It’s déjà vu for Muslim Individuals as anti-Muslim playbook follows Zohran Mamdani’s success

By TIFFANY STANLEY, LUIS ANDRES HENAO and MARIAM FAM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Zohran Mamdani ’s swift rise in New York Metropolis’s mayoral race has made him right into a nationwide image — each as a degree of satisfaction amongst many Muslim Individuals and a political foil for the correct.

His marketing campaign has been met by a surge in anti-Muslim language directed on the Democratic nominee, who would turn into the town’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee known as him “little muhammad” and urged deportation. On social media, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina referenced 9/11 alongside a photograph of Mamdani wearing a kurta, a unfastened collarless shirt frequent in South Asia.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed with out proof that “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.”

On many ranges, Mamdani’s run is a major second for the nation and New York Metropolis, which endured 9/11 and the rise in Islamophobia that adopted.

“He actually does maintain a lot symbolism,” mentioned Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport College. The marketing campaign is a reminder of anti-Muslim discrimination, he mentioned, but in addition of Muslim Individuals asserting their proper “to guide this society shifting ahead.”

Politicians from each main events have attacked Mamdani’s progressive politics and criticism of Israel. Conservatives have leaned extra closely into non secular assaults and anti-immigrant sentiments.

President Donald Trump singled him out for censure and falsely questioned his U.S. citizenship, echoing “birther” rhetoric he as soon as geared toward former President Barack Obama.

On the Nationwide Conservatism Convention, a number of audio system used Mamdani’s title and faith as assault traces, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon calling the democratic socialist a “Marxist and a jihadist.”

The rhetoric is all too acquainted for a lot of Muslim Individuals, together with Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, who confronted slurs and dying threats as the primary Muslim lady to run for Congress in New Jersey in 2020.

“We’re at a crossroads,” she mentioned through e-mail. “On one hand, Muslims are reaching unprecedented visibility and affect in political areas. On the opposite, our dehumanization has by no means been so normalized and widespread.”

The specter of political violence

Earlier than his assassination final month, conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on social media that, “America’s largest metropolis was attacked by radical Islam 24 years in the past, and now an identical type of that pernicious drive is poised to seize metropolis corridor.” On his present, Kirk known as Mamdani a “Mohammedan,” an antiquated time period for Muslim, and warned about “Anglo facilities” like New York coming “underneath Mohammedan rule.”

Mamdani condemned Kirk’s killing whereas decrying America’s plague of political violence.

In September, a Texas man was charged with making dying threats in opposition to Mamdani, together with calling him a terrorist and saying “Muslims don’t belong right here,” prosecutors mentioned.

Mamdani’s marketing campaign responded by saying a majority of these threats “replicate a broader local weather of hate that has no place in our metropolis.”

“We can not and won’t be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia and hate,” the assertion learn.

Islamophobia from 9/11 till now

Anti-Muslim bias has persevered in numerous varieties since Sept. 11, 2001.

New York Metropolis police ran a now-disbanded Muslim surveillance program. There was furor in 2010 over plans to construct a Muslim group heart in decrease Manhattan. Nationwide, dozens of states launched laws geared toward banning Islamic legislation.

“At its core, anti-Muslim rhetoric is similar: that Muslims don’t belong on this nation, that they’re perpetual foreigners, that they’re a risk to American society and authorities,” mentioned Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist on the College of Chicago.

Critics of Obama, a Christian with Muslim ancestry, sought to make use of his connections to Islam as a political legal responsibility. As president, he spoke about his childhood years in Indonesia and his father’s Muslim household in Kenya as property in diplomacy.

Trump amplified criticisms of Obama’s background, stoking so-called “birther” rumors by falsely questioning whether or not Obama was born within the U.S.

“He’s actually created this new permission construction for individuals to extra overtly voice their anti-Muslim rhetoric,” Chouhoud mentioned.

The same playbook is getting used with Mamdani. Born in Uganda to folks of Indian descent, he has lived in New York Metropolis since he was 7 and have become a U.S. citizen in 2018. He was elected to the state Meeting in 2020.

Regardless of that file, Trump has echoed a false allegation denying Mamdani’s citizenship and immigration standing.

Democrats and the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas warfare

Islamophobia and antisemitism have risen through the warfare in Gaza. Accusations of each have performed out within the race for mayor of New York, a metropolis residence to the most important Jewish and Muslim populations within the U.S.

Earlier than dropping out, Mayor Eric Adams joined one other Democrat, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in calling Mamdani “harmful.” Cuomo accused him of “fueling antisemitism” with sharp criticism of Israel.

An out of doors group supporting Cuomo, who’s now working as an impartial, ready a flyer that appeared to elongate and darken Mamdani’s beard, which Mamdani known as “blatant Islamophobia.” Cuomo’s marketing campaign disavowed it and the mailer was by no means despatched.

Different Democrats have distanced themselves from Mamdani’s progressive platform, critiques of Israel and staunch help for Palestinian rights.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York apologized to Mamdani after incorrectly saying he referenced “international jihad.” At situation was his refusal to sentence different individuals’s use of the slogan “globalize the intifada.” He later mentioned he would discourage its use. Some see the phrase as a name for Palestinian liberation and rights, others as a name for violence in opposition to Jews.

In an emotional information convention forward of his major win in June, Mamdani accused his rivals of utilizing antisemitism to attain political factors. “I’ve mentioned at each alternative there is no such thing as a room for antisemitism on this metropolis, on this nation.”

Satisfaction and hope from fellow Muslims

Regardless of the controversies, many American Muslims are upbeat a couple of attainable Mamdani victory.

“The abiding emotion … is a extremely deep sense of hope,” mentioned Chouhoud, whose Brooklyn accent speaks to his New York roots.

Shahana Hanif, a Mamdani ally and the primary Muslim lady elected to the New York Metropolis Council, is optimistic. She mentioned Islamophobia is getting used as a concern tactic “and it’s simply not working.”

Hanan Thabet, a born-and-raised New Yorker and a Mamdani supporter, mentioned his marketing campaign has energized her household after two years of grief over the killing and hunger of Palestinians in Gaza.

A lot in order that her youngsters — ages 10 and eight — helped her cellphone financial institution for him. “They’re tremendous excited to see this younger energetic brown man, Muslim man, you recognize, probably be our subsequent mayor.”

As a mom, she feels prefer it’s “unattainable to elucidate why it has turn into so socially acceptable to dehumanize Muslims and Arabs, and why our lives appear to matter the least.”

“That’s what makes Zohran’s candidacy not solely historic,” she mentioned, “however essential.”

Henao reported from New York, and Fam from Cairo.

Related Press faith protection receives help by the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely answerable for this content material.

Initially Printed: October 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM PDT