New York City is about to witness a groundbreaking moment as Zohran Mamdani steps into the mayor’s office with a gesture that’s sure to spark debate.
On Jan. 1, Mamdani will be sworn in as the city’s first mayor to place his hand on the Quran, marking a significant departure from tradition while highlighting the diverse fabric of NYC with his South Asian, millennial, and Muslim background, as Deccan Herald reports.
Let’s set the stage: most past mayors have opted for a Bible during their oath, from Eric Adams clutching his mother’s copy to Bill de Blasio using one tied to FDR.
Mamdani, however, is charting a new path by using not one, but at least three distinct Qurans for his ceremonies, a choice that’s as symbolic as it is personal.
During the midnight swearing-in, he’ll rest his hand on his grandfather’s Quran and another with a storied past, once owned by Afro-Latino historian Arturo Schomburg, on loan from the New York Public Library.
Come daytime at City Hall, Mamdani will again use his grandfather’s text alongside another family Quran, weaving a thread of heritage into this public moment.
The Schomburg Quran isn’t just any book. It’s a relic of Harlem Renaissance lore, acquired from Ottoman Syria and designed for daily use, reflecting a humble yet profound purpose.
Schomburg, a Puerto Rican who wasn’t Muslim, included it in his vast 4,000-piece collection to showcase the depth of Black cultural and religious contributions, a direct rebuttal to a teacher who once dismissed such history.
That collection, sold to the New York Public Library in 1926, became the bedrock of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which will display this Quran publicly for the first time in a special exhibit starting the Tuesday after the inauguration.
This exhibit, timed to coincide with the center’s 100th anniversary celebration, adds another layer of significance. Although one might wonder if it’s more about signaling than substance.
Hiba Abid, curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the New York Public Library, gushed, “It’s a highly symbolic choice because we’re about to have a Muslim mayor swearing in using the Quran but also a mayor who was born on the African continent, in Uganda.”
Symbolic, sure, but let’s not pretend this doesn’t also play into a broader progressive narrative—pushing diversity as the headline while sidestepping how Mamdani’s faith became a lightning rod during his campaign.
Shahana Hanif, a New York City Council member, chimed in, “I think the Quran represents this example of extending solidarity to the Muslim community in New York City and really abroad.”
Solidarity sounds noble, but when faith becomes a campaign flashpoint, as it did for Mamdani with notable opposition, one has to ask if such gestures unify or further polarize an already fractured electorate.
Mamdani isn’t alone in this trend. He joins a select few like Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar, who’ve taken oaths on the Quran, and even locally, Hanif herself used a family Quran for her 2022 City Council swearing-in, proving this isn’t legally required but culturally loaded.
