Sheikh Mohommad Khalil Saleh Khanneh
The Sheikh and Imam of Al-Aroub Mosque was born in the village of Zakharia in 1934 where he finished his 7th grade studies there. At the age of 14, the 1948 war forced him to interrupt his studies because of the difficult political and economic conditions. In 1979 Sheikh Khanneh earned the Government Secondary School Certificate (Tawjihi), and then enrolled in the Arab University of Beirut where he received his Bachelor degree in 1983. After that Sheikh Khanneh became an Imam of a mosque and a teacher of religious studies. He worked hard on enriching his Islamic education and on studying the Quran that made him eventually learn the entire Quran by heart. His broadened education led him to believe in the freedom of thought, faith and opinion and away from bigotry, fanaticism and sectarianism.
Dr. Noah Salameh