In 1993, London-based daily Al-Hayat published a photograph of two Arabs who had apparently participated in civil war in the Balkans in the aftermath of Yugoslavia’s collapse. In a pose that has since become chillingly familiar, the two men stood brandishing their rifles in front of a prisoner.

 

One of the fighters was a Saudi veteran of the Afghan war, and the other a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Both had once found lodging in the infamous “Peshawar Hostel” — a pit stop in Pakistan for the so-called “Afghan Arabs” en route to Afghanistan, financed by Osama bin Laden.

 

The latter of the two, during his stay at the hostel, had memorably joined other North African fighters in attacking a Saudi preacher whose humor they found offensive.

 

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As to the Saudi fighter, he belonged to the upper middle class of merchants who emigrated from the rural areas to Riyadh during the 1960s. He was sentimental, tender, bold, generous, and sensitive — but had not completed his education. In heated discussions, he would grow aggressive. He did not like what he heard about the so-called “Mujahideen” and their intentions.

 

Like thousands of other Saudis, he was influenced by the ideological current of the “Brotherhood Jihad” which was sponsored by the Islamic Relief Worldwide organization in the early 1980s. His father’s repeated attempts to interest his son in a business career failed. This is not to say that his father was saddened by his son’s ideas. To the contrary, he sometimes praised his son for his convictions.