Shaykh Ahmad Musa Jibril is a prominent U.S.-born Islamic cleric of Palestinian descent

Born in 1971 in the United States, Jibril spent a significant part of his childhood in Madinah, Saudi Arabia

The transformation was slow, but undeniable. The other inmates noticed it. The man who used to curse the guards and fight over commissary scraps became still. He began to carry himself with a dignity that the prison uniform couldn't diminish. He found a quiet corner in the library, away from the card games and the shouting matches, and he opened the Quran.

He traveled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he enrolled in the prestigious Faculty of Shariah at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh—one of the most respected institutions for Sunni jurisprudence. There, he sat at the feet of some of the 20th century’s most prominent scholars. His teachers included luminaries such as:

But who is the man behind the monitor? And how did a deaf American accountant become one of the most wanted—and most watched—Islamic scholars in the world?