Young, who is known by the Muslim name Yusuf Ali, told Judge William T. Nicholas that he understood the charges "a little."
Nicholas set a trial date of June 29 and ordered Young returned to the Montgomery County Prison without bail.
After the hearing, Heckman said he was considering an insanity defense. He has a month to file papers notifying the prosecution of such a defense.
District Attorney Thomas E. Waters Jr. is seeking the death penalty.
Young was arrested Jan. 16 and charged with murder in the May 27, 1986, deaths of the Faruqis and the stabbing of their daughter, Anmar Zein, inside their home in the Wyncote neighborhood of Cheltenham Township.
Isma'il Faruqi, 65, and Lois Faruqi, 60, world-renowned scholars who taught at Temple University, were attacked by a man wielding a 15-inch survival knife.
Zein, who was pregnant at the time, was stabbed six times in the arms and chest during the attack. She and the baby survived.
After his arrest, Young told police that "voices" compelled him to kill Isma'il Faruqi because he believed the professor was "not doing the right thing for the Muslim religion," according to law enforcement sources.
Young, who was in prison at the time of his arrest on charges of assaulting his ex-wife, became a suspect after an anonymous informant called a national hotline.
Young is scheduled to be sentenced today on assault and weapons charges stemming from the incident with his ex-wife before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Marvin Halbert.
