A Muslim gas station attendant was being hailed as a hero for saving a Brooklyn synagogue yesterday from being torched by a man he described as "totally out of control."

Syed Ali, 35, was working at the Amoco station on Ocean Ave. in Sheepshead Bay at about 4 a.m. when he sold $2 worth of fuel to the alleged would-be arsonist.

The Pakistani immigrant said he watched in disbelief as Sead Jakup, 22, took the canister across the street and began dousing the Young Israel of Kings Bay synagogue.

Ali quickly called 911, and cops arrived before Jakup, a Bosnian Muslim, could set the temple ablaze.

"Mr. Ali saved the shul [synagogue]," said Allen Popper, president of the synagogue. "He's a hero."

Ali said that Jakup first asked to pump gas into a plastic bucket. Assuming the man's car had run out of fuel, Ali gave him a gas can to fill up.

He said he "couldn't believe my eyes" when Jakup marched straight to the synagogue.

"I saw him spilling gas on the sign in front of the synagogue," Ali said. "Then, he started spilling it onto the door - that is when I called 911."

But as Ali waited for the cops, Jakup returned, demanding a refill.

"He was totally out of control," said Ali, adding that Jakup was screaming, "I want more gas!" as he kicked the cashier's booth Ali was in.

-- Anonymous, January 11, 2003

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Police cars and fire trucks pulled up as Jakup allegedly tried to smash the booth's glass door with a trash can.

Ali declined to accept the mantle of hero, saying he did only what any responsible person would do. "It's a sacred place he was going to destroy," Ali said.

Cops said Jakup appeared intent on burning the temple down.

"He was carrying a book of matches," said a police spokesman, adding that the case was being investigated as a bias crime because the target was a house of worship.

Jakup, who was fired Tuesday from his job as an apprentice laborer for the city's Department of Environmental Protection, was charged with third-degree arson.

A relative, Haji Popinara, 34, said Jakup - who lives with his father and sister four blocks from the synagogue - is mentally disturbed.

She said that on the day Jakup lost his job, he smashed his sister's TV and VCR.

"It's not about religion," Popinara said of yesterday's incident at the synagogue. "He just flipped."

-- Anonymous, January 11, 2003