adam's book, within a few months there was no interaction between them for the rest of their lives.

Is there some connection between the absence of a mother figure in his life and the way Osama bin Laden's life turned out?  I cannot help but think so.  Bin Laden never valued other people's lives and certainly not any woman's life.  Where do most people learn to value life and other people?  My experience says a mother has a big role in that.  How the world may have been different if Osama and Hamida had a close relationship?  Our family life determines so much of our future. Who knows what might have been?

I do know that there are many women in difficult circumstances who do an amazing job and raise remarkable children.  One such woman was Hannah the mother of Samuel.  We will look at her life this Sunday and see the how God can bring fulfillment even in circumstances that are less than ideal. I hope to see you Sunday.

For the journey...