As soon as he ascends the pulpit of Al-Aqsa Mosque to deliver the Friday sermon, the occupation mobilizes its forces to listen to him in an attempt to capture what will help imprison him, or at least remove him from his pulpit. He is Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, speaking to Al Jazeera Net about his career.
Sheikh Akram Saeed Abdullah Sabri, son of Jerusalem, son of the Faculty of Sharia at the University of Baghdad, son of Al-Azhar, and Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.
The Sheikh's origins go back to the Banu Tamim clan, and he has lived in Jerusalem and with Al-Aqsa since his early childhood. His father was a preacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque and a Sharia judge in Jerusalem.
“I consider myself part of Al-Aqsa, just as Al-Aqsa is part of me. When Al-Aqsa is mentioned in the world, Ikrimah is mentioned, and when Ikrimah is mentioned, Al-Aqsa is mentioned. This is a gift from God Almighty,” says the mosque’s preacher.
The Sheikh obtained his first university degree, a bachelor’s degree, from the College of Sharia and the College of Imam Al-A’zam Abu Hanifa Al-Nu’man at the University of Baghdad, then a master’s degree in jurisprudence from An-Najah National University in the city of Nablus in the West Bank in 1998.
In 2001, he obtained a PhD in Jurisprudence from Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.
Sheikh Akram has been delivering sermons at Al-Aqsa Mosque since 1973, when he was the director of Al-Aqsa Secondary Sharia School.
With the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, he was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories and established the Fatwa Authority in the West Bank and Gaza and remained in his position until 2006.
The Sheikh has headed the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem since 1998. He founded the Council of Scholars and Preachers in 1993 and previously established and managed charitable associations.
He has 25 books on jurisprudence, Arabic language and Islamic civilization.
Sheikh Akram Sabri advises the Palestinian people to “unite in their positions, and not to despair of the shocks they have faced, are facing, and will face in the future.”
He hopes that “the occupation of these lands will end, and that we, as Palestinians, will have an independent state with sovereignty and economic independence.”