Father, former boxer, anti-violence activist: A community mourns death of Newark imam

Expressions of condolence from citizens, community leaders, officials and clergy echoed across New Jersey since news broke that the beloved imam of Masjid Muhammad-Newark mosque was shot and killed on Wednesday.

Many decried that Imam Hassan Sharif had been a victim of gun violence that he had fought so hard to prevent.

“We want justice on this corner because he fought for justice on this corner,” Newark Councilman Patrick Council said at an interfaith assembly outside the mosque Wednesday evening. “We want righteousness on this corner because he wanted righteousness on this corner. We want oppression to end on this corner because he wanted oppression the end on his corner. And we want the person that committed this crime to turn himself in right now.”

Sharif left the mosque on South Orange Avenue after morning prayers at around 6:15 a.m. and was approached in the parking lot, where he was shot twice. He died hours later at University Hospital in Newark. Police are still searching for the person responsible.

The imam was active in rallies and actions against violence. He worked with young people to provide support through one-on-one interactions, community events and at an afterschool program at the mosque with mentoring and homework help, said Jimmy Small, president of the Muslim League of Voters of NJ.

“Imam Hassan Sharif was younger, so could relate to them on that basis,” Small said. “He made sure he worked with the community, that’s how he could reach them. A lot of young people passed the masjid and got a free lunch. He was going out and talking to the youth about gun violence and how dangerous it was.”

Sharif also provided space at the mosque for the Muslim League of Voters of NJ to serve hot meals to people in the community and host events to promote voting and U.S. census participation. He had also recently hosted a dinner for senior citizens, Small said.

Keeping the city safe

The mosque was a safehouse in Newark’s Safe Surrender Program for people with non-violent arrest warrants to turn themselves in and have their cases resolved quickly without jail time, said Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage. The imam supported efforts to keep the city safe and his death was a deep loss, Frage said.

Sharif, a member of the Newark Interfaith Alliance, worked as an officer for the Transportation Security Administration. He was a husband, father and a former boxer, said Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, convener of the Council of Imams in New Jersey.

Shareef knew the imam personally. "When he got elected, he and I had a discussion about the roles and responsibilities of imams," said Shareef. "I gave him a history of the masjid he was imam of, where I embraced Islam many years ago."

Support also came from leaders of other faiths, including Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark. "I join with the people of Newark and surrounding communities deeply distressed by the tragic loss of Imam Hassan Sharif of Masjid Muhammed mosque," Tobin said in a statement.

"Imam Sharif was a revered faith and community leader in our city who spoke out against the violence in our streets and neighborhoods.  I share the grief of all who mourn the death of this faithful leader and join my prayers with those of his family and friends and our sisters and brothers in the Muslim community."

Funeral arrangements were pending Thursday afternoon. In a video shared online, a mosque representative asked people to say prayers for the imam and his family.

A surge in Islamophobic incidents

The shooting raised fears in the Muslim community, which has grappled with a surge in Islamophobic incidents since the war in Israel and Gaza, but no motive has been determined in the imam’s shooting. Officials at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the case, said the killing did not appear to be a bias crime or act of domestic terrorism.

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said the Essex County Crime Stoppers Program is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible. Anyone with information is asked to call (973) 621-4111.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its New Jersey chapter also announced Thursday that it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

Imam had faced gun violence before

The shooting was not Sharif’s first encounter with gun violence. In August, a man put a gun to his head as he exited his car to enter the mosque one morning, Sharif wrote in a Facebook post at the time. Sharif managed to wrestle the gun away from the man, who fled and was not caught.

In his post, he expressed compassion for the person who pulled a gun on him. He hoped the man would see God's mercy and turn his life around because “maybe not with me, whomever he does it to again, he may not make it through," he posted.

City government, interfaith leaders and citizens have much work to do to help turn people away from crime, Sharif wrote, adding that “I will die trying to see our people change in this world.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Newark mourns imam killed in shooting as anti-violence activist