Who is Zohran Mamdani, the political outsider who has just become Mayor of New York? And should evangelicals be relaxed, concerned, or even alarmed?
Plenty of people have indeed expressed worry. Mike Johnson, the evangelical Southern Baptist speaker of the House of Representatives, described his victory as “without a doubt the biggest win for socialism in the history of the country, and it is the biggest loss for the American people.”
Meanwhile Florida pastor Tom Ascol compared Mamdani’s election triumph to the fall of Rome to the Visigoths in 410AD. And writer and podcaster Virgil Walker claimed Mamdani is a “Muslim Jihadist”.
Mamdani is a difficult person to pin down in many ways – which perhaps is an indication of something in itself. Here are some things, however, that can be said.
He is a devout Muslim
“I will not change who I am, how I eat or the faith that I am proud to call my own,” CNN reported him saying outside a mosque in late October. “But there is one thing I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”
Mamdani is a Shia Muslim and identifies with part of it called the “Twelver branch”. Shia Islam is the second largest denomination within the faith, making up 10-15% of all Muslims.
It differs from Sunni Islam over the question of successors to Muhammad. Shias are in a majority in three Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan.
The “twelver branch” is one of three sub-sections of Shia Islam (the others being Isma’ilism and Zaydism). “Twelverism”, as it is sometimes known, is the largest of the three. Adherents believe in the “Twelve Imams” – the last of whom, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is held to be in “occultation” before reappearing as “the awaited Mahdi” along with Jesus and Mary. This means they think al-Mahdi is currently alive but hidden from the world by God’s will until the time comes for him to establish justice and peace.
Just two days after his election, Mamdani visited the Centro Islamico Del Caribe-Masjid Ebadur Rahman mosque in Puerto Rico on Friday.
He is also seemingly a strong supporter of “LGBTQIA+” rights
According to Gay Star News, “he has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights”, and has “announced a three point plan to protect the rights of Queer New Yorkers. His plans included expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, investing $65m in public providers, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ “Sanctuary City”, and creating the ‘Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs’,” the paper says.
Mamdani has also taken part in the New York City “Pride” parade. He published photos on social media and wrote that it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.” He added: “Happy Pride NYC,” along with a rainbow emoji.
The New York Times reported some unhappiness among some Muslims about this stance. “He is a democratic socialist, and some of his policies, like supporting legalized marijuana or LGBTQ rights, do not align with more conservative mosques' thinking,” it reported.
So how does Mamdani reconcile his Muslim faith with his championing of LGBT rights? One possible perspective, as an essay on political website the-daisy-chain.com put it, is that “his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights – including concrete support for transgender New Yorkers – offers a vivid case study in how a proud Muslim elected official can champion inclusive social justice while grounded in faith. By examining Mamdani’s life, politics, and the values he embodies, we find living proof that progressivism and Islam are compatible – even synergistic – forces for the common good.”
It concludes: “As Mamdani’s career demonstrates, the ethics of Islam and the ideals of progressivism march forward arm in arm.”
Another, possibly more cynical but far from implausible view, is that Mamdani regards such liberals as “useful idiots” who will help propel him to power and keep him there, while he, in whatever ways he chooses, advances the cause of Islam. Time will tell.
His attitude to Jewish people and Israel raises all sorts of questions
Mamdani is a supporter of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement against Israel. BDS “lobbies for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. Israel and its advocates have fought a decades-long battle to marginalize the movement, which its critics say seeks the end of Israel as a Jewish state,” according to the Times of Israel.
On the question of Israel’s right to exist, he has repeatedly said that it does. But his statements to that effect tend to come with some sort of qualification. What he has not done, it seems, is say that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.
After the brutal antisemitic attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7th 2023, Mamdani’s first statement, which came out the day after, expressed mourning “for the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours.”
By contrast, fellow Democrat, President Joe Biden, said at the time: “In the street, in their homes, innocent people [were] murdered and wounded, entire families taken hostage by Hamas just days after Israel marked the holiest of days in the Jewish calendar. It’s unconscionable.”
