Mohammed Cheppih
Ustadh Mohammed Cheppih was born in Morocco, into a family in which religious studies held great significance, and in a country where memorisation of the Qurʾan is part of daily life. His ancestors were his greatest inspiration, many of them being scholars and leaders in their community. Ustadh Mohammed was raised in the Netherlands; he would spend his evenings and weekends memorising the Qurʾan and studying the Islamic sciences. By the age of nine, he completed one third of the Qurʾan and started leading tarāwīḥ prayers. He participated in Qurʾan competitions in which he won various awards on both the national and European levels. He was blessed, in his youth, with the opportunity of benefitting from a number of visiting scholars to Holland including Sheikh Ahmed Salam – the student of Shaykh Albani (raḥimahu’llāh).
His keen passion to learn led to a great desire to travel abroad for knowledge and at the age of 13 he applied to various centres of Islamic learning of which the University of Madinah was one; his young age meant he was initially refused, however, he was invited to study there at age 18. After High school he continued his education at the Faculty of Daʿwah and Uṣūl al-Dīn, while outside formal university study he would attend traditional Islamic studies classes at the Prophet’s mosque, in particular those of Sheikh ʿAṭiyyah Muḥammad Sallim who taught Subul al-Salām.
After graduating from Madinah, Ustadh Mohammed worked in different positions, including relief and humanitarian work during the Kosovo-war for the Saudi Joint Relief Committee, he then worked for the Muslim World League as head of the Dutch office, and as freelance consultant on various Middle East conflict related issues with neighbouring countries. He most recently moved to the Radar Group, a Dutch agency specialising in social issues, where he currently works as Manager and focuses on issues pertaining to Islam, social cohesion, and identity. Ustadh Mohammed's current role allows him to actively focus on key areas such as:
- Striving for a full place for Islam in the Dutch legal framework in hope to alleviate tensions between Islamic and Dutch societies.
- Encouraging Muslims, particularly the second and third generation immigrants, to become proud Muslims who participate fullly in contributing to Dutch society.
In the Netherlands Ustadh Mohammed is a well-known speaker, opinion maker and community leader. He is a "nomad", who loves to travel and enjoy the beauty of the creation and also has a particular fondness of good cuisine! His hobbies include soccer, basketball and karate.
Ustadh Mohammed is well known for his healthy sense of humour; that along with his wealth of experience in both teaching and working with the community makes him a great asset to Mercy Mission and AlKauthar Institute.