MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been using his office to bring his faith, Islam, into the city - into the center of his city's cultural life, and he's doing it in a way that has never been seen before. During this Ramadan, he's held half a dozen public prayers and celebrations. The latest was last night. But as NPR's Brian Mann reports, Mamdani's effort to celebrate his Muslim faith has faced a backlash.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Just before sunset, a big festive crowd gathers in the Museum of the City of New York in Harlem. They've come to share iftar, the traditional dinner that marks the end of each day of Ramadan fasting, hosted on this night by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who stands to speak.
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ZOHRAN MAMDANI: It is not every day that we see in one room the sheer breath of Muslim life in New York City. And I will say it once more, Ramadan Mubarak, my friends.
MANN: As a musician plays, people break the fast with dates, then pass platters of food.
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MANN: With his trademark grin, Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of America's biggest city, goes table to table. It's a celebration of the roughly 1 million Muslims who live here. But during his speech, Mamdani also describes this gathering as an act of defiance.
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MAMDANI: For nearly as long as there has been a New York City, there have been Muslim New Yorkers. And yet for nearly just as long, those with power and platform have sought to dehumanize us.
MANN: He was responding to Alabama's Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, who'd reposted earlier that day an image of Mamdani celebrating one of these public iftars next to an image of the 9/11 terror attacks with the words, the enemy is inside the gates. NPR reached out to Tuberville's office for comment. They didn't respond. Speaking to the crowd in Harlem, Mamdani described Tuberville's post as bigotry.
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MAMDANI: And when I hear such hatred and disdain unchecked in its rancor, I feel an isolation and a loneliness that I know that many of you have felt as well.
MANN: These attacks on Mamdani from the right began last year during his rapid ascent as the country's most influential Muslim politician. And Tuberville's post isn't the only attack Mamdani's faced during Ramadan. After Mamdani criticized President Trump's decision to launch a war against Iran, one of New York City's most influential talk radio hosts, Sid Rosenberg, blasted Mamdani on social media, calling the mayor a cockroach and accusing him of hating Jews. Mamdani described Rosenberg's post as racist.
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MAMDANI: To be called animals, insects, to be called a jihadist mayor, to be called a cockroach - this language is both painfully familiar to me as a Muslim New Yorker, but also as someone who was born in East Africa.
MANN: Rosenberg offered a partial apology on his radio show, saying he regretted calling Mamdani names. Then he doubled down, describing Mamdani as dangerous.
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SID ROSENBERG: And I think his policies should scare the living daylights out of any decent New Yorker.
MANN: Tensions escalated again a few days later on March 7, when a small group of far-right activists gathered outside Mamdani's official residence in Manhattan, calling for an end to what they described as the Islamic takeover of New York City. Counterprotesters turned up. There were clashes, and two Muslim men from Pennsylvania allegedly threw improvised explosive devices. This from ABC News.
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DAVID MUIR: The alarming scene here in New York City outside the official home of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Two suspects allegedly trying to detonate homemade bombs right during a protest.
MANN: FBI officials say the attack was inspired by ISIS. The devices failed to detonate. There were no injuries, and the men were arrested and are awaiting trial. At a press conference, Mamdani spoke carefully, condemning the anti-Muslim rally and the attempted violence.
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MAMDANI: While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred.
MANN: Far-right bigotry against Muslim Americans isn't new, but it's intensified in recent weeks after other violent attacks in Michigan and Virginia, allegedly perpetrated by Muslims, which are also being investigated as acts of terrorism, one targeting a synagogue. Tennessee Republican Congressman Andy Ogles posted on X that Muslims, quote, "don't belong in American society." Khalid Latif, one of New York's most influential imams, thinks efforts to blame all Muslims for these attacks are well organized and often effective.
KHALID LATIF: You actually don't lose rights by ensuring someone else has more rights. That's just not how it works. But the ability to mobilize people through fear has been a proven strategy.
MANN: NPR met with Latif at his Islamic Center of New York City, where volunteers were preparing an evening iftar meal of chicken, rice and dates, with the entire community invited to join. Latif says these gatherings offer a chance to set aside differences.
LATIF: You and I can be at a iftar dinner together, and you don't have to share faith with me, and we can just both sit and eat.
MANN: Mamdani has continued to hold his high-profile iftar dinners, the latest at Rikers Island, the city's massive jail complex, where he prayed last night and broke his fast with Muslim men behind bars.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Praying in non-English language).
MAMDANI: This is one of the most meaningful evenings that I've had as the mayor of New York City.
MANN: Does it send any kind of message, or is it strictly a moment of worship and community?
MAMDANI: This is me just being a Muslim New Yorker. There are some for whom that is a political act. As much as there have been attempts to caricature what it means to be Muslim in this city, we can see in this room so many different ways to be Muslim.
MANN: Jail officials allowed NPR to speak with men who prayed and ate with Mamdani on the condition that we not use their names. They describe the mayor as a Muslim brother.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I'm ecstatic. He cares about us, even though we're going through a rough time.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It's a proud thing to not be looked down upon, especially when you have someone as powerful as the mayor here. That's a blessing.
MANN: Other Muslim New Yorkers have told NPR they see Mamdani's public observance of Ramadan as a pivot point for their community, a moment after years of stigma and suspicion when they feel welcome in a new way. Syed Adnan Bukhari is a city worker who joined Mamdani's iftar in Harlem.
SYED ADNAN BUKHARI: You know, we're good people and we have nothing to hide. And I think Zohran being elected, he's showing the positive side to everyone.
MANN: Mamdani's been in office less than four months, and there are still deep tensions here. Verbal and social media attacks by the far right aren't going away. Mamdani faces suspicion among many Jewish leaders over his support for Palestinian rights. And the war in Iran and continued violence in Gaza, Israel and other parts of the Middle East are felt deeply in New York City. Through all of that, Mamdani says Muslim families will keep gathering.
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MAMDANI: Because it is together that we find ease. It is together that we do so in solidarity. And we find it in the city that is our home.
MANN: Mamdani has been careful to show he's not only mayor of the city's Muslim community. Last night, he observed Ramadan. Today, he celebrated St. Patrick's Day, joining the big parade here and attending a Catholic Mass. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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