Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmɪd bɪn əˈwɑːd bɪn ˈlɑːdən/) was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,^[11] a son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family,^[12] and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem).^[13] In a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.^[14]

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.^[13]

Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim.^[15] From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School.^[13][16] He studied economics and business administration^[17] at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979,^[18] or a degree in public administration in 1981.^[19] One source described him as "hard working",^[20]; another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.^[21] At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work.^[22] Other interests included writing poetry;^[23] reading, with the works of Field Marshal Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; black stallions; and football, in which he enjoyed playing at centre forward and followed the fortunes of Arsenal F.C..^[24]

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia;^[25] they were divorced before September 11, 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were: Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.^[26] Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives.^[27][28] Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and as of 2010 Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.^[29]

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.^[30] Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, Salem bin Laden, the subsequent head of the bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near San Antonio, Texas in the United States, when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.

The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 6 ft. 4 in and 6 ft. 6 in. (193– 198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Interviewer Lawrence Wright, on the other hand, described him as quite slender, but not particularly tall.^[31] Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and he had stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male headdress.^[32] Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor