Behind him, a Yemeni-American educator in sunglasses named Debbie Almontaser nodded. Almost two decades ago, in 2007, she was forced to resign<\/a> as principal of a city school after defending a T-shirt with the slogan “Intifada NYC.” City officials viewed it as a call to violence. She said it was benign. Her case became a rallying cry for Muslim American activists who cast her as a victim<\/a> of “Islamophobia.”<\/p>\n FBI AGENTS FROM ’93 WTC ATTACK BLAST MAMDANI FOR EMBRACING RADICAL IMAM<\/a><\/p>\n Now, Almontaser was back, this time as a senior advisor<\/a> to Emgage Action\u00a0<\/a>and a board member<\/a> of Yemeni American Merchants Association Action, two of 110 political nonprofits, community groups and political action committees<\/a> backing Mamdani as he alleges “islamophobia” against him. Recently, when critics questioned Mamdani\u2019s ties to hardline Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, she<\/a>\u00a0sprang<\/a> to action, helping to organize a protest<\/a> to defend Wahhaj.\u00a0<\/p>\n That rapid, coordinated response captured the modus operandi of a network of political operatives and clerics intertwined with the shared mission of catapulting Mamdani into the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s background diverges from many of his co-religionists. In an interview,<\/a> he said he is a Khoja Shia<\/a>\u00a0Muslim, part of a small, relatively liberal sect with roots in India. Many of his New York-area allies are religiously strict Sunni Muslims who practice more conservative interpretations of the faith. But they find common ground in politics.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s a sophisticated fusion of religion, politics and identity,” said Mansour Al-Hadj, a Washington-based researcher on Muslim political movements and extremism. “The same networks that once focused on community services are now mobilizing voters and producing candidates. This is how political Islam adapts inside democracy.”<\/p>\n Mansour Al-Hadj, a Washington, D.C.,-based researcher on Muslim political movements and extremism, warns of radical forces backing Zohran Mamdani’s bid to be mayor of New York City. (Mansour Al-Hadj)<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s God Squad includes about a few dozen key players who specialize in painting any critique as an attack on their faith, accusing critics of Islamophobia even as many of them have engaged in strident rhetoric against the U.S., Israel and capitalism.<\/p>\n The Original Imam: America is “filthy and sick”<\/p>\n Mamdani set off a firestorm on Oct. 7 when he walked<\/a> into Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn and later posted a photo of himself beaming beside the mosque\u2019s imam, or prayer leader, Siraj Wahhaj.<\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani meets Imam Siraj Wahhaj and Yusef Abdus Salaam on Oct. 17, 2025. (@ZohranKMamdani\/X)<\/p>\n The imam\u2019s checkered past goes back decades. In a 1992 talk<\/a>, he said American Muslims should elect an “emir” rather than choose between George Bush and Bill Clinton. Soon after, he served<\/a> as a character witness in the trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called “Blind Sheikh” convicted for plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.\u00a0<\/p>\n “You know what this country is?” Wahhaj said in 1995<\/a>. “It\u2019s a garbage can. Filthy. Filthy and sick.”<\/p>\n In 2018, three of Wahhaj\u2019s children\u00a0<\/a>were arrested<\/a> after authorities found 11 malnourished children in a New Mexico compound tied to his family; a grandchild had died in what authorities described as an attempted exorcism. He told<\/a> local news reporters, “Whatever they did wrong\u2026it’s not acceptable to us.”<\/p>\n The Youth Imam: Resist “by any means necessary”<\/p>\n In New York, the Muslim American Society recently signed onto a letter<\/a> to challenge “unmistakably Islamophobic, anti-Black, and xenophobic” attacks on Mamdani. Signatories included CAIR National, the Council on American-Islamic Relations\u2019 New York chapter, Islamic Circle of North America\u2019s New York chapter, the Islamic Center of Five Towns, Muslim American Society of New York, Muslim Community Network, Rockaway Islamic Center, and a “Syosset Muslim Community.”<\/p>\n Members of the Muslim American Society have long been quick to accuse others of Islamophobia even as they unabashedly call for violence against their perceived enemies.<\/p>\n At an Eid celebration earlier this year, a cleric at the Muslim American Society, cast Muslims as victims worldwide. Mohammad Badawi, youth director at the Muslim American Society, declared<\/a> the local community\u2019s joy would only be complete when Muslims are “victorious worldwide,” adding they would celebrate “after the destruction of the illegitimate Zionist occupiers,” Israel.