Early Life and Education in Jordan
Qatanani was born to Ahmad Hasan Qatanani (1936–2005) and Ayisha Qatanani (b. 1941) in the town of Askar in Palestine. Qatanani has 7 siblings, 3 brothers (Hasan, Taha, and Yaseen) and 4 sisters (Aminah, Wafa', Maryam, and Sumaia). Qatanani's brother-in-law was a senior Hamas military leader and killed by the Israelis.
Qatanani lived in a Palestinian refugee camp until he finished high school (1982) and received a scholarship to study at the College of Amman, located in Jordan. Qatanani finished his bachelors in Islamic Law in 1985 and then continued to study until he received a masters from the Jordanian University in Islamic Jurisprudence in 1989. After a one year break, Qatanani returned to the Jordanian University to work on his Ph.D. on Islamic Jurisprudence which he received in 1996.
After receiving his bachelors degree, Qatanani worked as an Imam for several different mosques in Amman, Jordan until 1989. In 1989, Qatanani got a job as a full-time Imam of Abu-Qoura Mosque in Amman, Jordan. He worked there until 1996.
Qatanani was accused of pleading guilty in 1993 to aiding and being a member of Hamas. He was also accused that was sentenced to three months in prison. However, Qatanani has denied being a Hamas member and said he was detained, not arrested, by the Israelis while traveling to his native West Bank in 1993. He said he was not notified of the charges against him nor his conviction and that he was mentally and physically abused while in detention. On his green card application, Qatanani had answered "no" to a question asking applicants whether they had been arrested, fined, charged or imprisoned. The Department of Homeland Security was unable to provide substantial evidence that Qatanani was arrested, convicted, fined, charged or imprisoned.
Qatanani, also admitted being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a controversial organization that is banned by the governments of Israel, Egypt and Syria, which argue that it has ties to terrorists. However, the Muslim Brotherhood was a legal and lawful organization in Jordan were he resided and became a member.
Read more about this topic: Mohammad Qatanani
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