On New Year’s Eve last week, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani created history in more than one way.
On Wednesday, Zohran Kwame Mamdani became the 112th mayor of New York City, but the first Muslim to do so. As such, his mayoral inauguration marked the first time that the Qur’an, the most holy book of Islam, was used for the oath ceremony of a New York mayor. Mamdani used two Qur’an books to take the mayoral oath. One of them held personal importance to him; it once belonged to Mamdani’s grandfather.
However, the second Qur’an holds historical importance. It was written in Syria under the Ottoman Empire, either in the late 18th century or early 19th century. It once belonged to the private collection of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, the collector well-known for archiving Black history. He donated his collection, including the Qur’an, to the New York Public Library (NYPL). It was part of the collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture when it was selected by Rama Duwaji, Mamdani’s wife, and Hina Abid, curator at the NYPL.
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The Qur’an is relatively simple in its decorations, as it was intended for everyday use. Reportedly, this was the primary reason why this particular copy was chosen, as it symbolized accessibility, which was a key appeal of Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. Put into the limelight after the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani, the Qur’an will go on public display for the first time on January 6th at the New York Public Library.
