A suspected hate crime is being investigated after a man attacked a prominent Muslim Imam with a knife outside Al Qods mosque in Montreal, police said, CNews reported Saturday.

Yesterday a court charged Pierre Brabant, 34, with armed assault, uttering threats and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Brabant will appear again in court Monday.

He was arrested Friday night after he attacked Imam Said Jazeri outside Al Qods mosque.

Speaking to Canadian Press, Imam Jazeri said he was attacked by a man carrying a butcher's knife as he was leaving the mosque with one of his friends around midnight.

The man pointed the knife at Jazeri and asked: "Do you want to die a martyr?"

Jazeri called the police while the attacker was busy chasing his friend down the street.

"I don't know him, he doesn't me. Why does he have a knife to kill me?" Imam Jazeri said in a telephone interview Saturday.

"The suspect was not only running towards the guys with a weapon, he wanted to cause them harm while at the same time making hateful comments about their religion and their clothing," said Police spokesman Benoit Couture, adding that investigators are considering the attack a hate crime.

"These people have prejudices and it looks like it has to do with our situation these days," the Imam further stated.

The attack on the prominent Muslim Imam in Montreal comes in the wake of the arrest of 17 Muslim men in southern Ontario, on charges, not yet proven, that they were plotting to bomb buildings in the Toronto area.

Given the current climate, Jazeri said, "Muslims have to be a lot more careful and not let people go out at the night by themselves".

"They have to be in groups, they should have a cell phone and call police if there is a dispute."

Imam Jazeri, a well-known leader in Montreal's Muslim community, called for cooler heads to prevail so "everybody lives in peace."

According to unofficial estimates, there are about 600,000 Muslims living in Canada; about 300,000 of whom live in Southwestern Ontario.

Canada houses more than 80 mosques, four of which are based in Ottawa.

And since Islam has no geographical boundaries, scores of Muslims from different races, colors, nationalities, languages, and cultures have emigrated to North America and Europe.

Today, in almost every Canadian city one can easily find Islamic centers, associations, educational institutions, and mosques.

The foundation of the Muslim community in Canada was laid in the West, where the first mosque in North America, Al-Rashid, was built in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1938.

Muslims' early presence in Canada dates back to 1871, when the Canadian census recorded 13 Muslim residents. In 1981 the number of Muslims living in Canada reached 98,165.

Muslims have immigrated to Canada from different parts of the world: Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Somalia, the Caribbean, and South and Central America.

Canada’s Muslims represent different ethnic backgrounds and races, and different nationalities, languages and cultures.