GAZA CITY, Oct 18 (AFP) - Robed in a white tunic, his head wrapped in a turban, the tiny figure climbs the steps one by one to the pulpit to address the congregation.

Amjad Abu Sidu is only 13 years old and already has the makings of a preacher who can leave his congregation spellbound.

"I have already delivered 140 sermons in more than 50 mosques in the Gaza Strip," the youngster told AFP. "I think that I have been accepted by the believers who come to see me preach every Friday."

"Sheikh Amjad" delivered his first sermon last June to a congregation of 2,000 people in a mosque in the town of Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City.

Initially surprised to see one so young preaching from the pulpit, which has traditionally been a platform for venerable imams, the crowds were soon captivated by his words.

His sermons -- sometimes fiery and impassioned -- focus on the need for solidarity and justice within Palestinian society, while warning about the danger of hypocrisy, he says.

"It makes me very happy when I see the congregation coming to the mosque to hear me or to hear other preachers on Friday," says Amjad, who cuts a diminutive figure at just under five feet tall (1.40 metres). "Many people have shown their support and encouraged me to continue."

After requesting donations to help fund a Koranic school, Amjad presses the flesh with the worshippers before going to a section of the mosque reserved for women to deliver a course in religion.

Raised in a theological school run by the Palestinian Authority's ministry of religious affairs, Amjad says he has long dreamed of becoming an "alem" (man of learning).

Two of his role models are Egyptian sheikhs: Abdel Hamid Kishk and Mutawalli al-Shaarawi, whose words of wisdom continue to inspire the faithful on the banks of the Nile years after their deaths, as well as the Saudi cleric, Khaled Errashed.

Nidal Aissa, an official at the ministry of religious affairs says they decided to allow Amjed to preach on Fridays "because he is a sound boy, an excellent speaker and a strong personality."

Amjad, Aissa predicts, has "a rosy future".

The teenage cleric, who comes from a poor family from a working class neighbourhood in western Gaza City, receives a monthly allowance of around 110 dollars which he shares with his mother to cover household needs.

However, Amjad says it is not enough to cover the cost of a telephone or Internet connection.

He would love to finish his theological studies in Saudi Arabia, he says while admitting that his ambition is completely at odds with his family's extremely difficult material circumstances.

Amjad's mother and father have separated, and his dad has remarried. "He does help us out but only a little because of his own financial difficulties," he says.

During the holy month of Ramadan, Amjad is fervently hoping he might be able to make a trip to Jerusalem's Old City to preach at the Al Aqsa mosque -- the third holiest site in Islam.

"I've asked the ministry if I can go to preach at Al Aqsa during Ramadan like Sheikh Ekrema Sabri," he said, referring to the Jerusalem Mufti.

Aside from studying in Saudi Arabia, Amjad has another wish: to meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas "I want to meet our brother president Abu Mazen during Ramadan and to tell him that Palestinian children are not only martyrs, but they are also sheikhs and young geniuses who need someone to take an interest in them and to encourage them."

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