New Osama Bin Laden Video, Real or Hoax?

Everyone is sitting around waiting to hear if the new Osama Bin Laden Video has come out. There is so much talk on the news and in Intelligence circles that it is hard to think clearly. The media arm of Al-Qeada, Al-Sahab, has put out a banner with a picture of Sheikh Osama, claiming the video will be released soon. Much conversation has already been made about the picture that was included in the banner add.

As you can see there is clearly a difference in the way he looks. I am having a hard time believing this is actually bin Laden. There are many people giving their theories and reason why we should be scared and some in the intelligence community are claiming that the video is legitimate and definitely from bin Laden.
Here are some of the issues I am having problems with.
Obviously the beard. As a Muslim the beard is a symbol and sign of honor, respect, and dignity, more importantly it is a religious rite. It is not something that would be dealt with so lightly. It would be inconceivable for me to think that bin Laden would ever trim his beard. If you look at the earlier picture you can see he is the type of person who lets his beard just grow out and flow. This may seem very insignificant or unimportant to the casual observer, but to the trained eye it is very specific.

Osama bin Laden is a strict originalist when dealing with religion and the way it is practiced. How would he maintain his beard? According to the original texts of Islam, he would not trim his beard, as we see in this new picture.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: "Trim   closely the moustache, and let the beard flow (Grow)."- Narrated Ibn Umar (R.A.) in Muslim.
According to the original text he would not ever want to trim his beard. Osama bin Laden is on a Jihad, a personal struggle for his very essence. The whole meaning of his life is the fulfillment of this struggle. It is what makes him live in caves and hide like he is doing. He would not trim his beard! It would be unthinkable, in my opinion.
In addition, his beard is not grey anymore. What is that about? It does not make sense for him to have darkened his beard. It is considered a sign of wisdom and respect for someone to have grey in their beard. I have just started showing a little grey myself! It is not possible for someone like Osama Bin Laden to have his beard dyed and lose the very sign of his grace according to the Muslim views.

Why do I say that, because it is from a text. Muslims do not just make up their own fashion decisions. According to the Hadith, statements of the Prophet Muhammed,  The Apostle of Allah  said: Do not pluck out grey hair. If any believer grows a grey hair in Islam, he will have light on the Day of Resurrection.  (This is Sufyan's version). Yahya's version says: Allah will record on his behalf a good deed for it, and will blot out a sin for it.
Some would argue that it is permissible to dye the beard in Islam. Yes, it is allowed to groom yourself if you are to get married, or for a certain public display. Many in the intelligence community might claim that he is attempting to show youth or strength by displaying himself with a dark solid beard. Yet even if he were to have dyed his beard which for me is such a far stretch, there is no way in the world he would dye his beard black. That is considered to be an act of fraud. If you need to dye your hair a color you would use Henna, as the prophet did himself on an occasion. It would be a red or brown, yellow color, like saffron. He would not use the color black to dye his beard. Unacceptable period.
Abu Qatadah was brought on the day of the conquest of Mecca with the head and the beard white like the hyssop. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Change this with something, but avoid black.
What is my opinion about the current release of the new video, we will have to wait and see. People are suggesting that it is coming out to commemorate September 11th. Yet, we know that conservative Muslims do not celebrate or commemorate dates in this way. I heard a discussion on the news about whether we should make September 11th a national holiday. These kinds of ideas don't flourish in Muslim countries. Not to mention the fact that Muslims use the lunar calendar and the days are totally different than the Gregorian calendar.

I personally have hard time believing the picture we see in this new add is Osama Bin Laden. Time will tell ! Is my beard argument totally out of place? Take a look at the pictures below from different time periods and follow the progression of the beard as Osama Bin Laden ages. His beard is always full and he never trims it or dyes the color. You can clearly see the grey coming in gradually and naturally!

Do you think the picture above is really Osama bin Laden? Write me a comment or your opinion.

Just found this picture. Here you can see that Osama bin Laden has dyed his beard,as I mentioned, not black but with Henna!

Listen to Dr. Michael Savage agree that the beard looks fake and the language syntax is not that of Osama bin Laden, in his opinion.

Imam Saleem Siddiqui on the Savage Nation

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Saleem Siddiqui is a Political Commentator, Consultant, Actor, and Public Speaker. He is a trained Mediation and Conflict Resolution Specialist. He conducts sermons and training for various religious and Non-profit organizations. Saleem Siddiqui has undergrad degrees in Arabic and religion from the Middle East and attended Law School in Houston Texas. Saleem Siddiqui has consulted with the FBI and testified on behalf of the District Attorney of Virginia, on cases relating to National Security and “The War on Terror”.

