Ekrima Sa'id Sabri

عكرمة سعيد صبري

1939–present

Born: Qalqilya, Mandatory Palestine

Domain: Civil Society & Religion

Recognition: REGIONAL

Biography

Ekrima Sa'id Sabri is a Palestinian Islamic scholar and cleric who served as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine and who has long been the leading preacher of the al-Aqsa Mosque, making him one of the most recognizable religious authorities in contemporary Jerusalem. Born in Qalqilya in 1939, he pursued a thorough religious education, including study at al-Azhar in Cairo, earning advanced qualifications in Islamic jurisprudence. In 1994 he was appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine by Yasser Arafat, a post he held until 2006. Over those years he built a reputation for learning, eloquence and an uncompromising defense of the sanctity of al-Aqsa and the wider Islamic character of Jerusalem, issuing rulings and sermons that addressed both spiritual and communal concerns of Palestinians living under occupation. Beyond the muftiship, Sabri has been a central institutional figure as head of the Supreme Islamic Council and the Islamic Higher Council in Jerusalem and as imam and khatib of al-Aqsa, where his Friday sermons reach large congregations and far beyond. His leadership of the religious establishment has made him a guardian of the mosque's status and of the rights of Muslim worshippers in the city. His prominence has repeatedly brought him into conflict with Israeli authorities, who have arrested him, interrogated him and at times banned him from entering al-Aqsa, actions that drew condemnation across the Muslim world and reinforced his standing as a symbol of steadfastness in defense of the holy sites. He has consistently framed the protection of al-Aqsa as a religious duty incumbent on all Muslims. For civil society and religion, Sabri matters as the contemporary embodiment of Jerusalem's senior Islamic religious authority, a scholar-preacher who has anchored the institutional and spiritual life of Muslim Jerusalem across decades of upheaval, keeping al-Aqsa at the center of Palestinian and pan-Islamic consciousness.

Why This Person Matters

As Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the longtime preacher of al-Aqsa, Sabri has anchored the institutional and spiritual life of Muslim Jerusalem and become a leading symbol of the defense of the holy sites.