ALBAWABA - A mosque imam in the U.S. state of New Jersey (NJ) was stabbed while he was leading a sermon.
The New Jersey State Police announced that they arrested a 32-year-old man who stabbed the cleric while prostrating on Sunday.
The attack took place during dawn prayers at Omar Mosque, south of Paterson, NJ.
About 200 people were performing prayers at the time.
The accused was in the third row. While the cleric was kneeling, the man stabbed him twice with a sharp object.
The imam, identified as Sayyid al-Naqeeb, was transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson and is reportedly in a stable condition.
International media outlets said that the attacker tried to escape from the mosque's side door, but that the worshipers caught up with him and overwhelmed him. They called the police, which arrived at the scene and arrested the accused.
The police are investigating the case to ascertain the motives of the crime.
Paterson is one of the cities with the largest Muslim communities in New Jersey, where the proportion of Muslims in it, compared to the population, exceeds any other state in the United States.
