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Mohamed Atta's Last Will & Testament

In the name of God all mighty

Death Certificate

This is what I want to happen after my death. I am Mohamed the son of Mohamed Elamir awad Elsayed. I believe that prophet Mohamed is God's messenger and time will come, no doubt about that, and God will resurrect people who are in their graves. I wanted my family and everyone who reads this will to fear the Almighty God and don't get deceived by what is in life and to fear God and to follow God and his prophets if they are real believers. In my memory, I want them to do what Ibrahim (a prophet) told his son to do, to die as a good Muslim. When I die, I want the people who will inherit my possessions to do the following:


In October 2001, the German magazine Der Spiegel published a copy of Mohamed Atta's will, which was dated April 11, 1996. ABC News provided this English translation.

  1. The people who will prepare my body should be good Muslims because this will remind me of God and his forgiveness.

  2. The people who are preparing my body should close my eyes and pray that I will go to heaven and to get me new clothes, not the ones I died in.

  3. I don't want anyone to weep and cry or to rip their clothes or slap their faces because this is an ignorant thing to do.

  4. I don't want anyone to visit me who didn't get along with me while I was alive or to kiss me or say good-bye when I die.

  5. When you bury me the people with whom I will be buried should be good Muslims. I want to face East toward Mecca.
  6. I don't want a pregnant woman or a person who is not clean to come and say good-bye to me because I don't approve it.

  7. I don't want women to come to my house to apologize for my death. I am not responsible for people who will sacrifice animals in front of my lying body because this is against Islam.

  8. Those who will sit beside my body must remember Allah, God, and pray for me to be with the angels.

  9. The people who will clean my body should be good Muslims and I do not want a lot of people to wash my body unless it is necessary.

  10. The person who will wash my body near my genitals must wear gloves on his hands so he won't touch my genitals.

  11. I want the clothes I wear to consist of three white pieces of cloth, not to be made of silk or expensive material.

  12. I don't want any women to go to my grave at all during my funeral or on any occasion thereafter.

  13. During my funeral I want everyone to be quiet because God mentioned that he likes being quiet on occasions when you recite the Koran, during the funeral, and when you are crawling. You must speed my funeral procession and I would like many people there to pray for me.

  14. When you bury me the people with whom I will be buried should be good Muslims. I want to face East toward Mecca.

  15. I should be laying on my right side. You should throw the dust on my body three times while saying from the dust, we created you from dust and to dust you will return. From the dust a new person will be created. After that everyone should mention God's name and that I died as a Muslim which is God's religion. Everyone who attends my funeral should ask that I will be forgiven for what I have done in the past (not this action).

  16. The people who will attend my funeral should sit at my grave for an hour so that I will enjoy their company and slaughter animals and give the meat to the needy.

  17. The custom has been to memorialize the dead every 40 days or once a year but I do not want this because it is not an Islamic custom.

  18. I don't want people to take time to write things on paper to be kept in their pockets as superstition. Time should be taken to pray to God instead.

  19. All the money I left must be divided according to the Muslim religion as almighty God has asked us to do. A third of my money should be spent on the poor and the needy. I want my books to go to any one of the Muslim mosques. I wanted the people who look at my will to be one of the heads of the Sunna religion. Whoever it is, I want that person to be from where I grew up or any person I used to follow in prayer. People will be held responsible for not following the Muslim religion. I wanted the people who I left behind to hear God and not to be deceived by what life has to offer and to pray more to God and to be good believers. Whoever neglects this will or does not follow the religion, that person will be held responsible in the end.

This was written on April 11, 1996; the Islamic calendar of zoelqada is 1416.

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