Muhammad bin Awad bin Ladin (Arabic: مُحَمَّد بْنُ لَادِن, romanized: Muḥammad bin Lādin; c. 1908 – 3 September 1967) was a Yemeni-born Saudi billionaire business magnate working primarily in the construction industry. He founded what is today the Saudi Binladin Group and became the wealthiest non-royal Saudi, establishing the wealth and prestige of the bin Ladin family. He was the father of Osama bin Laden, who is best known for planning the September 11 attacks.

Muhammad bin Ladin was born on the Hadramawt coast of south Yemen to Awad, a Kindite Hadrami tribesman from al-Rubat, a village in Wadi Doan. His year of birth is often given as 1908, although this is an approximation at best, as no central government had solidified control over the area at the time and no birth registry existed. Muhammad's paternal grandfather was Abud, the son of Ali, one of four brothers (the others being Ahmad, Mansur, and Zayd) from whom the four Banu Ladin clans trace their ancestry.

Poor and uneducated, Muhammad and his younger brother Abdullah (c. 1913-2002) (not to be confused with other 'Abdullah bin Ladens') emigrated to Tihamah before World War I. According to Eric Margolis, he initially worked as a porter in Jeddah, like many other impoverished Yemenite emigrants of that time. However, Salon.com reports that his first job was as a bricklayer with Aramco. In 1931, he started his own construction business and after coming to the attention of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the first monarch of Saudi Arabia, he eventually achieved such success that his family became known as "the wealthiest non-royal family in the kingdom."

Muhammad bin Ladin strategically built strong ties with the Saudi royal family by actively participating in King Abdel Aziz's public meetings. Recognizing the aging king's mobility challenges, Muhammad took the initiative to construct a ramp at the palace in Jeddah, allowing the monarch to easily move between the floors in his car.

Muhammad's remarkable financial success was ascribed to a shrewd business sense, fealty to Saudi Arabia's rulers, reliability, and a willingness to offer the lowest bid on construction contracts. By undercutting local construction firms, he had become a multi-millionaire by the 1940s. He cultivated a sizable workforce involved in projects across Saudi Arabia. In 1948, Muhammad scored a major breakthrough by securing a commission to build a palace for the future King Saud. In the early 1950s, when a British company withdrew from a contract to construct a crucial road from Jeddah to Medina, Muhammad stepped in to fill the void, solidifying his role as a key player in Saudi Arabia's construction landscape.

As the "royal builder," Muhammad bin Ladin maintained close relationships with the royal family, particularly Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia. In 1964, Prince Faisal deposed his half-brother, King Saud, and began rebuilding the kingdom after the wasteful excesses of the Saud era. King Faisal accepted Muhammad bin Ladin's offer of financial assistance to support the national economy and as a reward, King Faisal issued a royal decree awarding all future construction projects to Muhammad bin Ladin's construction company. As a result, bin Ladin's company eventually amassed assets in excess of US$5 billion. He made his initial fortune from exclusive rights to all mosque and other religious building construction in Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries. Until 1967, Muhammad bin Ladin held exclusive responsibility for restorations at the Jami Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.

Despite his royal associations and great wealth, Muhammad bin Ladin lived a relatively simple and devout life, demanding that his children observe a strict religious and moral code. In his later years, the bin Ladin corporate network diversified its activities beyond construction, largely in foreign investment and oil.

He was reportedly raised as a Wahhabi Muslim, noted for his religious devotion and he would fly by private helicopter to pray at Mecca, Medina and al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem) in the same day.