Born to the Quraysh tribe of Saudi Arabia, al-Nami served as a muezzin at the Seqeley mosque after having reportedly become very religious sometime in early 1999. That autumn he left his family home in Abha in the summer of 2000 to complete the Hajj, but never returned – instead travelling to the Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan where he met and befriended Waleed and Wail al-Shehri, two brothers from Khamis Mushayt in the same province, and Saeed al-Ghamdi.
Born into the Quraysh tribe of Saudi Arabia, al-Nami served as a muezzin at the Seqeley mosque after reportedly becoming very religious sometime in early 1999. He left his family home in Abha in the summer of 2000 to complete the Hajj but never returned; instead, he traveled to the Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan where he met and befriended Waleed and Wail al-Shehri, two brothers from Khamis Mushayt in the same province, and Saeed al-Ghamdi.