Mohamed Atta
Atta was born in 1968 in a small town in Egypt's Nile Delta. He was 10 years old when he moved with his family to the Abdeen section of Cairo. Atta studied architecture at Cairo University, graduating in 1990, and continued his studies in Germany at the Hamburg University of Technology. In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the al-Quds Mosque, where he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ziad Jarrah, together forming the Hamburg cell. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, spending some time in Afghanistan, including several months in late 1999 and early 2000 when he met Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders. Atta and the other Hamburg cell members were recruited by bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the "planes operation" in the United States. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, and began inquiring about flight training in the United States.
Muhammad al-Imadi
Mohammed Imady was born in Damascus on August 31, 1930 to Jawdat al-Imadi (1882-1958) and Yissra al-Hawasli (1898-1969). The Imadi family can be traced back to Bukhara, and earlier to Hijaz where it claims lineage to Abu Bakr al-Sidiq, the first successor of the Prophet. The first documented evidence of its presence in Damascus starts with the 16th century when Abd al-Rahman al-Imadi (1570-1641) was designated by the Ottoman Sultan as the Grand Mufti of Damascus. Subsequently, six additional descendants of Abd al-Rahman were also designated grand muftis. But by the time Mohammed Imady was born in the early twentieth century, the family's earlier glory had been largely forgotten, and the wealth, previously accumulated through land grants, largely dissipated. Imady studied law at the University of Damascus. In 1955, he was sent on a government scholarship to New York University (NYU) to pursue his higher education in economics. At NYU, he met and married (August 1956) Mildred Elaine Rippey (April 16, 1934) from Palisades NY. Imady received his Phd in 1960 with an honorary distinction and returned with his wife and daughter, Susan Sahar Imady (July 5, 1957), to Damascus.