The Most Famous
EXTREMISTS from Saudi Arabia
This page contains a list of the greatest Saudi Arabian Extremists. The pantheon dataset contains 283 Extremists, 7 of which were born in Saudi Arabia. This makes Saudi Arabia the birth place of the 6th most number of Extremists behind Italy, and France.
Top 8
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Saudi Arabian Extremists of all time. This list of famous Saudi Arabian Extremists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Osama bin Laden (1957 - 2011)
With an HPI of 78.46, Osama bin Laden is the most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 143 different languages on wikipedia.
Osama bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda, a militant terrorist organization espousing Islamism, pan-Islamism and jihadism. Bin Laden participated in the Afghan mujahideen's jihad against the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War, and supported the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Opposed to the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East, Bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in 1996. He supervised international terrorist attacks against Americans, including the September 11 attacks inside the U.S. in 2001.Bin Laden was born in Riyadh to the aristocratic bin Laden family. He studied at Saudi and foreign universities until 1979, when he joined the mujahideen fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, he co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat, which recruited foreign mujahideen into the war. Bin Laden was an influential ideologue who inspired several Islamist organizations. To many Islamists, he was a war hero for helping defend Afghanistan, and a voice for some who opposed perceived Western imperialism. He founded al-Qaeda in 1988 for worldwide jihad. In the Gulf War, Bin Laden's offer for support against Iraq was rebuked by the Saudi royal family, which instead sought American aid. Bin Laden's views on pan-Islamism and anti-Americanism resulted in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991. He shifted his headquarters to Sudan until 1996, when he established a new base in Afghanistan, where he was supported by the Taliban. Bin Laden declared two fatāwā in August 1996 and February 1998, declaring holy war against the U.S. After the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, he was indicted by a U.S. district court and listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists and Most Wanted Fugitives lists. In October 1999, the United Nations designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization. In the U.S., Bin Laden is a symbol of terrorism and mass murder, highly reviled for his justification and orchestration of attacks against Americans. He organized the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. This resulted in the U.S. invading Afghanistan and launching the war on terror. Bin Laden became the subject of a nearly decade-long international manhunt led by the U.S. During this period, he hid in the mountains of Afghanistan and later escaped to neighboring Pakistan. On 2 May 2011, Bin Laden was killed by U.S. special operations forces at his compound in Abbottabad. His corpse was buried in the Arabian Sea and he was succeeded by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri on 16 June 2011.
2. Ibn al-Khattab (1969 - 2002)
With an HPI of 52.90, Ibn al-Khattab is the 2nd most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.
Samir Saleh Abdullah al-Suwailim (Arabic: سامر صالح عبد الله السويلم; 14 April 1969 – 20 March 2002), commonly known as Ibn al-Khattab or Emir Khattab, was a Saudi Arabian pan-Islamist militant. Though he fought in many conflicts, he is best known for his involvement in the First and Second Chechen War, which he participated in after moving to Chechnya at the invitation of the Akhmadov brothers. The origins and real identity of Khattab remained a mystery to most until after his death, when his brother gave an interview to the press. His death in 2002 had followed his exposure to a poisoned letter, which had been delivered to him by a personal courier who was secretly recruited by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation. According to American scholar Muhammad al-Ubaydi who specializes in the study of militant Islam, his continued relevance is due to the fact that he was the internationalist Salafi jihadist fighter par excellence: he was born in Saudi Arabia and had taken part in conflicts in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Tajikistan, and who in addition to his native Arabic was able to communicate in English, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, and Russian. Compounding this was his charismatic appealing approach towards attracting non-Arab Muslims to fight for his cause and his pioneering use of modern media dissemination techniques to promote jihad, particularly by way of publishing military videos for propaganda purposes.
3. Abu Mohammad al-Julani (b. 1981)
With an HPI of 44.49, Abu Mohammad al-Julani is the 3rd most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (born 1982), better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian revolutionary militant who has served as the emir of Tahrir al-Sham since 2017. As the leader of Tahrir al-Sham, he played a key role in the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the Assad regime. Some sources have described him as Syria's de facto leader. Al-Julani was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a Syrian family from the Golan Heights. Shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and fought for three years in the Iraqi insurgency. American forces captured and imprisoned him from 2006 to 2011. His release coincided with the Syrian revolution, and he created the al-Nusra Front in 2012 with the support of al-Qaeda to take part in the Syrian civil war against the Ba'athist government of Bashar al-Assad. As emir of the al-Nusra Front, al-Julani built a stronghold in the northwestern Idlib Governorate and opposed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's attempts to integrate al-Nusra into the Islamic State. This dispute led to open conflict between al-Nusra and the Islamic State. The U.S. State Department listed al-Julani as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in May 2013, and four years later announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture. In 2016, al-Julani cut al-Nusra's ties with al-Qaeda, merging it with other organizations to form Tahrir al-Sham the following year. Since breaking with al-Qaeda, he has sought international legitimacy by focusing on governance in Syria rather than global jihadist goals. Tahrir al-Sham has established an administration in the territory it controls, collecting taxes, providing public services, and issuing identity cards to residents, though it has faced criticism for authoritarian tactics and suppressing dissent. In recent years, he has presented a more moderate view of himself, suggesting he has no urge to wage war against Western nations, and has vowed to protect minorities.
