A large crowd of mourners gathered on a cold morning at the NIA Masjid & Community Center in Newark for the funeral of Imam Hassan Sharif who was gunned down Wednesday at the Majid Muhammad Mosque just after morning prayer. Sharif had been the Imam of Masjid Muhammad-Newark for the past five years, and many of the Muslim leaders who spoke Saturday remembered him as a leader often found serving his community. At a press conference before the private funeral, his stepdaughter, Tanasia Ransom, thanked the community, both locally and around the country for their support. “I cannot describe how it …