CNN
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An imam is in secure situation after being stabbed throughout a Sunday morning prayer service at a mosque in Paterson, New Jersey, in keeping with native officers.
Mayor Andre Sayegh mentioned he visited Imam Sayed Elnakib within the hospital quickly after the incident. He mentioned Elnakib was stabbed round 5.30 a.m. Sunday throughout prayers on the Omar Mosque in South Paterson. The mayor mentioned the imam is in secure situation at St. Joseph’s College Medical Middle.
CNN has contacted the medical middle and didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.
Sayegh mentioned Elnakib was “in higher spirits than earlier than” Sunday afternoon and is being handled for a punctured lung. The mayor mentioned a suspect was detained, however their motive shouldn’t be clear.
The stabbing occurred throughout Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. In 2023, it runs from March 22 to April 20.
The Paterson Police Division was taken over by the state lawyer normal’s workplace in late March, as a result of a “disaster of confidence” within the metropolis’s legislation enforcement, the workplace mentioned on the time.
The lawyer normal’s workplace advised CNN the stabbing is being investigated by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Workplace. CNN has reached out to the prosecutor’s workplace for additional particulars.
Councilman Al Abdel-aziz, who represents the world the place the assault occurred, mentioned in a Fb replace that he was “deeply saddened” by the stabbing.
“My coronary heart goes out to everybody affected by this tragic occasion,” he mentioned. “Whereas it’s unclear what motivated the attacker, there isn’t a justification for violence of any variety, particularly in a sacred house.”
“I’m relieved to listen to that Imam Sayed Elnakib is in secure situation, and need him a full and speedy restoration,” the councilman added. “Please know that my ideas and prayers are with him and his household throughout this tough time. As a group, it will be important that we come collectively to assist each other and denounce all types of hate and violence.”
A day earlier, the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations known as for a hate crime investigation after a separate incident in Paterson. The chapter mentioned an indication on the Dr. Hani Awadallah public faculty in Paterson was defaced.
In an announcement Saturday, the chapter’s government director. Selaedin Maksut, mentioned, “Whereas the circumstances surrounding the incident stay unknown, the smearing of the phrase ‘Allah’ in Dr. Awadallah’s title is seemingly intentional, with the rest of the signal left untouched, making an instantaneous hate crime investigation into this incident crucial.”
“In 2022, we’ve recorded the very best variety of complaints of anti-Muslim prejudices, at 152,” Maksut mentioned. “Over time, our information have proven that complaints enhance round and through Ramadan, partially as a result of Muslims are extra seen and take up extra space – bodily and metaphorically.”
In the course of the month of Ramadan, worshipers eat and hydrate earlier than dawn and quick till sundown. Worshipers additionally have interaction in different types of observe together with elevated prayer, giving extra to charity, volunteering and taking part in communal meals.
Paterson is a metropolis with a inhabitants of greater than 150,000, in keeping with the US Census Bureau, about 15 miles north of Newark.
Town is house to one of many largest Muslim communities within the state of New Jersey and that New Jersey has extra Muslims per capita than another state within the nation, in keeping with Maksut.