<\/p>\n He regularly<\/a>\u00a0organizes<\/a> anti-Israel protests in a campaign against “injustice and oppression.” At one protest, Badawi urged youth to “fight back<\/a>” against injustices “by any means necessary.”<\/p>\n The Street Protester: “Globalize the intifada”<\/p>\n Abdullah Akl, a charismatic organizer with the Muslim American Society Youth Center, leads many protests under the banner of “Within Our Lifetime,” with founder Nerdeen Kiswani. Mamdani\u00a0<\/a>joined<\/a> them before his run for mayor.<\/p>\n Akl calls<\/a> the street protests “sacred activism,” a mix of faith and resistance that will “free Palestine.” Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, the Muslim American Society Youth Center has organized prayer protests on Wall Street<\/a> outside the New York Stock Exchange, street protests<\/a> for “Nakba Day,” calling the day Israel was created a “catastrophe” and youth-led demonstrations<\/a> outside BlackRock.<\/p>\n Akl turned<\/a> a subway car into a protest zone with chants: “Globalize the intifada\u2026 There is only one solution: intifada revolution.”<\/p>\n When the New York Police Department arrested<\/a> Akl\u00a0and other activists, the Council on American-Islamic Relation\u2019s New York chapter sent out a press release<\/a> demanding their release.<\/p>\n On Oct. 7 protests this year against Israel, Akl shouted<\/a>, “We did not act enough! We will show up, stronger than we did the first October 7th!” In response to criticism, he posted<\/a> a message on social media, doubling down and saying, “Saying we didn\u2019t act enough to stop a full blown genocide against palestinians [sic] is incitement?? Saying we need to be louder and protest more and continue to speak up for gaza [sic] is a crime? Zionist tears once again for the most documented genocide in modern history.”<\/p>\n CAIR: \u2018We will teach these folks a lesson’<\/p>\n For decades, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has served as an aggressive and litigious watchdog for a host of Muslim figures and causes, often at the forefront of fighting legitimate bigotry. But CAIR has also courted controversy. Federal prosecutors named<\/a> CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal terrorism-financing case against the Holy Land Foundation, a nonprofit based in Texas. In 2008, five Holy Land leaders were convicted<\/a>\u00a0of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas. Ultimately, no CAIR officials were charged in connection with the case.<\/p>\n Years ago, Mamdani recorded<\/a> rap lyrics celebrating the “Holy Land Five,” urging listeners, “My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look \u2018em up.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations California chapter and one of the founders of a new 501(c)(4) nonprofit, CAIR Action Inc<\/a>. now seems to be pursuing a new and entirely legal means of financing causes, taking a page from the powerful pro-Israel political action committee AIPAC. He told<\/a> a meeting of the Islamic Circle of North America:\u00a0 “AIPAC had its run for 60 years, but it is over now.”<\/p>\n “We will teach these folks a lesson. We are coming.”<\/p>\n “…The game has changed. AIPAC has been around since 1961\u2026and now they have a formidable foe!”<\/p>\n The Former Al-Jazeera Host: \u2018Make American Planes Crash Again\u2019<\/p>\n This summer, Mehdi Hasan, a former host at Qatar\u2019s Al Jazeera TV network, sat down<\/a> with Mamdani for a sympathetic interview. As the campaign heated up, Hasan became a full-time defender on social media, swatting at critics and framing Mamdani as the right kind<\/a> of provocateur, a “once in a generation political talent.”<\/p>\n Mehdi Hasan speaks onstage during the Crooked Media – Lovett or Leave It: Live on Tour, on April 25, 2024 in Washington, DC (Paul Morigi\/Getty Images for Crooked Media)<\/p>\n Hasan\u2019s own record<\/a> includes sermons likening non-Muslims to “animals” and comparing gay people to “sexual deviants.” He has said his views have become more progressive since then.<\/p>\n After a series of plane crashes earlier this year, Hasan wrote<\/a> on social media, “Make American Planes Crash Again.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He deleted the message amid criticism and said, “I deleted this sarcastic quote-tweet because MAGA and Islamophobic folks are clipping it out of context and trying to ridiculously suggest I\u2019m inciting violence. I was obviously mocking the MAGA slogan \u2018Make America\u2026 Again\u2019 slogan and highlighting the shocking number of plane crashes under Trump and the FAA cuts. But this tweet was in poor taste, poorly worded, and has allowed people in bad faith to call me a terrorist\u2026”<\/p>\n The Global Imam: Read \u2018The Hoax of the Holocaust\u2019<\/p>\n Yasir Qadhi, a high-profile American imam and founder of the AlMaghrib Institute and MuslimMatters.com, selling the puritanical Salafi interpretation of Islam, literally wrote the book on “Understanding Salafism.”