As the election for mayor of New York inches closer each day, candidates are facing increased scrutiny – including instances of outright Islamaphobia.
Zohran Mamdani, 34, a democratic socialist, has run on a platform for New York focused on affordability and inclusion.
He’s a practising Shia Muslim and has been targeted for his religious beliefs, but as the electoral tensions rise, false allegations have been shared online, claiming Mamdani wants to enact Sharia law in New York.
Republican Representative Andy Ogles took to X and wrote: ‘This man came to America for one reason: to turn America into an Islamic theocracy. I say NO to Sharia law—which is why I’ve presented an argument to have Mamdani sent back to Uganda based on information he clearly withheld.’
Ogles is referencing the fact that Mamdani was born in Uganda to an Indian mother and a Gujarati Muslim father who grew up in the East African country.
But Mamdani and his family moved to the United States when he was a child, and he is a naturalised citizen as of 2018, meaning he can run for any public office except for President.
One other social media post, as documented and fact-checked by DW, claimed Mamdani wanted to turn New York into a ‘Muslim paradise where jihadists are in charge’ and that he ‘wants Sharia law to be the governing principle.’
Mamdani has said no such thing – his advertisements for mayor have focused on his Muslim faith, but he has not advocated for theocracy.
Other instances of Islamaphobia and misinformation about Mamdani have been dominating social media as of late.
Mamdani’s fellow candidate, Andrew Cuomo, asked on a radio show: ‘God forbid, another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?’
The radio host piped in: ‘I could. He’d be cheering.’
Cuomo then laughed and replied: ‘That’s another problem.’
Trump himself threatened to strip Mamdani of his US citizenship after he won the primary months ago.
Asked about Mamdani’s remark in his victory speech that he will ‘stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbours’, Trump said: ‘Well then, we’ll have to arrest him.’
‘The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported,’ Mamdani wrote on Instagram. ‘Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorise our city.’
Mamdani’s response to instances of Islamaphobia
‘Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo laughed and agreed when a radio host said that I would cheer another 9/11. Yesterday, Eric Adams said that we “can’t let our city become Europe.
‘He compared me to violent extremists, and he lied when he said that our movement seeks to burn churches and destroy communities. The day before that, Curtis Sliwa slandered me from a debate stage when he claimed that I support global jihad.
‘And every day, Super PAC ads imply that I am a terrorist or mock the way I eat, push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make halal mandatory, or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an aeroplane hurtling towards the World Trade Centre.
‘But I do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further. I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of this city. I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab. I want to speak to the Muslim who works for our city—whether they teach in our schools or walk the beat for the NYPD, New Yorkers who all make daily sacrifices on behalf of this city, only to see their leaders spit in their face.
‘I want to speak to every child who grows up in New York marked as the Other, who is randomly selected in a way that rarely feels random, who feels that they carry a stain that can never be cleaned. Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion.
‘I will always remember the disdain I faced, the way my name could immediately become “Mohammad,” and how I could return to my city only to be asked in a double-mirrored room at the airport if I had any plan of attacking it. And since I was very young, I have known that I was spared the worst of it.
‘I was never pressured to be an informant like classmates of mine. I have never had the word ‘terrorist’ spray-painted on my garage, as one of my aides has. My mosque has never been set on fire.
‘To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct—there are many who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does.‘
Other openly Muslim politicians have faced similar torrents of abuse and allegations of wanting Sharia law, including London’s own Sir Sadiq Khan.
Donald Trump said of Sir Sadiq at the UN: ‘I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been so changed,’ Trump said
‘Now they want to go to Sharia law, but you’re in a different country, you can’t do that.’
Sir Sadiq said in response: ‘People will be wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, successful, diverse city. It seems to me that I’m living rent-free inside Donald Trump’s head.’
When asked why Trump seems obsessed with him, the mayor joked: ‘I think he’s got a crush on me. It’s either that or he believes in giving me squatters’ rights inside his head.’
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