Comments

[Skeeter Sanders]

It's November 20 as I write this comment, but I wanted you and your readers to know that I wrote in my own blog that there was strong evidence that the September OBL video is a hoax. Aside from the beard issue (which, by the way, as an African American I KNOW is fake for only men of sub-Saharan African descent have coarse, woolly beards), I cite an electronics expert who noted that OBL's image doesn't move whenever references to recent events are heard in the audio version.

http://www.skeeterbitesreport.com/2007/09/strong-evidence-emerges-that-osama-bin.html

[Terry Ankenman]

Finally someone who is looking at things as they should be seen. It has amazed me that everyone assumes this video means Osama is alive when clearly this is a dressed up representation: an "OZ"sama. Am I the only one to whom it has occurred that both the #1 and #2 Al Queda are now Egyptian? This beard thing looks like how Egyptians represent important people, not militant Moslems.

[kat-missouri]

I happen to agree with you that the beard would not be trimmed or died. Most particularly, besides the ban against it in the haditha, Al Qaeda and its ideological adherents have routinely beaten or killed Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq for shaving. It would not make sense for them to have prohibited that among the Muslims they wish to subjugate and then do something totally different. Even among their own that would be hypocritical.

I do not buy the "groom yourself for martyrdom" or to confuse the enemy arguments either. While some of that may be true, those who have routinely groomed themselves for such actions, such as the 9/11 terrorists, had specific instructions to remove all hair from their bodies. As far as "confusing the enemy" again, this is not bin Laden's role and changing his appearance would do more to confuse his own than to confuse anyone on the outside.

I have no idea if it means he's dead or alive, but I do agree that the video is a hoax. As far as the color of his face or background, comparatively speaking, those appear to be changed simply by the quality (compared to the original in 2004) and adjusting hue and contrast. Something that can be done with any video software. I did it myself with mixed results, not working with the exact originals, it came pretty close.

When you put the newest still image in as a negative, you can clearly see that the beard has been colored manually with software and that the length has been changed. the shirt looks like it has been cut and pasted through a judicious overlay of the lower part of the shirt.

This is so fake, it is hard to imagine what wannabe jihadist put it together. Still, considering size, someone was working hard to put many parts together to make this video. I know, when I overlay certain audio files to images and those images have huge pixels and every splice of the audio can represent a megabyte, even 10 mins of these overlays and images can turn into almost 200 megs.

I will agree, this is a hoax on many levels. who did it? Someone desperate to have OBL speaking on 9/11 anniversary; someone desperate to have OBL still be relevant, particularly in the face of continuing losses of leadership, dysfunction among the ranks and a generally poor showing among other Muslims who are quickly finding jihad and OBL rather lackluster.

How many suicide bombers have there been in Iraq in the last few months? Not nearly as many as they were able to field between 2004 and 2006. Those they are able to convince today are the tribes in Pakistan and the few who have decided that the "right war" is still in Afghanistan. Sometimes people don't recognize when the patient is dead.

[Visitor]

It is obvious that the 2007 picture shows the beard being trimmed. But Islam(Koran) advocated the beard show flow(grow) and the mustache trimmed. Dying the beard has other meanings for Muslims, especially if the see themselves as a leader.
See here:

www.islam.tc/beard/beard.html

www.missionislam.com/family/beard.htm

www.islamonline.net/english/Science/2001/10/article3.shtml

[omar]

I only came to this link because you spammed the link everywhere and I finally gave in. I should have resisted -

this is your argument? Osama bin laden could not have died or trimmed his beard because you found a hadith against it?

first of all, since when has osama bin laden had a hard time rationalizing actions that are conventionally against sharia? (killing of women and children for starters)

second, who says it's haram to trim the beard? Abdallah ibn Omar (ra) used to take a fistful of his beard and trim what was under it.

third, yes the prophet (saw) once told abu qatada to avoid dying his beard black, but do you really think this amounts to a blanket ban on the practice? look in any book of fiqh and then come tell me it's haram.

lastly, do you really consider osama to be a hero? I had only heard of Muslims like you, but I hadn't actually met any. there is a way to fight a battle and that's with Islamic ethics - you don't kill women and children.. and you don't fund your army by selling khamar. give me a break.

[R]

Very interesting post, Saleem.

I was also going to bring up the point being discussed everywhere else (it seems) that he may be preparing for another attack or Jihad, and showing so by dying his beard black.

I will be following your blog.

[George Garcia]

It looks more like someone that resembles him 90%. Both the face and beard give a level of doubt. This new video was released in the U.S. before the middle east?
I think our new chief of staff (Bolten) has something to do w/ this
OUT>

[Saleem Siddiqui]

Yes, you could have a point but if that were the case....and I repeat IF, then it would be necessary for him to combine that message with a Black Turban instead of the white. This would be the correct way according to tradition. Someone like bin Laden would not leave make such an amateur mistake. What do you think?

[swrosmmmt]

the use of black dye is specifically permitted during time of war, with the possibility of demoralizing the enemy when they see all Muslim soldiers looking ‘young’.