Saad al-Alami

{{Short description|Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (1952–1993)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Saad el-Din el-Alami

| image =

| caption =

| office = Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

| term_start = 1952

| term_end = 6 February 1993

| predecessor = Hussam ad-Din Jarallah

| successor = Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri

| birth_date = {{Birth date text|1911}}

| birth_place = Jerusalem

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|2|6|1911}}

| death_place =

| nationality = Palestinian

}}

Saad el-Din el-Alami ({{langx|ar|سعد الدين العلمي}};{{cite web |title=Hawatmeh Mourns the Death of the Great Scientist Al-Sheikh Saad Al-Alami |url=https://palarchive.org/item/17163/hawatmeh-mourns-the-death-of-the-great-scientist-al-sheikh-saad-al-alami/ |website=The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive (PMDA) |access-date=2 October 2021 |language=en}} 1911 – 6 February 1993) was a Sunni Muslim religious leader of the Palestinian people and the fourth Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, in office from 1952 until his death.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-saad-al-alami-1472156.html|title=Obituary: Saad al-Alami|date=1993-02-10|work=The Independent|access-date=2017-11-30|language=en-GB}}{{Cite news|title = Saad al-Alami Dead; Jerusalem Cleric, 82|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/obituaries/saad-al-alami-dead-jerusalem-cleric-82.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 1993-02-07|access-date = 2015-10-22|issn = 0362-4331}}

Al-Alami was born in Jerusalem in 1911, and worked as a sharia judge in Ramallah from 1948–51 and in Nablus from 1951–53. The Alamis were a notable family in the Jerusalem area generally.{{Cite web |title=Jerusalem |url=https://www.palquest.org/en/highlight/6589/jerusalem |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest |language=en}} In 1952, the Jordanian Jerusalem Islamic Waqf appointed Saad al-Alami as Mufti of Jerusalem in succession to Hussam ad-Din Jarallah.

After the Six-Day War in 1967 Al-Alami helped found the Islamic High Council to try to protect Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem from potential Israeli infringement.

Al-Alami used his position to speak about international politics. He issued a fatwa against Syrian President Hafez al-Assad on June 26, 1983, after Assad got into conflict with the PLO and Yasser Arafat during the Lebanese Civil War.{{Cite book |last=Batatu |first=Hanna |title=Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=July 21, 1999 |isbn=0691002541 |pages=305}} Al-Alami said in the fatwa “This Asad, had murdered many Muslims, including Palestinian Muslims. The Islamic law is that such a person must be killed.”

In 1989, Al-Alami allowed Israeli troops on the al Aqsa Mosque grounds, the site where Mohammad is believed to ascend to heaven, after a group of Israeli extremist, The Temple Mount Faithful had been trying to build a temple on the mosque’s site.{{Cite web |date=October 28, 1990 |title=Reconstruction of Events (Revised) Al-Haram Al-Sharif, Jerusalem, Monday, 8 October 1990 |url=https://docs.un.org/en/S/21919/Add.2 |access-date=April 7, 2025 |website=United Nations}} Al-Alami came to regret his decision after Israeli troops allowed Temple Mount Faithful members to start building the temple in October 1990. After Palestinian Muslims came to the Mosque, prepared to defend it, without warning or provocation Israeli soldiers shot into the crowd, killing 17, and wounding over 150.