Warning on Arab birth data

[Guest guest]

Hi:

 

Here's something to think about.

 

Chris

 

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>Darcy wrote:

>> I lived in Saudi Arabia in 1997, where I taught English. One of my

>> private students was a wife of one of Osama bin Laden's nephews (of which

>> there are hundreds). She loved to brag about the family. Although I

>> knew the family in Riyadh, the family was always from Jeddah -- and is

>> where the heart of the business and the family remain. The original

>> patriarch (who died in the late 70's, I believe) always lived in Jeddah.

>> In 1957, it is highly unlikely that any of the original bin Laden

>> children would have been born in Riyadh. Also, hardly anyone in the

>> middle east knows when their actual birthday is. Birthdays are recorded

>> as the day the birth is registered, which can be weeks or months after

>> the actual birth. Women don't have a clue, since their birthdays, until

>> recently were not even registered in Saudi Arabia. I used to try to ask

>> them all the time. They thought it a very strange question, and of

>> course I never mentioned astrology! This birthday confusion is

>> widespread throughout the Arab countries, but especially true in Saudi

>> Arabia. Also, in Saudi Arabia, everyone adheres to the Islamic calender,

>> which is lunar (and it never catches up to the sidereal year with

>> occasional intercaluculary days as the ancients did) and the years

>> constantly 'move ahead" of the solar year -- which makes everything even

>> more confusing. I would take any report of bin Laden's actual birthday

>> with a grain of salt -- we will likely never really know. Though, the

>> year is probably correct -- which would give him a 14* Sag Saturn.

>>

>> As I finish sending this I see a caption in the NY Times that, "Osama bin

>> Laden, Saudi Arabia's most famous citizen. was born in a citadel village

>> in Hadhramaut, a remote province in eastern Yemen." Bib Laden's father

>> is known to be from Yemen -- but it is also known that he lived and made

>> his fortune in Saudi Arabia -- since at least the 40's. I think the

>> Time's has gotten the birth places mixed up -- but who knows?

>>

>> Best Regards,

>> Darcy

>>

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