Dr. Salem Abu Makhdeh was born in the Gaza Strip, studied in its schools, and enrolled in the Faculty of Sharia at the Islamic University in Gaza. He received a bachelor's degree in 1995, a general diploma in education from the Faculty of Education at the Islamic University in 1997, a master's degree in 2006 from the Faculty of Sharia and Law in the field of Sharia Judiciary at the Islamic University, and a doctoral degree in 2012 from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in the field of Comparative Jurisprudence from Janan University in Lebanon, with a thesis entitled "Rulings on dealing with the enemy in Islamic fiqh (Palestinian case study)."

He worked as a teacher at the Palestinian Ministry of Education from 1998 to 2008. He has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Islamic University in the Gaza Strip since 2007. He also headed the Department of Islamic Sharia at the Faculty of Sharia and Law from 2013-2015 and again in 2018, and has been a member of the Fatwa Committee at the Islamic University since 2015.

He was the Deputy Dean of the College of Shari'ah and Law for Scientific Research and Postgraduate Studies at the Islamic University from 2012-2013.

He is the author of several peer-reviewed papers and studies, including:

¯2019: "The role of religious discourse in renewing the prestige of the nation's scholars", Al-Mudawana Journal, Islamic Fiqh Academy, India.

¯2018: "The extent of the judge's authority in consensual and judicial khula," Journal of Islamic Sciences, Faculty of Islamic Sciences, Iraqi University, to be published in Issue 23, 2019.

¯2018: Jointly refereed research entitled: "Job Oaths in Islamic Jurisprudence", Sharjah University Journal of Sharia Sciences and Islamic Studies, which was published in Volume 16, Issue 1, June 2019.

¯ 2017: "Misunderstanding the Application of Punishment in Islamic Law", Islamic Research Journal of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Issue 18, Ramadan 1438H - 2017.

¯ 2017: Refereed research entitled: "Divorce of the Psychiatric Patient in Islamic Jurisprudence", Journal of Research and Sharia Studies in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Issue 69, Ramadan 1438H ¯ 2017.