{"id":245459,"date":"2026-05-27T19:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245459\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:25:12","slug":"mamdani-brings-faith-and-arsenal-fandom-to-bronx-eid-al-adha-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245459\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani brings faith and Arsenal fandom to Bronx Eid al-Adha prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> marked Eid al-Adha on Wednesday morning with members of the Bronx\u2019s Muslim community, joining public prayers on the soccer field at Macombs Dam Park near Yankee Stadium while wearing a kurta styled after an Arsenal jersey.<\/p>\n

The outfit nodded to Mamdani\u2019s well-documented love of Arsenal, the north London soccer club. Recently, Hizzoner was among the fans celebrating Arsenal\u2019s Premier League title<\/a> with the Brooklyn Invincibles, a New York supporters group that gathers in Fort Greene.<\/p>\n

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson told amNewYork that her office helped coordinate the event with imams, mosque leaders, the Parks Department, and the NYPD, noting that many local mosques are too small to accommodate large Eid gatherings. She said \u201chundreds\u201d attended, estimating the crowd at nearly 2,000 families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really grateful that children do not have to choose between faith and school,\u201d Gibson said, referring to Eid\u2019s status as a New York City public school holiday. She said the public gathering reflected the importance of having spaces where Muslim New Yorkers can \u201cpray freely\u201d and feel safe.<\/p>\n

\"\"People celebrated EID at Macombs Dam Park on May 27.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

Eid al-Adha, one of the most important holidays on the Muslim calendar, marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Known as the Festival of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha commemorates the story of Prophet Ibrahim\u2019s willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of devotion to God, only for God to provide a sacrifice in his place.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s holiday came shortly after the City Council passed legislation to protect New Yorkers from scams tied to Hajj and Umrah, a voluntary pilgrimage to Mecca. The bill, sponsored by Manhattan Council Member Yusef Salaam, directs the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to create an outreach and education program about fraudulent travel packages, fake visa brokers and other booking-related scams.<\/p>\n

Council officials said the move was warranted as New Yorkers preparing for Hajj and Umrah have encountered scams outside the Saudi government\u2019s official Nusuk Hajj platform.\n<\/p>\n

In brief remarks after the prayer service, Mamdani noted his own East African roots, noting that as he was born in Uganda, the continent \u201cwill always hold a special place\u201d in his heart. He acknowledged attendees with roots in The Gambia, Mali, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea and elsewhere across the African diaspora.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

Mamdani also congratulated those who had completed Hajj and tied the holiday\u2019s message of sacrifice to his governing vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we honor the Prophet Ibrahim, may peace be upon him, and his willingness to sacrifice, we reflect on our responsibilities to one another,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cWhat I love about Eid al-Adha is that it is a reminder that sacrifice is not a burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that sacrifice is \u201can opportunity to understand ourselves as part of something larger,\u201d and said that as New York City\u2019s first Muslim mayor, he was determined to lead through a \u201clens of solidarity\u201d so that those who call this city home can continue to afford to live here.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also acknowledged that the holiday arrived during a painful time for many Muslims, citing grief over a deadly attack on a San Diego mosque<\/a>, fear for loved ones abroad, and hardship facing New Yorkers. He quoted from the Quran, urging people to \u201chold firmly\u201d together and not become divided.<\/p>\n

Bakary Camara, a representative of the Islamic Culture Center of the Bronx who prayed alongside the mayor on Wednesday, said Mamdani\u2019s decision to pray with Bronx Muslims carried special meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very, very happy to have the leader of the whole city come in and pray with us side by side,\u201d Camara said.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Mamdani prays alongside Bakary Camara (left), a representative of the Islamic Culture Center of the Bronx. Photo\u00a0by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell <\/p>\n

It was Mamdani\u2019s latest public observance of a major Muslim holiday since taking office as the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor. During Ramadan, he joined iftars with teachers, delivery workers, firefighters and Muslim New Yorkers on Rikers Island. Those public celebrations of his faith were welcomed by many Muslim New Yorkers<\/a> amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment nationwide.<\/p>\n

CAIR, the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, reported receiving 8,683 complaints nationwide in 2025 \u2014 the highest single-year total<\/a> it has recorded since it began publishing civil rights reports covering 1996.<\/p>\n

Borough President Gibson said those concerns have been part of her office\u2019s year-round work with Muslim and African communities in the Bronx. She said her office convenes an African Advisory Council and a Muslim leaders roundtable, where community members discuss housing, immigration, ICE presence, surveillance fears, and school safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want our Muslim community to feel safe,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI know there are vicious acts of Islamophobia, and what we\u2019re seeing across the nation, what happened in San Diego is outrageous, but that could easily happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

Gibson said Mamdani\u2019s presence at the prayer \u201cspeaks volumes\u201d for Muslim New Yorkers, particularly because he openly practices his faith. She described him as \u201cauthentic about who he is,\u201d while acknowledging that some New Yorkers remain critical of the mayor and want more from him, including some Jewish constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never want the mayor to not be who he is,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI appreciate that since he\u2019s been mayor for these five months, he has stepped up and shown New Yorkers that he\u2019s a mayor for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the mayor will not get \u201c100% buy-in from everyone,\u201d but added that she has seen him stand up for Muslim, Jewish, Black and Hispanic New Yorkers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as he is consistent in that message,\u201d Gibson said, \u201cNew Yorkers can\u2019t fault him for being who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked Eid al-Adha on Wednesday morning with members of the Bronx\u2019s Muslim community, joining public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,65691,95899,1445,9,24,63,129,131,130,6707,6016],"class_list":["post-245459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-eid","tag-eid-al-adha","tag-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-vanessa-gibson","tag-yankee-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}