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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took his oath of office on January 1 using an Ottoman-era Quran manuscript from Syria, later sharing details about the centuries-old volume and the three Qurans used during his swearing-in.
In a post on X early Wednesday, Mamdani shared details about the Quran on which he took the oath last week, becoming the first Muslim to hold the office of mayor of New York City.
He said the copy of the Quran used during the swearing-in ceremony at the old City Hall subway station belonged to the historian Arturo Schomburg and dates back to the 18th century, noting that it is an Ottoman-era manuscript from Syria.
Mamdani said the copy was written in black ink, with some sections highlighted in red.
The 34-year-old Democrat became mayor in a long-closed subway station beneath City Hall, the first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born person to hold that position.
The Associated Press reported that Mamdani used three Qurans to mark his taking office, during a swearing-in ceremony held at a private subway station.
As reported by The Associated Press, Mamdani used three Qurans to mark his taking office during a swearing-in ceremony held at a private subway station. A small Schomburg Quran was placed atop a larger red Quran that had belonged to his grandfather.
Later that day, at a public event held outside City Hall and led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mamdani took the oath on another Quran he inherited from his grandmother.
Mamdani selected the Qurans in consultation with his first adviser, Zara Rahim, his wife, Rama Duwaji, and Hiba Abad, curator of the Middle East and Islamic Studies division at the New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library is displaying a copy of the Quran that Zohran Mamdani used at his inauguration as New York City’s new mayor, as part of a limited-time exhibition titled “The People’s Quran: Making History at City Hall,” being held in the library’s main hall.
This volume dates to the late 18th or early 19th century. The Quran was produced in Ottoman Syria, written largely in black ink, with different sections of the text highlighted in red.
This copy lacks lavish ornamentation. It is written in clear naskh script, a common, easily legible style of connected Arabic calligraphy, suggesting it was intended for everyday use by an ordinary reader.
The identity of the original owner has been lost, but the volume reached the New York Public Library through the historian Arturo Schomburg, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance.
For the occasion, the Quran was loaned from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library.
Barry Brown, curator of manuscripts, archives, and rare books at the Schomburg Center, told The Associated Press: “Displaying the Quran gives New Yorkers an opportunity to be part of this historic moment.”
Schomburg, who was of Puerto Rican descent, devoted his life to studying the cultural contributions of people of African descent and built a world-class collection of books, of which this Quran was a part of (though he was not Muslim).
According to media reports, it is described as reflecting the longstanding and vibrant Muslim residents of the nation’s most populous city, according to a scholar who helped Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, select one of the books.
Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election held on Nov. 4.
According to data from CBS News, more than 2 million voters participated in the election, described as “the highest turnout since 1969.”
Mamdani has become the youngest mayor and the first Muslim to lead the largest city in the United States in the past century.
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