The new mayor used a centuries-old manuscript connected to Arturo Schomburg’s groundbreaking historical work on African and Muslim cultures
More Than a Religious Text
When Zohran Mamdani placed his hand on a historic Quran to take the oath of office as New York City’s mayor, he selected a document whose meaning extends far beyond religious practice. The manuscript, dating to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and produced during the Ottoman period in Syria and surrounding territories, represents a crucial junction point between Black history, Islamic scholarship, and the global story of Muslims in America.
The Schomburg Collection and Historical Significance
The Quran that Mamdani used comes from the collections of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, one of the nation’s most important archives documenting African American history and global contributions of people of African descent. The center was built on the collection assembled by Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican historian born in the 1870s to parents of German and Afro-Caribbean descent who immigrated to New York and became a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Schomburg’s vision included documenting and preserving evidence of the historical relationship between Islam and Black cultures in the United States and across Africa. How this particular Quran came into Schomburg’s possession remains unclear, but scholars believe it reflects his broader intellectual commitment to understanding Black history as inseparable from Islamic civilization and African cultural heritage.
A Modest Manuscript, Profound Meaning
The physical characteristics of the Quran emphasize its accessibility rather than its ornamental value. Unlike elaborate religious manuscripts associated with royalty or elites, this copy features a simple deep red binding with a modest floral medallion and is written in black and red ink. The minute naskh script and plain presentation suggest it was created for everyday use rather than ceremonial display. Hiba Abid, the New York Public Library’s curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, emphasized that the importance of this Quran lies not in luxury but in accessibility. That a working person could own such a text, that ordinary believers could study the Quran in their homes, gives the manuscript its contemporary relevance to Mamdani’s campaign message about accessibility and serving working people.
Continuity with Other Muslim Leaders
Mamdani joins a small number of American political leaders sworn in with the Quran. In 2006, U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, faced significant condemnation from conservative critics after choosing to use a Quran for his ceremonial oath. That moment became a flashpoint in national debates about Islam in American political life. Mamdani’s selection echoes Ellison’s choice while updating it with a deeper historical narrative about Black Muslims and Islamic scholarship in America. For comprehensive information about Islam in American history and contemporary Muslim political participation, see the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ extensive research and advocacy resources.
The Quran’s Future Public Role
Following Mamdani’s inauguration, the historic Quran will be returned to the New York Public Library where it will be placed on public display. Curators hope that the ceremony’s attention will encourage New Yorkers to explore the library’s collections documenting Islamic life in the city, ranging from early twentieth-century Armenian and Arabic music recorded in New York to firsthand accounts of Islamophobia following the September 11 attacks. For more information on the collections and research available at the Schomburg Center, see the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s official website. For historical documentation of Islamic cultures and their contributions to American society, see the Library of Congress’s vast collection of historical materials. The library emphasizes that this manuscript was meant to be used by ordinary readers when it was originally produced, and today it lives in a public library where any New Yorker can encounter it and learn from it. That accessibility represents a core value both of Arturo Schomburg’s historical vision and of Mamdani’s political platform. The manuscript’s journey through time and across oceans mirrors Mamdani’s own layered identity as a South Asian New Yorker born in Uganda, whose wife is American-Syrian, and whose political vision reflects the multicultural reality of contemporary New York City.