Mamdani also appeared on the podcast of Hasan Piker, a streamer who according to German website The Algemeiner, “defended the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel and argued that the mass rapes of Israeli women were justified”. It added: “Mamdani defended his decision to appear on Piker’s podcast, saying that the Democratic Party has made ‘mistakes’ by refusing to engage with popular internet personalities with controversial views. He dismissed criticism over his decision to appear on Piker’s podcast as mere political ‘purity’ testing.”
On the second anniversary of the October 7th attack, he issued an extensive statement saying that he mourned those killed by Hamas, which he said had committed a "horrific war crime" and also criticising the Israeli government for what he described as a "genocidal war".
In relation to the phrase “globalise the intifada,” which is widely understood to mean encouraging violent attacks against Jewish people worldwide, Mamdani has said it is “not language I use” but also declined to condemn it, saying that the role of the mayor is “not to police language”. He did subsequently say he would “discourage” its use, claiming “the distance between what some intend and what others hear is a bridge that is too far”.
At the same time, speaking at Manhattan synagogue B’nai Jeshurun, he quoted the brother of an Israeli killed in the October 7th attacks, saying: “We must never give up on the conviction that all life, Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Arab, is equally precious.” And some progressive Jewish organisations such as Jewish Voice for Peace Action (JVP Action) and Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) even went as far as endorsing Mamdani.
The Republican Jewish Coalition, however, condemned Democrats for electing an “antisemite to run the largest city in America with the largest number of Jews in the country.”
On day one of his term in office, Mamdani revoked an order by his predecessor that adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism (a definition embraced by the European Evangelical Alliance, among many others). Writing on X, Israel's Foreign Ministry stated: "On his very first day as @NYCMayor, Mamdani shows his true face: he scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire."
Also on his first day, Mamdani revoked another order, which, according to the UK-based Guardian newspaper, "directed the New York police commissioner... to evaluate proposals for regulating protest activity occurring close to houses of worship." This had been introduced "after demonstrations outside an Upper East Side synagogue .... sparked claims of antisemitism."
He has some Christian supporters
“Ten years ago, I wanted to vote for Trump. Today, I wish I lived in New York City so Mamdani could be my mayor,” wrote former Moody Bible Institute student Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo last month.
He explained: “It is doubtful the curriculum designers intended this, but regardless, they gave me the exegetical and theological tools to take Jesus’ words seriously; to actually read the gospels and imitate, as best I could, the example that Jesus set. Over time, I’ve become more grateful for my education, despite the baggage. Because ultimately, attending Moody is what made me a socialist.
“I started to see that the commitment of liberation theology to the poor witnessed to the gospel of Jesus. Practically speaking, a gospel that is unapologetically partisan toward those deemed disposable among us is focused on improving their material conditions. Anything less would be a compromise of the kind of radical solidarity that the gospel is calling us toward,” Melo argued.
But the overwhelming majority of evangelicals in the US remain opposed to Mamdani. Towards the end of December, pro-life leader Jim Harden, CEO of CompassCare Pregnancy Services, told the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN): “When [Mamdani] was campaigning, he campaigned very hard against pro-life pregnancy centres,” he said. “And he claimed that he was going to protect New Yorkers from the fraud and deception that is perpetrated by pro-life pregnancy centres like ours, which, of course, is ridiculous.”
Harden said Mamdani pledged to enforce Local Law 17, which Harden said was “written specifically to target pro-life pregnancy centres in New York City, to essentially carry the water of pro-abortion political elites.”
Mamdani's inauguration was Quranic - a first
Mamdani took office on January 1st.
American news website USA today reported “he swore his oath of office on a pair of Qurans ‒ Islam’s holiest book ‒ before an imam led the crowd in prayer,” adding: “While many American politicians take the oath of office on a Christian Bible, there's typically no requirement for a religious component to the oath.”
It also noted: “Mamdani has previously said he had been told to downplay his faith when seeking elected office, but rejected that advice.”
