There are journalists who can neither rest nor sleep until they acquire recent news, fresh information or a different take on any given story. Colleague Mustafa al-Ansari has been among the latter outstanding journalists since we started working together around a decade ago. Three days following the death of leader of Al-Qaeda organization Osama Bin Laden, he came rushing into my office faster than a Porsche and pleasantly said: I want to travel to Jeddah tonight or tomorrow. We both smiled, which was a “code” between us whenever he got a “hefty catch.” I said to him with the same speed: Travel safely. At this point, he briefly explained the journalistic mission he was going to conduct and I said to him before he even finished: You, Abu Suheil, are among the journalists who do not rush in vain. Since yesterday (Sunday), Al-Hayat has started publishing the testimony of Bin Laden's brother-in-law who accompanied the leader of Al-Qaeda organization in Jeddah and Medina, during his childhood, in the trenches and the fight, but also during the Afghan Jihad against the Soviet Union and in exile in Sudan. He was also the one who paved the way before Bin Laden's marriage to his sister Siham, who holds a PhD and who bore the leader of Al-Qaeda sons and daughters. The testimony of Dr. Sa'd Abdullah Hussein al-Sharif who remained silent for around twenty years, draws its importance from the fact that it is a recent testimony from a man who accompanied Osama Bin Laden during the Jihad and is related to him through intermarriage. He was with him for bad and for worse, during the most significant stages of his life and when he adopted his decisions, and even got married to Bin Laden's niece based on Osama's mediation. Although there is not much room for commentary in this article, we could still shed light on the most prominent aspects of Al-Sharif's testimony about Bin Laden. Despite the ideological divergence between the two following the Jihad in Afghanistan and the fact that he was accused by Osama of being an agent for the Saudi intelligence, Al-Sharif recognized that Osama always made sure to pay back a debt, no matter how small it might be. He indicated that after the latter married his sister Siham, he suggested he marry one of his cousins, but he only succumbed when he married his niece. He also testified that Bin Laden was courageous, generous, ascetic and loyal, thus never giving up on his friends until the last moment. He also indicated that unlike what Al-Qaeda's ideology might suggest, he was not closed to other opinions, adding that among the factors which helped Bin Laden gather supporters following the Afghan Jihad – despite the fierce disputes and the numerous divisions which erupted between the different parties – was his method, simplicity and relations which were maintained at an equal distance with all the warlords at the time. Al-Sharif or “Osama's half” as he was referred to during the days of the Jihad, mentioned that Osama went too far in his precautionary measures, considering he would rarely be in a place where there was no trench in the ground or something of the sort. He continued that this raised numerous question marks regarding whether or not the operation that led to Bin Laden's death was part of a deal or an agreement, saying – after he saw the pictures – that he was likely safe in his home and forced to stay based on the conditions of his host and not his own. In response to another question, Al-Sharif believed that Al-Qaeda will gradually weaken following Bin Laden's death, indicating that although he had met with Al-Zawahiri, he did not know him well and hated him when he once heard him accusing Al-Shaarawi and Al-Ghazali of being apostates. He continued that despite his intelligence, the man could never fill Osama's shoes because he was not known on the combat fronts. Al-Sharif then spoke with great sorrow about his sister Siham who married Bin Laden and who insisted on completing her higher studies until she earned a doctorate in Quranic studies in Sudan. She had accepted to marry Bin Laden provided he allowed her to complete her studies, especially since she was specialized in the Arabic language, carried a Master Degree and taught at King Abdul-Aziz University in Medina. In this context, he explained the weak point of his educated sister who corrected Bin Laden's spelling and grammar mistakes and wrote poetry, saying that it resided in her attachment to her children, especially Khaled who was killed in the same place as his father and her daughter who died around two years ago due to delivery complications and was married to a man from Medina living in Afghanistan. He believed that his sister was still alive and with the Pakistanis, adding that her family was awaiting her return. And on the opposite end of Al-Qaeda's implication of women in suicide operations, Al-Sharif pointed out that Osama dealt with his women only as wives and did not implicate them in the affairs of his Jihadist activity. Indeed, he separated between his public and private lives and perceived women as being the ones who raised and cared for the husband and children, but was stringent to the point where he prevented his girls from going to school. Al-Sharif continued that women's participation in terrorist operations was an interpretation by other elements in the organization, because the male vision of the Jihad was at the core of Osama's vision which claimed that the Jihad was imposed to protect women and honor and that consequently, women could not be implicated in any such operations. He thus assured it was likely that Bin Laden died while still believing in that principle. After having constituted the main object of interest and concern for two decades and after having faced the entire world while described as being a “terrorist,” Osama Bin Laden was killed. However, in his interview, Al-Sharif only remembered the good things about his relationship with him and was very careful not to ruin this relationship by saying something bad about Bin Laden after his death, knowing that even before his death, he never talked about him positively or negatively although he criticized the extremist path he adopted.
