Education and politicization
Bin Laden was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. From 1968 to 1976 he attended the relatively secular Al-Thager Model School, called "the school of the élite."[14] In the 1960s, King Faisal had welcomed exiled teachers from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, so that by the early seventies it was common to find members of the Muslim Brotherhood teaching at Saudi schools and universities. During that time, bin Laden was exposed to the Brotherhood's political teachings during after-school Islamic study groups.
Bin Laden may have studied economics and business administration[15] at the Management and Economics School of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. Some reports suggest bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979,[16] or a degree in public administration in 1981.[17] Other sources describe him as never having graduated from college, though "hard working,"[18] or having left university during his third year.[19]
At university, bin Laden was influenced by Muhammad Qutb and Abdallah Azzam, professors with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Qutb, an Egyptian, was the brother and publicizer of the late Sayyid Qutb, author of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, or Milestones, one of the most influential tracts on the importance of jihad against all that is un-Islamic in the world.[19][3] Azzam,[19] an Islamic scholar from Palestine, was instrumental in building pan-Islamic enthusiasm for jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and in drawing Muslims (like bin Laden) from all over the Middle East to fight there.[20]
Bin Laden has informal training in Islamic jurisprudence, is considered "well versed in the classical scriptures and traditions of Islam"[21] and has been mentored by scholars such as Musa al-Qarni[22]. Since bin Laden never studied Islam at a seminary (madrasa), he is criticized by Islamic scholars to have no standing to issue religious opinions (fatwa). However, it is possible to obtain scholarly credentials in Islam by learning with individual scholars and obtaining certificates (ijaza) from them.[citation needed]