He had two distinguished teachers in Islamic studies, which was a compulsory subject in the university. First was Abdullah Azzam who became later as one of the big names in Afghanistan and the second was Mohammed Quttub, a famous Islamic writer and philosopher. (Williams) In 1982 he decided to go inside Afghanistan. He brought with him plenty of the construction machinery and put them at the disposal of the mujahedeen.(Jacqard11-20). Mujahedeen is Muslim guerrilla warriors engaged in a jihad. He started spending more and more time in Afghanistan occasionally joining actual battles but not in an organized manner. His presence was encouraging to more Saudis to come but the numbers were still small at that period. In 1986 Osama decided to have his own camps inside Afghanistan and within two years he built more than six camps. Some were mobilized more than once. He decided to have his own front and to run his own battles with his own command. Among the Arab fighters he had, there were senior Arab ex-military men from Syria and Egypt with good military experience. The story of the guesthouse and the camps was very attractive for more Arab mujahedeen to come and there was a significant surge in their numbers at that period. (Jacquard) From then until 1989 he had more than five major battles with hundreds of small operations and exchanges of fire. During the period 1984-1989 he was staying more in Afghanistan than Saudi Arabia. He would spend a total of eight months a year or more in Afghanistan. (Jacquard 21-36).
Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization that supports the activities of Muslim extremists around the world. Al-Qaeda is an Arabic term that means the base. The United States government has blamed al- Qaeda for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon Building near Washington, D.C. Al- Qaeda also is believed to have aided other attacks against U.