NEW YORK, Oct 1: An Imam appointed to New York City’s fire department resigned from his post on Friday before being sworn in amidst storm of controversy over his 9/11 conspiracy remarks.

Imam Intikab Habib, was quoted by New York Newsday on Friday as saying he doubted that hijackers were responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, which killed 343 firefighters. He said that a broader conspiracy might have been necessary to bring the buildings down so quickly.

New York City’s fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the department’s Islamic Society, which recommended Imam Habib for the post, said they learned of Mr Habib’s views on Thursday when the Newsday reporter who was writing the article asked for a comment.

Mr Scoppetta said that while he did not demand Mr Habib’s resignation, once he confirmed that the article was accurate, the proper course of action was clear to all involved.

“As a chaplain he would be required to administer to all of our people, and his expressed views make it clear to me that he would not be able to perform that function with any credibility,” Mr Scoppetta said on Friday.

Imam Habib, 30, was hired by the New York’s Fire department in August to succeed an imam who moved away. Mr Habib, who was born in Guyana and trained for the clergy in Saudi Arabia and until recently taught at an Islamic school in Queens, was due to be sworn in on Friday at a promotion ceremony on Randalls Island.

Imam Habib told the Newsday reporter that responded that he doubted the official government explanation that the hijackers’ crashing jets into the World Trade Center was the sole cause of the buildings’ collapse.

“I’ve heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone,” he was quoted as saying. “It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?”