Read The Washington Post’s obituary on Osama bin Laden.

Read The Washington Post’s news story on bin Laden’s death.

Keith David Watenpaugh is a contemporary Middle Eastern historian and Islamic studies specialist at the University of California, Davis, who can discuss human rights in the Middle East, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Christian-Muslim relations. Watenpaugh is the author of Being Modern in the Middle East and editor of The Arab Intellectual and the Question of Modernity (2009).

Christian van Gorder is an associate professor of religion at Baylor University who teaches world religions. He is the author of multiple books, including Islam, Peace, and Social Justice and (as co-author) Jews and Christians Together: An Invitation to Mutual Respect.

Rashied Omar is Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He says bin Laden defiled Islam. An expert on Islam, religion and violence, interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding, Omar trained in religious studies at the University of Cape Town and in Sudan, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Flagg Miller is a religious studies professor at the University of California, Davis, who can talk about bin Laden’s influence among a diverse range of Islamic militant movements. Miller is writing a book, Becoming Bin Laden, that investigates the contents of the al-Qaeda leader’s own audiotape library, a collection of more than 1,500 tapes.

Sarah Eltantawi is a scholar of religion, with a specialty in Islamic studies. She has written widely on Islam and politics.

The Wall Street Journal describes mixed reactions to Osama bin Laden’s death in the Mideast, particularly among Arabs on the street. One said the death was “good for everyone — for Muslims and Christians.” He added, though, that some view bin Laden sympathetically. “Some people loved him.”

A May 2, 2011, CNN story says the Muslim world had largely soured on bin Laden since 9/11.