New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to make history when he is sworn in to office on Thursday on a Quran, and is expected to use at least three separate copies of the Islamic holy book throughout the day, the New York Times (NYT) first reported.
Mamdani, 34, a Ugandan-born avowed socialist of Indian descent, will become the first Muslim to lead the nation’s largest city — and his Nov. 4 victory put the Big Apple on the list of a growing list of large Western cities that have elected Muslim mayors, such as London and Calgary. The far-left Democrat is a longtime vocal supporter of Palestine and has previously come under fire for his behavior and members of his team, which many have deemed as antisemitic as well as supportive of Hamas and other Islamic extremist groups.
The incoming mayor will use a Quran that belonged to his grandfather as well as another copy of the Islamic holy book that was once owned by the late Christian Afro-Puerto Rican historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg at his private swearing-in ceremony at Old City Hall Station as the clock strikes midnight to begin 2026, per the NYT. New York State Attorney General Letitia James will administer the oath of office at this ceremony, according to multiple outlets.
Hall Mamdani will again use his grandfather’s Quran as well as his grandmother’s when publicly sworn in later on Thursday, the NYT reported, citing the mayor-elect’s senior adviser Zara Rahim. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mamdani’s fellow socialist and early supporter, will swear in the mayor-to-be at this ceremony, which will reportedly precede a block party.
“This moment will mark a turning point in the civic history of New York City, and it belongs to every New Yorker whose lives shaped this city quietly, without ever being reflected back to them,” Rahim said in a statement shared with the NYT about Mamdani’s use of the Qurans. She also emphasized that this decision on part of the mayor-elect will serve to rectify “a long deferred absence” of Muslims in New York City public life.
“It’s a highly symbolic choice because we’re about to have a Muslim mayor swearing in using the Quran but also a mayor who was born on the African continent, in Uganda,” Hiba Abid, New York Public Library’s curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, said of Mamdani’s decision to use the non-Muslim Schomburg’s Quran, according to the NYT. “It really brings together here elements of faith, identity and New York history.”
Despite being a devout Christian throughout his life, Schomburg owned a Quran from Ottoman Empire-era Syria partly to rebut one of his teachers from childhood who had criticized black history, the NYT reported.
Mamdani owns his own Quran but opted not to use it for his swearing-in, according to the NYT.
Despite Mamdani’s status as a prominent supporter of modern left-wing feminism, the Quran contains multiple verses that critics highlight as blatantly promoting the subordination of women to men.
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