Amin al-Khatib was born in 1926 in the Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood in the Old City of Jerusalem. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Syrian University in 1954. He participated in the establishment of the al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society and its clinic, and established dozens of institutions, including al-Quds University and al-Hakawati Theatre. He opened his clinic in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1960, where he continued to work until 1994. The Israeli Occupation Forces arrested him several times for his role in resisting the Occupation.

The Amin al-Khatib Collection consists of photographs and personal documents of him and his family, and others that document his work in the charitable societies he headed or was a member of, such as his work in the al-Makassed Charitable Society and the Union of Charitable Societies. The documents include his personal and official letters, university certificates, in addition to a scientific research paper he composed, and the contract of his marriage in 1955.