New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani highlighted Islam’s long-standing tradition of compassion and sanctuary and invoked Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) Hijrah as a moral framework for welcoming migrants and offering sanctuary in US immigration policy.
Speaking at his first annual interfaith breakfast on Friday, Mamdani described how faith traditions welcome “the stranger.”
Referring to Islam, he said it is a faith “built upon a narrative of migration,” highlighting the Hijrah — the Prophet Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Medina — as a critical moment in Islamic history.
“I consider my own faith, Islam, a religion built upon a narrative of migration,” Mamdani said. “The story of the Hijrah reminds us that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a stranger too. He fled Mecca and was welcomed in Medina.”
Mamdani framed the historical episode as a lesson in how societies respond to people escaping persecution, suggesting it offers a powerful lens through which to view contemporary debates around immigration and asylum.
Quoting Islamic scripture, he cited the Qur’an and hadith:
“Surah An-Nahl 16:42 tells us: ‘As for those who emigrated in the cause of Allah after being persecuted, we will surely bless them with a good home in this world,'”
“Or, as the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: ‘Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.’”
“If faith offers us the moral compass to stand alongside the stranger,” Mamdani said, “government can provide the resources.”
Backlash and praise for comments
The remarks triggered a furious backlash from far-right and Islamophobic commentators online, coming amid a broader climate of hostility toward Muslims and migrants in parts of the US political right.
Supporters, however, viewed Mamdani’s comments as a bold intervention that pushes back against a growing wave of intolerance.
Mamdani announced an executive order he said would protect New Yorkers from what he described as “abusive immigration enforcement” by the Trump administration, reaffirming the city’s commitment to sanctuary laws.
“ICE is more than a rogue agency — it is a manifestation of the abuse of power,” Mamdani said.
He accused federal immigration officials of spreading “terror upon our neighbours” and inflicting “cruelty that staggers the conscience.”
Mamdani also paid tribute to immigration activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in confrontations with ICE and Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis last month, describing them as examples of people who “cared for the stranger” at the cost of their own lives.