<\/a> Recently, he posted<\/a> a two-part thread on X endorsing the idea of Mamdani\u2019s win as a “civilizational victory.”<\/p>\n Yasir Qadhi, a high-profile American imam and founder of the AlMaghrib Institute and MuslimMatters.com, has encouraged support for Mamdani for his “courageous stand against Zionism,\u2019 among other things. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n He urged Muslim Americans to move beyond “naive” religious critiques of politicians who are more socially progressive than they are comfortable.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Qadhi once mocked<\/a> European Jews as “white, crooked nose, blonde hairs” and “not a Semitic people.” In the same lecture, he recommended<\/a> a book, “The Hoax of the Holocaust.”<\/p>\n Most recently, he has backed<\/a> the controversial Muslim housing development outside Dallas, called “EPIC City.” He noted in his Instagram post: “open to non-Americans as well.”<\/p>\n He touted some of its features: “Islamic schools, college, masjid.”<\/p>\n The Popular Chaplain: Build \u2018Our Own Space\u2019<\/p>\n Imam Khalid Latif is a popular chaplain at the Islamic Center of New York City<\/a>, a $22 million project to build a hub and “our own space” on Sixth Avenue for young Muslim professionals. He endorsed Mamdani earlier this year and has been an ardent supporter. He has called him “a bearer of compassion in a time where it is far too rare.”<\/p>\n Imam Khalid Latif, shown here speaking at Lincoln Center in 2022, is the chaplain at the Islamic Center of New York City. He endorsed Mamdani earlier this year. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld) (Getty Images)<\/p>\n In 2012, Latif led a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that included Omar Mateen<\/a>, who would later murder 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest anti-LGBTQ attack in U.S. history. He has denied radicalizing Mateen and he hasn\u2019t faced the same type of allegations that surround other imams.<\/p>\n After the backlash to Mamdani\u2019s meeting with Wahhaj, he posted<\/a>: “Happy birthday to my brother Zohran\u2026 Keep showing them who we are by showing them who you are.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He invoked the divine to bless Mamdani\u2019s mission, revealing the fusion of religion and politics for the Mamdani God Squad: “May your 34th year be one of clarity, courage, and closeness \u2014 to your purpose, your people, and your Creator,” ending with the Arabic word for amen, “Ameen.”<\/p>\n On Monday, Latif posted a sassy video from the Muslim Democratic Club of New York with a narration, “The name is Mamdani, M-a-m-d-a-n-i,” with Latif mouthing the part where the narration turns to, “You should learn how to say it.”<\/p>\n That day, Latif delivered a speech to support Mamdani, pivoting to allege Mamdani was now a victim of “anti-Black racism,” saying, “Anti-Muslim sentiment is always” a symbol of “anti-Black racism.”<\/p>\n The \u2018Home Girl in a Hijab\u2019 from Brooklyn: \u2018I wish I could take their vagina away\u2019<\/p>\n In a glowing portrait<\/a>, The New York Times called Palestinian American political organizer Linda Sarsour a “Brooklyn home girl in a hijab.” Over almost a decade, she has been a political mentor to Mamdani, inviting him into the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, which she cofounded. She later endorsed his race for the New York General Assembly, which he won.<\/p>\n Activist Linda Sarsour speaks earlier this year at the Lights for Liberty vigil held in protest of the Trump admionistration’s ICE actions. (Photo by Erik McGregor\/LightRocket via Getty Images) ((Photo by Erik McGregor\/LightRocket via Getty Images)Imga)<\/p>\n All the while, she has been a polarizing figure, once saying about two critics, author and ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali and activist Brigitte Gabriel, “I wish I could take their vagina away\u00a0 – they don\u2019t deserve to be women.” Ali is a survivor of female genital mutilation, a practice that involves cutting the clitoris of a young girl with the idea that it will inhibit sexual promiscuity.<\/p>\n As a co-founder of the Women\u2019s March, Sarsour stepped down<\/a> amid criticism for alleged ant-semitism and not welcoming Jewish feminists who support the state of Israel, or “Zionists.”<\/p>\n![\"Mansour](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mansoural-hadj.jpg\")
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