While not going as far as aspiring musician and model Wafah Dufour, the niece of Osama Bin Laden who posed for provocative photographs in American GQ magazine, many members of the Bin Laden family have been at pains to distance themselves from the still-at-large terror chief, even considering changing their names.
But despite the association, business has kept rolling in with a slew of new contracts in Dubai and Saudi Arabia for the family’s eponymous construction firm, which is renowned as one of the Gulf’s finest.
Founded by Mohammed Bin Laden, the family firm grew into one of the major companies in Saudi Arabia when it was entrusted by the royal court with the task of expanding Islamic holy sites in Mecca and Medina. It has also built several palaces in Riyadh and Jeddah for the royal family and carried out restoration work following an arson attack on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969.
Salem, Mohammad’s eldest son, ran the financial empire left behind by his father upon his death in 1968, until he himself died when his private plane crashed in Texas in 1988. Mohammed left 54 sons and daughters from several marriages. Thirteen of his sons sit on the board of the family’s firm – the most prominent being Baker, Hassan, Islam and Yehya. Baker, Mohammed’s second son, succeeded Salem at the head of the firm, which has extended its reach across the Arab world and employs tens of thousands of people.
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