A first for New York City: Zohran Mamdani to take oath while holding Quran

By Maya King

New York: When Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City on Jan. 1, he will represent a range of demographics the city has not seen before in top leadership: South Asian, millennial, Muslim.

But for New York’s hundreds of thousands of Muslim residents who have taken pride in seeing one of their own rise to the mayoralty, his inauguration will bring another special first, rooted in tradition and piety.

During both of his swearing-in ceremonies, he will put his hand on the Quran, Islam’s holiest book, making him the first mayor in New York City to do so.

Mamdani is expected to use at least three unique Qurans for his public and private swearing-in ceremonies, according to a senior adviser, Zara Rahim.

For his midnight swearing-in ceremony, he will use his grandfather’s Quran and one that belonged to Arturo Schomburg, the Black writer and historian. It will be lent to the mayor by the New York Public Library.

For his daytime ceremony at City Hall, he will use his grandfather’s and at least one other family Quran.

Showcasing the Quran that belonged to Schomburg, an Afro-Latino writer whose work and collections shaped the Harlem Renaissance, will help Mamdani underline the city’s distinct blend of faiths, racial and ethnic backgrounds.

“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,” said Hiba Abid, the library’s curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, who helped Rahim and Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, select a Quran for his inauguration.

“It really brings together here elements of faith, identity and New York history.

”The Schomburg Quran will be on public display for the first time as part of a special exhibit at the New York Public Library that coincides with a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Schomburg Center.

The exhibit will begin the Tuesday after the inauguration.Schomburg, who was Black and born in Puerto Rico, was not a Muslim but kept the Quran as part of his vast archive of books and artifacts. He sold his collection, which contained more than 4,000 pieces, to the New York Public Library in 1926, building the foundation of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

His inclusion of the Quran in his collection was meant to show the full expanse of Black artistic, cultural and religious life. He also wished to rebut a claim from a childhood teacher, who once remarked to him that Black people lacked significant figures or history. His Quran was acquired from Ottoman Syria and was written and designed for everyday use, as evidenced by the style of its script and binding.

Abid said she hopes that putting Schomburg’s Quran on display will allow New Yorkers to learn more about the Quran itself and Muslim life in the city. She and Mamdani’s advisers also plan to use the display to encourage more people to take advantage of the archival resources that are available at the library.

Though it is traditional for most elected officials to take the oath of office with their hand on a religious text, they are not required by law to use one — or any book, for that matter.

Most past mayors have placed their hand on a Bible during the ceremony. But Mamdani’s faith was a defining feature of his campaign and source of political animus for his opponents, and it felt especially important to him to use the inauguration to display both a family-owned Quran and one belonging to a noteworthy New York figure.

Past mayors have opted for a mix of personal heirlooms and historical artifacts for their swearings-in. In 2021, Eric Adams took his oath of office with one hand on his mother’s Bible and another holding a brandy snifter photo with her portrait. His predecessor, Bill de Blasio, put his hand on a Bible that once belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Mamdani owns a personal Quran, but he will not use it for the inauguration.)

Mamdani will join a small group of prominent elected officials in the United States to use a Quran for their swearing in. Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general, became one of the first American elected officials to put his hand on the book when he was sworn into Congress in 2007. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who succeeded Ellison, also put her hand on a Quran for her swearing-in.

In New York, Shahana Hanif was sworn in to the City Council in 2022 with her hand on a special family Quran that her sister used during her wedding ceremony. Hanif said Mamdani’s plan to use the Quran for his swearing-in underlined the inroads that Muslims have made in city politics.

“Let’s be honest, Muslims have not been in electoral life for decades like other ethnic groups and communities,” she said. “I think the Quran represents this example of extending solidarity to the Muslim community in New York City and really abroad.”