Dr. Mohammad Qatanani was born in 1964 into a Palestinian refugee family. His father had been expelled as a boy of twelve from a village near Jaffa in 1948, and the family later settled in the New Askar refugee camp near Nablus in the West Bank. He grew up in the hardship of camp life under occupation — an upbringing that shaped his lifelong commitment to justice, dignity, and service.
From an early age his path was tied to the mosque. His father was the imam of the camp mosque, and Dr. Qatanani began leading prayers as a young child, taking on real responsibility for the mosque during his teenage years. That early calling led him to devote his life to Islamic scholarship and community leadership.
He pursued his studies at the University of Jordan, earning a bachelor's degree in Islamic Legislation and Jurisprudence in 1985, a master's in Islamic Jurisprudence in 1989, and a doctorate in Islamic Jurisprudence in 1996 as part of the program's first doctoral cohort. His research centered on the capacity of Islamic law to address changing times and circumstances — a theme that continues to define his balanced, contemporary approach to jurisprudence. Alongside his studies, he was deeply engaged in student, cultural, and community life. After completing his degree he served for seven years as imam of Abu Qura Mosque in Amman, Jordan.
In 1996 he immigrated to the United States to become Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in Paterson, New Jersey — one of the largest Islamic centers on the East Coast — where he has served ever since. He built his work in America on openness, bridge-building, and interfaith cooperation, believing that serving people in America is a way of serving humanity as a whole.
Over nearly three decades, Dr. Qatanani has become one of the most influential Muslim leaders in the United States. He helped establish New Jersey's halal food law, organized some of the first mosque-hosted Ramadan iftars for public officials, and in 1999 opened a session of the New Jersey State Senate with the Quran — a milestone noted in national media. He is a member of the Fiqh Council of North America, a founding member of the Imams Council of the Tri-State Area, and founder of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue of New Jersey. He has taught Islamic studies at Montclair State University, the Islamic American University, and the Graduate Theological Foundation.
He is also the author of Marital Bliss in Islam: Rights & Obligations, Guidance & Enlightenment, reflecting his scholarly focus on marriage, family, and the jurisprudence of Muslim life in the West.
Throughout his life, Dr. Qatanani has carried a single conviction: that a person is placed on this earth to serve others, to build bridges between communities, and to leave the world better than they found it.
