🗽✨ Let Me Tell You About the Qurans Used for the Swearing in of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
Zohran’s oath wasn’t just historic. It was layered with Black, Muslim, immigrant, and working-class meaning
Less than a year ago, I watched Zohran Mamdani speak to a room that barely noticed him. Now he’s the Mayor of New York City — and the way he took the oath last night was a message to the whole world about who belongs in this city.
Zohran didn’t just raise his hand and recite words. He placed his hand on two Qurans—and each one carried a history that deserves to be understood.
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Now, let’s talk about the Qurans.
First off, thanks to some great reporting from the Associated Press, written by Safiyah Riddle, that lays out the layers behind the books Zohran chose. The headline is simple: Zohran Mamdani is the first Muslim Mayor of New York City, and he chose to be sworn in on the Quran. But the story underneath it is bigger: he chose Qurans that connect Muslim New York to Black New York, immigrant New York, working-class New York, and the long, unbroken story of Islam’s presence in the city.
Zohran’s midnight swearing-in happened underground, in the old City Hall subway station, with Letitia James administering the oath. Zohran placed his left hand on two Qurans held by his wife, Rama Duwaji: his grandfather’s Quran, and a small, pocket-sized Quran from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
And if you don’t know why that matters, let me explain it plainly.
The Schomburg Center is not just a library. It’s a cornerstone of Black intellectual life. It is a living archive of Black history and Black brilliance. It is where New York keeps some of its most sacred memory. So for the first Muslim Mayor of New York City to take his oath with a Quran from the Schomburg collection is not just “diversity optics.” It is New York saying, out loud, that Black history and Muslim history are not separate rivers. They flow together.
The Schomburg Quran is believed to date to the late 18th or early 19th century, during the Ottoman period, and that scholars estimate its age based on its binding and script because it’s undated and unsigned. It’s described as modest—deep red binding, simple design, plain readable script—meaning it was likely made for everyday use, not royal display. A Quran intended for ordinary readers.
I love that detail so much.
Because the people who have always been most threatened by Islam in America are the same people who have always been threatened by Black literacy, Black knowledge, Black dignity. They fear what happens when ordinary people are allowed to read, learn, organize, and stand upright. The Schomburg Quran is literally a symbol of that: a book meant for ordinary people, preserved in a public library, now held at the center of power in the biggest city in America.
Zohran will also use his grandfather’s and grandmother’s Qurans for a later ceremony at City Hall. That matters, too, because it reminds us of something we too often forget: people don’t just inherit culture. They inherit faith, memory, language, sacrifice, and family stories that don’t fit into America’s neat little boxes.
Zohran is South Asian. He was born in Uganda. His wife is American-Syrian. He’s a New Yorker whose life reflects the global nature of this city. And the Quran he used from the Schomburg collection is believed to originate from a region that includes what is now Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan.
That’s not just geography. That’s a reminder that New York is, and has always been, a city built by people who came here carrying the whole world in their hands.
The thing is, the oath doesn’t legally require any religious text at all—most mayors use a Bible, but the Constitution doesn’t demand that. Which means Zohran’s choice wasn’t obligation. It was identity. It was visibility. It was saying, “I’m not hiding my faith to make anyone more comfortable.”
That matters because the AP also reports the backlash already started.
Senator Tommy Tuberville wrote, “The enemy is inside the gates,” in response to coverage about Zohran’s inauguration. I want you to hear what that is: it’s not politics. It’s dehumanization. It’s a centuries-old line dressed up in modern clothes—the idea that Muslims don’t belong, that Muslims are a threat by default, that a Muslim leader is an invasion.
But what Zohran did with those Qurans was answer that hate without begging.
He answered it with rootedness. With history. With dignity.
And I want to connect one more dot the AP includes that some people will miss. The AP references the moment in 2006 when Congressman Keith Ellison faced outrage for using a Quran for his ceremonial oath. That outrage wasn’t about process; it was about presence. It was about power. It was about whether Muslim Americans were allowed to step fully into public life without apologizing for their faith.
So when Zohran takes his oath on Qurans tied to his family and to the Schomburg Center, it’s not only a milestone. It’s a reply to decades of Islamophobia: we are not in the shadows. We are in the light.
Now let me say something directly to my Christian family, because a lot of Christians are watching this moment through a distorted lens.
Some Christians have been trained to fear Islam as if it is inherently foreign or inherently dangerous. But what Zohran did last night was one of the most American things imaginable: he took an oath to uphold the Constitution and did it with the book that shapes his conscience. That is what religious freedom looks like when you mean it. The religious freedoms that protect Zohran also protect you.
And if you’re Muslim reading this, you should feel proud—without arrogance—because this is not just about Zohran. It’s about every kid in Queens and Brooklyn and the Bronx who has wondered whether being visibly Muslim means they have to keep shrinking to survive. It’s about every auntie and uncle who has felt unseen, every immigrant family that has been told “be grateful and be quiet.” This is proof that the story can change fast.
I laughed remembering that Long Island event where people barely noticed Zohran. But I’m also taking the lesson seriously: history moves quickly when Allah opens a door, and when ordinary people decide they are tired of being priced out and talked down to.
So yes, those Qurans mattered. Not as a gimmick, but as a statement: New York belongs to all of us.
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Love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
I wish more Christians understood that Muslims, as well as sharing the ‘Old Testament’ prophets with Christianity, also revere Jesus and his mother Mary. (Jewish people of course, do not). The Qu’ran has a whole chapter devoted to Mary. Christians have far more in common with Muslims, than they do with Jews. No doubt this is something that zionists prefer to hide.
Thanks for this article Shaun, I had no idea about the specifics of Zohran's Qurans chosen for his ceremony or the meaning behind them, but I find it really neat to learn about their significance to New York and the black, Muslim and immigrant communities that inhabit it. I am hoping he can do his best to make the city a more affordable and better place for people iA