Najwa Ghanem

Najwa Ghanem (Arabic: نجوى غانم; born c. 1960),[1] is a Syrian woman who was the first wife and first cousin of Osama bin Laden, being the daughter of his mother's brother. She is also known as Um Abdallah (mother of Abdallah).[2]

Najwa Ghanem
نجوى غانم
Born1960 (age 62–63)
Latakia, Syria
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1974; separated 2001)​
ChildrenAt least 12, including Abdallah, Saad, Omar

Biography

She was born to Ibrahim and Nabeeha in Latakia, Syria, and her family was originally from Yemen. She had five siblings.[1] Osama married Najwa in 1974 at the age of fourteen in Latakia. She travelled with Osama to Sudan and Afghanistan.

According to Abu Jandal, she left Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks and did not return.[2] According to Najwa and her son Omar bin Laden, she left Afghanistan on September 9, 2001.[3] In 2005, Hutaifa Azzam, son of Abdullah Azzam, stated that she was living in Damascus with her son Abdel Rahman.[2]

Family

She is the mother of 11 children, including Omar, Abdallah, Saad, Abdul Rahman, Osman, Mohammed, Fatima, Iman, Ladin, Rukhaiya and Nour.[4] She co-authored Growing Up bin Laden with Omar.[5] Her daughter Iman who was released by Iran in 2010 went to live with her in Syria.[6] According to a close family member in 2011, Najwa's mother died of shock and grief after hearing of her son-in-law's death.[7]

See also

References
  1. bin Laden, Najwa; bin Laden, Omar; Sasson, Jean. Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World. pp. 16, 292.
  2. L. Bergen, Peter (20 January 2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader. Simon & Schuster. p. 402. ISBN 9780743295925.
  3. bin Laden, Najwa; bin Laden, Omar; Sasson, Jean. Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World. p. 414.
  4. bin Laden, Najwa; bin Laden, Omar; Sasson, Jean. Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World. pp. 415–421.
  5. Butters, Andrew Lee (27 October 2009). "Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Son Speaks". Time.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  6. Setrakian, Lara. "Iran Finally Releases Osama's Daughter". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021.
  7. Theodoulou, Michael. "Osama bin Laden's mother-in-law 'collapsed and died on news of his death'". The National. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
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