The head of a Finsbury Park Mosque has paid tribute to the Imam who is believed to have been found dead this morning (Friday).

Mohammed Kozbar, manager of North London Central Mosque (NLCM), in Saint Thomas’s Road, said the whole community was in shock following the death of Sheikh Maymoun Zarzour, Imam of the nearby Muslim Welfare Centre. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Mr Kozbar said: “He was a kind and very gentle man, everyone liked him and he had no enemies, that is why it is so awful. He was not the kind of person to cause problems, quite the opposite in fact.

“One reason it is so shocking is because he was disabled – he was blind. There is no politics or agenda, nothing behind it, it is just a criminal act.

Following the death of the Imam, the Muslim Welfare Centre has been closed, so the NLCM has been running extra prayer sessions to cater for the overflow.

Mr Kozbar said: “We were happy to be able to hold the prayers here, because we are one family, one community. We complete each other, we don’t compete.

“We have been urging people to calm down and not to listen to rumours. Already we are hearing a lot of stories that are simply not true.

A remembrance service has been arranged for tomorrow at 2pm, to be held either at Holloway School, in Hilldrop Road, Holloway, or at the NLCM.

Mr Kozbar said: “It is terrible and we have never had anything like this before. What has happened as shocked everybody. Now we need to let the police deal with the situation at this difficult time.”