Would You Buy a Timeshare from Bin Laden?

Well, now you can...sort of...if you qualify. See, the Bin Laden company is a construction concern in Saudi Arabia. That's how Osama made his money, I hear. Anyway, the branch of the family that doesn't live in the Afghanistan - Pakistan border region continues to build things.

Lately, they've built a skyscraper to house a four-story shopping complex and some 1240 apartments just a stone's throw (pun intended) from the Ka'aba which is Islam's holiest place. Some of the apartments will overlook the Ka'aba. The idea is to lease these apartments to muslims who come to Mecca for the Hadj.

The Hadj is a pilgrimage to Mecca that muslims who can should make at least once in their lives. Some three million people visit the city during Ramadan, and some five million during the Hadj. Wouldn't you be willing to timeshare your Persian Gulf condo for one in Mecca during the Hadj? But there's a catch, I hear that you have to be a muslim to even enter the city of Mecca, so that leaves quite a few of us out.