4. Hamza bin Laden (1989 - 2019)
With an HPI of 42.58, Hamza bin Laden is the 4th most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Hamza bin Laden (9 June 1989 – disappeared in 2017 or 2019) was a Saudi Arabian-born key member of al-Qaeda. He was a son of Osama bin Laden. On 25 July 2019, it was claimed by the American media that he was killed by a U.S. airstrike on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. In 2024, clues were found in Afghanistan that he was still alive and a senior leader of al-Qaeda.
5. Wail al-Shehri (1973 - 2001)
With an HPI of 38.72, Wail al-Shehri is the 5th most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri (Arabic: وائل الشهري, romanized: Wāīl ash-Shehrī; or Alshehri; July 31, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi school teacher and terrorist hijacker. He was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks. Wail al-Shehri was an elementary school teacher from Khamis Mushait in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia. In early 2000, he traveled to Medina to seek treatment for mental problems. He and his younger brother Waleed traveled to Afghanistan in March 2000 and joined an Al-Qaeda training camp. The brothers were chosen, along with others from the same region of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the September 11 attacks. Once selected, al-Shehri returned to Saudi Arabia in October 2000 to obtain a clean passport, then returned to Afghanistan. In March 2001, he recorded his last will and testament on video. Al-Shehri arrived in the United States in early June 2001, staying in budget motels in the Boynton Beach area of south Florida. On September 5, 2001, al-Shehri traveled to Boston and checked into a motel with his brother. Six days later, al-Shehri arrived early in the morning at Boston's Logan International Airport and boarded American Airlines Flight 11. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, al-Shehri, along with his brother and three others, hijacked the airliner. They deliberately crashed it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. In the aftermath of the attacks, some news reports mistakenly reported that al-Shehri was the son of a Saudi diplomat and was still alive and well. The al-Shehri family in Khamis Mushait spoke to the media, denying those early reports, saying that the al-Shehri brothers had disappeared and have not been heard from since.
6. Satam al-Suqami (1976 - 2001)
With an HPI of 36.79, Satam al-Suqami is the 6th most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Satam Muhammad Abd al-Rahman al-Suqami (Arabic: سطَّام مُحَمَّدُ عَبْدِ اَلرَّحْمَـٰن السُّقامي, romanized: Saṭām Muḥammad ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān as-Suqāmī; June 28, 1976 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Al-Suqami had been a law student until he was recruited into al-Qaeda along with Majed Moqed, who was one of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, and traveled to Afghanistan where he would be chosen to participate in the 9/11 attacks. He arrived in the United States in April 2001. On September 11, 2001, al-Suqami boarded American Airlines Flight 11 and participated in the hijacking of the plane so that it could be crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. He is believed to have perpetrated the first fatality of the attacks in killing passenger Daniel Lewin in the process of hijacking the plane. Al-Suqami died along with everyone else on the plane on impact with the North Tower.
7. Hamza al-Ghamdi (1980 - 2001)
With an HPI of 36.08, Hamza al-Ghamdi is the 7th most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Hamza Salah Sa'id al-Ghamdi (Arabic: حمزة الغامدي, romanized: Ḥamza al-Ghāmdī; 18 November 1980 – 11 September 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of five hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the 11 September attacks. Born in Saudi Arabia, Hamza al-Ghamdi left his family to fight in Chechnya and was probably sent to Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan where he was chosen to participate in the 9/11 attacks. He arrived in the United States in May 2001 on a tourist visa. On 11 September 2001, al-Ghamdi boarded United Airlines Flight 175 and hijacked the plane along with his older brother Ahmed al-Ghamdi and 3 other terrorists so that lead hijacker and trained pilot Marwan al-Shehhi could crash the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
8. Waleed al-Shehri (1978 - 2001)
With an HPI of 35.04, Waleed al-Shehri is the 8th most famous Saudi Arabian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Waleed Mohammed al-Shehri (Arabic: وليد الشهري, romanized: Walīd ash-Shehrī'; December 20, 1978 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was involved in the September 11 attacks against the United States in 2001. He was one of the five hijackers who took control of American Airlines Flight 11, which was then flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Shehri had been a student until he accompanied his mentally ill brother to Medina. Later, he and his brother Wail went to Chechnya, where they fought in support of a jihadist insurgency against Russia. However, they were soon redirected to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where they were recruited to carry out the September 11 attacks. After their selection, the brothers were moved to a safehouse in Pakistan before flying out to the United Arab Emirates and starting the process to enter the United States. In April 2001, al-Shehri arrived in the United States on a tourist visa. On the day of the attacks, al-Shehri, his brother, and the other hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 11, following which Mohamed Atta flew the plane into the North Tower in a suicidal attack.
People
Pantheon has 8 people classified as Saudi Arabian extremists born between 1957 and 1989. Of these 8, 1 (12.50%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Saudi Arabian extremists include Abu Mohammad al-Julani. The most famous deceased Saudi Arabian extremists include Osama bin Laden, Ibn al-Khattab, and Hamza bin Laden. As of April 2024, 1 new Saudi Arabian extremists have been added to Pantheon including Hamza al-Ghamdi.
Living Saudi Arabian Extremists
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Osama bin Laden
1957 - 2011
HPI: 78.46
Ibn al-Khattab
1969 - 2002
HPI: 52.90
Hamza bin Laden
1989 - 2019
HPI: 42.58
Wail al-Shehri
1973 - 2001
HPI: 38.72
Satam al-Suqami
1976 - 2001
HPI: 36.79
Hamza al-Ghamdi
1980 - 2001
HPI: 36.08
Waleed al-Shehri
1978 - 2001
HPI: 35.04
Newly Added Saudi Arabian Extremists (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Extremists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 7 most globally memorable Extremists since 1700.
