Watching Zohran Mamdani run for mayor of New York City was an eye-opener for Sabah Munawar.
As a Muslim who grew up in the shadow of September 11, Ms. Sunar Munawar said that Mr. Mamdani appeared to be the Mayor of New York City, having done so while fully embracing the faith of the campaign.
But as Islamophobic sentiments about Mr Mamdani have grown more accessible and common, it has seen a dark side to his success.
“Some days I look at it and think, this feels bad, because back then a lot of people were in the shadows and afraid and so they haven’t shown up during the interview at the Mas Youth Center in Bath Beach in Bath Beach in Buth Beach, Brooklyn. “Now people are saying, ‘We’re here,’ and the vitriol is very bad.”
Mr Mamdani, who maintains a double-digit lead in many polls, wants to be New York City’s first Muslim mayor – an obvious point for many Muslims who are expanding pockets of the Bronx to Brooklyn.
But in several interviews this week, Muslim voters said their joy was tempered by the uptick in what they see as Islamophobic attacks against Mr Mamdani, who is now the country’s most high-profile Muslim.
They are very happy Mr. Mamdani’s moved, they saw new opportunities for themselves and their children. But they worry about his safety, and wonder how the presence of a Muslim lawyer could affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of others in the city who share his faith.
“In society, they take the comments directed at Mamdani as an attack on a person by Muslims,” I said. DANEEF Miller, former announcer from Boundeens Suiles. “They are afraid that there will be results that go beyond this election.”
Mr. Mamdani’s opponents – former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running for Sliwa as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, a Republican.
During the televised debate, Mr. Sliwa sued Mrs. Mamdani to support “Global Jihad.” In a radio interview, Mr. Cuomo was scheduled as a conservative host on WABC and said Mr. Mamdani would entertain one of the 9/11 attacks. And when the current Mayor, Eric Adams, immediately agreed to Mr. Cuomo, he said that this city is a risk of falling into “Islamic division” as Europe was appointed if Mr. Mamdani was not appointed.
On top of those comments, the CuoMo campaign briefly posted an AI-generated video on social media that showed Mr. Mamdani eating rice eating rice and called him “the most ignorant.” The original campaign ads were more specific, seeking to arrest Mr Mamdani for accusing jihadists.
The string of attacks prompted Mr. Mamdani to change what was intended to be a general campaign to stop at the Islamic cultural center last week on Friday. Instead, he delivered a ten-minute address about how clachophobia had affected his life and the lives of his family and friends.
Standing behind Mr. Mamdani when he gave his speech, Ajifanta Marenah, a leader in the West African community, could not help that his presence had an impact on the show of discrimination.
“I was proud of Zohran, I saw her standing firmly in her Muslimnings, she agreed,” said Ms. Marenah, 27, Executive President of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York. “But we are all afraid because it is not just ZOHRAN that this hatred will have an impact, it will have an impact on any Muslim man you see with a beard.”
Mr. Mamdani said that Muslims are reaching an important part of his political activity. Muslim leaders and voters expressed frustration about recent comments directly to Mr. Mamdani because he had ‘an open line of communication, because the race Alharbi, as the race Alharbi, said.
Mr Mamdani has visited more than 50 mosques since entering the Mayoral race, and his campaign has attended more than 180. The campaign is running phone banks in Urdu, Arabic, Bangla and other languages in an effort to reach as many Muslims as possible.
Almost every time Mr. Mamdani talks about the mosque, he asks those present if anyone has ever deliberately surprised their names. Unfortunately, a lot of hands are shot.
“What Zohoran did not say publicly is whether the Muslims have been silent on us for months,” said the director of involvement in the Mamdani campaign, said in an interview. “There is a point where wisdom is silenced, and our societies are silenced.”
Yusef Nasser, 28, who works as a halal herd at Little Yemen in the Bronx, said he noticed an increase in Islamophobic media and tabloids as Mr. Mamdani stood up at the polls.
He highlighted a recent New York Post cover story titled “Hamas Division weapons,” which Mr. Mamdani accused of not setting fire to Israel’s war on Gaza. It included a picture of two men with automatic weapons standing behind two blind men. Superimposed on the picture was a picture of Mr Mamdani looking good.
The high-profile scene, especially after Charlie Kirk’s murder, has Mrs Nasser worried about Mr Mamdani’s safety.
“You get a lot of hate,” Mr Nasser said. “Which means you’re going in the right direction.”
Mohamed Attia, Project Managing Director of Street Vendor, He has been offered as Mr Mamdani’s canvasser and has faced hate-based vitriol as he walks through the house.
“When you quote sometimes, someone will open the door and walk in on you, ‘I’m not voting for a Communist. I’m not saying he’s a Muslim.’
Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Sliwa and Mr Adams all argued that their comments were Islamophobic. Mr. Sliwa said he has worked with his organization, Guardian Angels, to protect Muslims, for decades.
When asked on Saturday if he criticizes Islam-MASSASLOMOPOBIC, Mr.
Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams held a joint news conference in Harlem on Thursday where Mr. Cuomi was approved by Imams and community and Muslim leaders and community leaders, who said they did not believe that each person was Islam-Islam.
The lawsuit, Mr. Cuomo said, was a political tool used by Mr. Mamdani to alienate New Yorkers. “Islamophobia,” Mr. Cuomo said, “is not really in this race.”
Most of the Muslim New Yorkers interviewed for this article would disagree. Shahana Hanif, who represents a number of neighborhoods in Brooklyn and was the first Muslim woman elected to the city council, said she was shocked by what she saw as Islam Mamdani.
“What people say to me is that they probably wouldn’t believe what they got after 9/11,” Ms. Hanif said, “
Walking home from school in Parkchester in the Bronx, Syed Ahmod, 13, said he and his mother, Zannanun Chowdhury, 42, share a different perspective. Their family supported President Trump in November (the teenager voted in a school mock election) but both now support Mr Mamdani.
They love that he is a Muslim, but also supports his accessible platform. Syed said he was afraid of Mr. Mamdani becoming the Mayor because he had seen how easy it was with the videos produced by AI to circulate.
“There are many, many videos that are slandering him and it hurts him,” Syed said. “I feel like the people who do it have a kind of racial grace and a kind of fear of him. The fear is that you’re going to pay them more.”
Talya Minsberg reporting provided.
