Khaberni - Sheikh Abdel Azim Salhab (1946-), the head of the Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem, died this evening. He was a Palestinian judge born in Hebron and was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces on the background of reopening a building and prayer hall at Bab al-Rahmah in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He was released on condition of being banned from Al-Aqsa for a week, and immediately after the ban ended, the occupation handed him a new order to ban him from the blessed mosque for 40 days recently.
Abdel Azim has always warned against the occupation's Judaizing policies of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the prevention of its restoration. He continued to inspire the Palestinians for their uprising in protecting Jerusalem and defending it, calling on all concerned parties to stop the Israeli assaults and the continuous incursions of settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Education
He studied elementary school at the Ibrahimieh School in Hebron, high school at Hussein Bin Ali High School, and obtained his high school diploma in the scientific stream in 1964. He earned a bachelor's degree in Sharia from the College of Sharia in Amman in 1968 in its first batch. Sheikh Abdel Azim was mentored during his university studies at the University of Jordan by scholars, most notably Sheikh Abdel Azim Jouda Fayyad Al-Sufi.
Career Life
He worked as an employee in the Sharia courts, serving as the head of court clerks in the Sharia Court in Jerusalem, and then as a Sharia judge in the cities of Jericho, Nablus, Hebron, and Jerusalem, and then as a member of the Sharia Court of Appeals, acting as chief justice in Jerusalem starting from 1998. He was appointed in 1989 to take the position of Assistant Secretary-General for West Bank Affairs and the Ministry of Waqf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites in Jordan, and later as Assistant Secretary-General for Jerusalem Affairs in addition to his work acting as Chief Justice in Jerusalem. He was appointed a member of the Jerusalem Waqf Council for consecutive terms and then became its head, a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Da'wah and Islamic Fundamentals then its head, a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Science and Technology, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Institute School and a member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Quds University, and was elected as Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem and contributed to the establishment of the Islamic Science and Culture Committee Association overseeing the Iman Schools in Jerusalem and later became its president in 1993. Sheikh Abdel Azim also managed the Al-Aqsa Mosque reconstruction projects in cooperation with his colleagues in the Islamic Waqf Department and the Reconstruction Committee, during his tenure the Marwani Prayer Hall, the old Al-Aqsa Prayer Hall, and many other areas were paved, the Dome of the Rock and all the domes in the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards and its minarets as well as many historical schools surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque were reconstructed, and public facilities for the mosque were established. He has many publications.
