Prayer leader stabbed to death inside mosque in India
Worshippers found Safiq Ahmed dead after mosque’s usual dawn call to prayer was not heard, as police investigate who killed him and why
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — An imam was stabbed to death inside a mosque in India’s northern state of Bihar, with his body discovered Monday morning after residents became concerned when they did not hear the usual dawn call to prayer.
Safiq Ahmed, the imam of a mosque in Arna Bazaar in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, is believed to have been attacked during the night.
Residents went to check on him after noticing that the azaan, the Muslim call to prayer that ordinarily marks the beginning of congregational worship, had not been given at its scheduled time.
They found Ahmed dead inside the mosque and alerted police. His body was subsequently sent for an autopsy as investigators began trying to establish who entered the religious site and killed him.
Police have yet to identify a motive or announce any arrests, leaving unanswered whether Ahmed was specifically targeted because of his religious role or whether the killing was connected to a personal dispute or another motive.
Investigators have been examining surveillance-camera footage from around the mosque and questioning people living nearby. Police are also seeking information about whether Ahmed had received threats or was involved in any dispute before his death.
Additional officers from several police stations were deployed around the area following the killing, reflecting authorities’ concerns that the murder of a Muslim religious leader inside a place of worship could generate tensions.
Ahmed was originally from Rudalpur village elsewhere in Gopalganj district and had been staying with his in-laws in Sisai while serving as the mosque’s imam.
He is survived by three sons, including one who serves in the Indian Army.
The killing has caused alarm among local Muslims, particularly because Ahmed appears to have been attacked inside the mosque during the night, when the religious compound would ordinarily be expected to provide a place of safety.
Police said the circumstances surrounding the killing remain under investigation, with forensic evidence, surveillance footage and accounts from residents expected to help determine how the attacker or attackers entered the mosque and what led to Ahmed’s death.
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