AKIPRESS.COM -
Osama Bin Laden wanted most of his fortunes to be used in pursuit of jihad. The Al Qaeda leader claimed he had about $29 million in personal wealth, the bulk of which he wanted to be used "on jihad, for the sake of Allah," according to his handwritten will.
The will was released Tuesday in a batch of more than 100 documents seized in a May 2011 raid that killed Bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, US media reported.
"I hope, for my brothers, sisters, and maternal aunts, to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on Jihad, for the sake of Allah," he wrote in the will, which was translated, NYDaily reported.
He addressed allocations for his relatives within the document.
"I want you also to cut from Sudan's money 200,000 riyals for my sisters Maryam, Iman, and 'Atidal, for the total of 600,000 riyals. I want for my son Sa'ad Bin Usama and his mother to share a half of his portion and my daughter Khadijah, the daughter of Usama, half of the daughter's share," the wrote.
That total of 600,000 riyals equates to about $160,000 in U.S. dollars.
Bin Laden also wished to have 300,000 riyals (about $80,000) set aside for an uncle and his children.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Bin Laden had been planning for the 10 anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks — and hoped to portray his organization as a united enterprise amid tensions. The letters address a range of topics, including fractures between Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in Iraq, which eventually splintered off into what is now known as the Islamic State; and Bin Laden's concerns about his organization's public image and his desire to depict it as a united network.
The threat of sudden death was on his mind years before the fatal raid in Pakistan.
"If I am to be killed," he wrote in a 2008 letter to his father, "pray for me a lot and give continuous charities in my name, as I will be in great need for support to reach the permanent home."
