Zainab’s Reviews > The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden: The Biography > Status Update

Post 9/11, in gilgit while heading back from school, I remember this song playing in one of the shops. It went:

"Mera sherr Usama Bin Laden
Islam ka hero number one."

Unfortunately, it was a catchy tune. And it got stuck.

Such stuff stays with you. Never heard this song though.

In my primary school (which was sponsored by Jammat e Islami), one sher was very popular among the students:

Tum kitne mujahid maro ge, hr ghar see mujahid nikaly ga...

which referred to Osama's al-Qaeda boys and then the Taliban.

There was this classmate named Usama who especially liked to say it and would say with innocent pride that his parents named him Usama because of Hazrat Osama bin Ladin lol. I was just another kid who happened to be raised by Shia parents. So, I just told him he was a terrorist and maybe his parents were referring to Prophet's companion Usama bin Zaid.

Crazy days. Sadly, it's just the same now. The majority still considers him a hero, or worse, a shaheed.

One should compile these Super Osama bin Ladin stories!

And to witness this regurgitation of such sentiments 20 years on. Sigh, yeah, still the same.