Birth: NULL/NULL/1939 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Qalqilya in 1939; studied at the Salahiyya School in Nablus; then enrolled at Baghdad University, graduating with a BA in Islamic Religion and Art in 1963; worked as a teacher at the Al-Aqsa Secondary School in Jerusalem from 1963-68 and as its headmaster from 1968-74; from 1974-94, served as Director of Religious Preaching and Counseling in Jerusalem; also lectured at several educational institutions in Jerusalem, incl. the Islamic Science College, the Palestine Law College, Ibrahimieh College and the College of Qur’an and Islamic Studies; served as Director of the Islamic Sciences College in Jerusalem in 1986; received an MA in Shari’a from An-Najah University in Nablus in 1989; worked as part-time Professor in Shari’a at Al-Quds University from 1992-94; was appointed General Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine on 16 Oct. 1994, replacing the deceased Sheikh Suleiman Al-Ja’abari; has called for Muslim liberation of Jerusalem; was a former Chairman of the Hilal Club in Jerusalem, a former Honorary Chairman of Al-Issawiyya Association, former Director of Al-Quds monthly supplement, and editor of Al-Huda magazine; Senior Preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque; Chairman of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem since 1997; Chairman of the Fatwa Supreme Committee in Palestine; has, among others, issued a fatwa in May 1997, warning Muslims against selling land and property to Israelis; Chairman of Beit Al-Maqdes; serves as Chairman of the Trustees Council of Riyad Al-Aqsa Islamic School in Jerusalem, of Beit Al-Rahma (home for the elderly), and as Honorary Chairman for the Arab Blind Association in Jerusalem; founding member of several local and international organizations, incl. Islam Online, the High Conference of the Islamic Mosque in Mecca, the Juristic Convention in the US, and the Islamic Youth Association in Jerusalem; edits Al-Isra magazine of the Dar Al-Fatwa and Islamic Research institution; rejected the US proposals on Jerusalem made in 2000, incl. any Israeli connection to the Haram Ash-Sharif area or Jewish sovereignty underneath it; earned a PhD from Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2001; was sent into retirement per presidential decree issued by Mahmoud Abbas in late June 2006; has conducted numerous researches, mainly on issues related to Islam and Jerusalem; wrote several books related to Islam and Islamic education (which are partially used for the Shari’a studies curriculum), incl. Education in Islam (Arabic), Memories in Al-Hadith (Arabic); Islam and Modernization (Arabic), and Palestine – the Human Factor and the Land (Egypt, 2002).
