|
Bron: Michael Rideout
De geboortedatum van Usamah Bin-Laden:
Birth Data Comment from Michael
Rideout:
Regarding the birth date of Usamah Bin-Ladin, I've seen
web pages that mention only a year – 1955, 1956, 1957,
and 1958 – and I've seen web pages and posts that give
a variety of dates: March 10, 1957; April 7, 1957; June
28, 1957; July 28, 1957; July 30, 1957; and October
3, 1957.
According to an interview
with Bin-Ladin which can be found on various web pages,
he himself has given his year of birth as 1377 AH ("1377
hegira").
If that is so, then he had to
have been born sometime between approximately July 29,
1957 and July 17, 1958 – give or take a day or so for
both dates.
This would mean that 1955 and 1956 are out of the question
– nor can March 10, 1957; April 7, 1957; and June 28,
1957 be correct.
I think the July 28, 1957 and July 30, 1957 dates look
suspicious because they are approximately the first
day of the Islamic year 1377 AH. The first day of each
month is tricky to determine either ahead of time, or
by a computer algorithm, because it begins when the
crescent Moon is first spotted following the New Moon,
and this event is subject to various factors. Also,
the day begins at sunset on what we would call the previous
day, so if for example the first day of 1377 AH was
July 29, 1957, this would mean that it actually began
at sunset on July 28, 1957!
Obviously, it's possible that Bin-Ladin was indeed born
on the first day of 1377 AH.
However, I can't help wondering if the July 28, 1957
and July 30, 1957 dates might conceivably have been
arrived at in the following way:
Question: "When was Bin-Ladin born?"
Answer: "In 1377 AH."
Question: "And when was 1377 AH?"
Answer: "On July 28 [or 30], 1957."
As far as the other dates, I've
personally seen people convert dates incorrectly from
one calendar to another.
For example, I used
to work for a Korean-born man (whose family moved to
America when he was a child) who celebrates his birthday
as February 14, 1958, although he told me that he actually
has two birthdays. When I asked him what he meant, he
said he'd been told that he was born on the 14th day
of the 2nd month of the Year of the Dog.
The Year of the Dog began in 1958, so he had arbitrarily
decided to celebrate his birthday on February (2nd month)
14 (14th day), 1958 (Year of the Dog) – even though
a correct conversion would put his birthday on about
April 2, 1958 (depending on what time the day begins
in Korea, as well as time zone considerations). The
Year of the Dog didn't even begin until February 18,
1958 – four days after the day he celebrates as his
birthday! It might be possible that Bin-Ladin's birthday
– if it's even known – was incorrectly converted in
such a fashion (e.g., the 10th day of the 3rd month).
I would also point out the uncertainty
surrounding Dodi's birthday (remember Diana and
Dodi?), as his birthday had been given as April 15,
but it was stated by several people that it's a fairly
common practice in the Middle East to use the 15th of
the month as the birthday, due to the fact that they
don't always note the actual day of birth, just the
month and year of birth.
Even though none of the dates given for Bin-Ladin fall
on the 15th of a month in the Gregorian calendar, we
should beware of the possibility of a similar practice
of using some arbitrary day of the Islamic month of
birth. Then there is the possibility that, some years
ago, someone in an intelligence agency may have heard
that Bin-Ladin had just celebrated his birthday (if
he even celebrates his birthday) on some day of the
year, such as March 10. They may have then taken that
date and used it with his year of birth, which seems
to have been 1957 (or perhaps 1958).
If this sort of thing did happen, it would be wrong,
as a particular date (month and day) in the Islamic
year does not fall on the same date each year in the
Gregorian calendar.
For example, if it had been learned that Bin-Laden had
celebrated his 30th birthday on March 10, 1987, it would
be incorrect to conclude that he was therefore born
on March 10, 1957. It just doesn't work that way.
Also, when Prince Dipendra murdered his family
and shot himself, I saw some web pages which gave his
birthday incorrectly, and they cited CIA sources! This
makes me wonder if the "field information" gathered
by intelligence agencies can be trusted, especially
when it comes to people's birthdays.
Additionally, there is always the chance that a Gregorian
date written in numeric format might be misread,
such as 3-10-1957 being variously read as either March
10, 1957 or 3 October, 1957.
Conclusion: In light of
these facts and considerations, I would be extremely
cautious about accepting *any* date of birth for Bin-Ladin
without a grain of salt the size of Jupiter.
|