An original candidate in the September 11 attacks, Mushabib al-Hamlan became involved with militancy at secondary-school in December 1999, where he attended gatherings to watch videos about the glory of Jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 and detailing the atrocities of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Yugoslav wars

Yugoslav wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...

. The group studied under Ban-dar Marui and read the book Gladiator of Passion.

On February 15, 2000, Hamlan received a passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

, and after completing the Hajj

Hajj

The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...

, went to Sharjah, UAE

Sharjah (city)

Sharjah is the third largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.Sharjah is the seat of government of the emirate of Sharjah...

 to obtain a Visa for entering Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Once in Islamabad, Pakistan, he and two co-travelers were led by Hassan Ghul

Hassan Ghul

Allegedly an al-Qaeda agent, Hassan Ghul has also been identified as a member of Ansar al-Islam. His nationality has been reported as Yemeni, Pakistani or Egyptian....

 to a waypoint controlled by Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi Arabian citizen, sentenced to death in Jordan and currently held in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Not neutral: Arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, he has been in US custody for more than eight years, four-and-a-half of them spent incommunicado in solitary confinement...

. By March, they had crossed the border into Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 where he attended the Al Khaldan training camp. When the camp was closed, he moved with its other members to Al-Farouq

Al Farouq training camp

The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....

 outside Kandahar

Kandahar

Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...

, where he met Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

. After injuring himself at the camp, Hamlan was assigned to guard the Kandahar airport - a task that eventual hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi

Saeed al-Ghamdi

Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....

 and Waleed al-Shehri

Waleed al-Shehri

Waleed Mohammed al-Shehri was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....

 shared.

During his time at Al-Farooq and the airport, Hamlan is thought to have befriended Ahmed al-Nami

Ahmed al-Nami

A former law student and muezzin, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student...

. The two of them studied under Abu Basir al-Yemeni, who coaxed them both to enlist with Abu Hafs al Mauritani as potential 'martyrs' who would carry out suicide missions inside the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Hamlan and Nami were sent to meet Osama bin Laden, identifying themselves through the phrase I want to be one of this religion's bricks and glorify this religion. In October 2000, Hamlan and Nami met with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....

 who instructed them on encrypting telephone calls. They also had their passports falsified claiming they were world travellers visiting locations such as Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Malaysia, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. After a meeting with Muhammad Atef, the pair flew to Tehran, Iran - onward to Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

 - back into the UAE before arriving in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. On instructions from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....

, they drove to Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

, where they stayed with future hijacker Waleed al-Shehri

Waleed al-Shehri

Waleed Mohammed al-Shehri was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....

. He also instructed them how to obtain US visas

Visa (document)

A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...

, which both received on October 28.

In the end Mushabib did not end up using his visa.
Immediately after they were issued their visas, Hamlan phoned his family and learned that his mother was ill. He then decided not to pursue martyrdom and returned to his family. Khalid al Zahrani

Khalid al Zahrani

A Saudi candidate to become one of the September 11 hijackers, Khalid Saeed Ahmad al-Zahrani was an al-Qaeda member, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba....

, an associate from Al-Farouq visited him later to try and convince him to return, but failed.