Zohran Mamdani Wins and It Is a Celebration of My New York
Mamdani will be New York City's first Muslim, socialist mayor.
His victory does—and should—mean much more.
When I was 21 and had just arrived in New York City, I could not believe everyone knew what halal meant, or that you could see bismillah etched onto food carts at every street corner, or that Egyptian vendors would blast DIY music from Cairo’s working-class corners into the streets of Midtown.
The Halal carts were not an aberration.
Coming from mid-Missouri, where I was once asked if I “spoke Islamic,” I marveled at the Brooklyn mosques that played the adhan out loud, at the bearded uncles who read the Quran quietly under their breath on the subway, at my own ability to walk down the street in a hijab without turning a head.
New York was a revelation.
An American city — it turns out — could be Muslim.
Author's summary: Zohran Mamdani wins as NYC's first Muslim mayor.