If he is granted provisional asylum, Mr. bin Laden may remain in Spain while his case is reviewed. If his petition is denied, he has one day to file an appeal.

Image Omar Osama bin Laden, shown in January in Cairo. He arrived in Madrid on Monday. Credit... Amro Maraghni/A.F.P. — Getty Images

It was not immediately clear on what grounds Mr. bin Laden, a self-declared pacifist who is the son of the founder of Al Qaeda and his first wife, Najwa Ghanem, was basing his claim.

Mr. bin Laden caused a media storm in Britain last year when he married Jane Felix-Browne, then 51, who took the Muslim name Zaina Mohamed al-Sabah.

She met Mr. bin Laden during a trip to Egypt in April last year and married him in September, according to news reports at the time.

Mr. bin Laden was refused a visa by the British Embassy in Cairo because of what the authorities perceived to be his loyalty to his father, which would “cause considerable public concern” in Britain, according to The Associated Press.