Abdulrahman Ahmed (born 13 October 1958) is a Palestinian imam and the patriarch of the infamous Ahmed family of Hamas.
Biography[]
Abdulrahman Ahmed was born on 13 October 1958 in the Muslim village of Abu Dir, West Bank, not far from the holy city of Jerusalem. Ahmed was from the large Ahmed family; he was related to almost every person in the town of Abu Dir through blood or marriage ties. Ahmed studied to be an imam in Jerusalem and became the imam of the Abu Dir mosque, and he came to be a community leader. Ahmed was one of the founding members of the West Bank branch of Hamas, and all of his sons would become Hamas members. Ahmed led his family as both an imam and a patriarch, and they fought against Israel during the Second Intifada after Ahmed himself had taken part in First Intifada protests. On 16 October 2001, Ahmed was arrested by Israel as a terrorist, and almost all of his sons would be killed or imprisoned for being terrorists.