New York City witnessed a historic moment with the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani as the city’s new mayor, becoming the first Muslim mayor to take the oath of office while placing his hand on a copy of the Holy Quran, according to the Associated Press.
Zohran Mamdani was sworn in shortly after midnight at a decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall. During the ceremony, he used a Quran inherited from his grandfather, alongside another Quran that once belonged to Afro-Latino historian Arturo Schomburg, which was loaned by the New York Public Library. At a separate public inauguration event held later, Mamdani again used his grandfather’s Quran, along with another that had belonged to his grandmother.
A Symbol of Representation and Diversity
Mamdani represents a new demographic in the city’s leadership: he is South Asian, Muslim, and a millennial—a milestone that hundreds of thousands of Muslim New Yorkers described as a historic reflection of their growing presence in public life.
The choice of Schomburg’s Quran—linked to a figure whose work shaped the Harlem Renaissance—highlighted New York City’s deep religious, racial, and ethnic diversity. Hiba Abed, curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the New York Public Library, described the moment as “highly symbolic,” noting that Mamdani was born in Uganda, embodying the intersection of faith, identity, and New York’s global history.
Schomburg’s Quran will be publicly displayed for the first time as part of a special exhibition at the New York Public Library, coinciding with the centennial of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
The New York Times noted that Schomburg, who was born in Puerto Rico, was not Muslim, but kept the Quran as part of his vast archive of books and artifacts. In 1926, he sold a collection of more than 4,000 items to the New York Public Library, laying the foundation for the Schomburg Center. He died in 1938.
Faith and Tradition in the Oath of Office
Although the law does not require officials to use a religious text when taking the oath, most previous New York City mayors placed their hands on the Bible. Mamdani, however, made his Muslim faith a visible part of his campaign, saying that using the Quran helps correct a “long-standing absence” of Muslims from public life in the city, according to a statement by his adviser Zara Rahim.
In 2021, former Mayor Eric Adams took the oath with one hand on his mother’s Bible and the other on a framed photo of her floating in a glass of brandy. His predecessor, Bill de Blasio, used a Bible that once belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mamdani now joins a small group of U.S. officials who have used the Quran during their oath of office, including Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar in Congress, and Shahana Hanif during her swearing-in to the New York City Council in 2022. Hanif said the gesture “highlights the progress Muslims have made in the city’s political life and represents solidarity with Muslim communities locally and globally.”