Zohran Mamdani Sworn in as New York Mayor Using Historic Quran

Zohran Mamdani on Thursday made history as the first Muslim and South Asian mayor of New York City, taking the oath of office with a Quran.

For the private swearing-in held in a disused subway station beneath Times Square, Mamdani used his grandfather’s Quran alongside a 200-year-old copy on loan from the New York Public Library (NYPL). He will later conduct a public ceremony at New York City Hall on Friday, using two additional Qurans that belonged to his grandfather and grandmother.

The historic Quran from the library previously belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black historian and writer whose collection of 4,000 books was sold to the NYPL in 1926. Schomburg, born in Puerto Rico in the 1870s to German and Afro-Caribbean parents, became a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. His collection is now housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Hiba Abid, curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at the library, said, “The significance of this Quran extends far beyond the beauty of its pages. It is close to the people, not only because of its simple craftsmanship, but also because it is part of the collections of the nation’s largest public library system.

Anthony W. Marx, NYPL president and CEO, described Mamdani’s choice of the Quran and its connection to Schomburg as a symbol of “inclusion, representation, and civic-mindedness.

Mamdani joins a small group of U.S. politicians who have taken their oath of office with the Quran. While New York does not require mayors to swear in on a religious text, many past mayors have traditionally used the Bible.