Left-leaning socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani appeared this week with Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, a gay-hating Islamic figure who was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has previously been linked to extremist rhetoric, including calls for “jihad” in the United States.
Mamdani, who is considered a leading Democratic contender in the race, was photographed smiling and standing beside Wahhaj at the imam’s Bedford-Stuyvesant mosque. The image was posted to Mamdani’s X account a day after the first mayoral debate.
Also appearing in the photo was Councilman Yusef Salaam (D-Manhattan), a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” who was elected to the City Council in November 2023.
“Today at Masjid At-Taqwa, I had the pleasure of meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century. I was also joined by CM @dr_yusefsalaam of Harlem. A beautiful Jummah,” he wrote of the weekly prayer.
Wahhaj, 75, who leads the Muslim Alliance in North America, was identified by federal prosecutors as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people. He has publicly defended those convicted in the attack, at one point referring to the FBI and CIA as the “real terrorists.”
The imam has denied any involvement in terrorism and has maintained that he does not support violence.
During later court proceedings, Wahhaj testified on behalf of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric known as the “blind sheikh” and leader of a militant Islamist group, describing him as a “respected scholar.”
According to a foreign intelligence assessment obtained by the New York Post, Wahhaj—born Jeffrey Kearse—delivered a sermon in the early 2000s calling for an army of 10,000 men to wage what he described as a nonviolent “jihad” on New York City.
“I pray one day Allah will bless us to raise an army, and I’m serious about this,” he said during the sermon, while urging his followers, “Don’t pick up a gun, no. Just march. March through the city of New York.”
“Let them hear your voice. Let them hear it at night. Let them hear it 24 hours, until the whole city can’t sleep,” he added.
“We were very close, recently. We had made intention to raise an army of 10,000 men in New York City,” the imam said.
“Muslim men to go fight in the way of subhanahu wa ta’ala,” he added, using a phrase that roughly translates to “glory be to Allah.”
“The evidence demonstrates that Mamdani’s political trajectory has not only been supported by activist movements but also reinforced by endorsements and alliances noted in figures with a documented history of extremist views and activities, posing a direct national security threat to New York City and the U.S.,” the intel assessment said, according to The Post.
Wahhaj has also lambasted the LGBTQ community as “a disease of this society,” the report said.
“And you know, brothers and sisters, you know what the punishment is, if a man is found with another man?” he said during a sermon that was first reported by Islamist Watch in 2017.
“The Prophet Mohammad said the one who does it and the one to whom it is done to, kill them both,” he added.
Wahhaj did discourage his followers from engaging in direct violence against the LGBTQ community, the assessment said, but suggested they “invite them to Islam and make them feel comfortable.”
Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa said of his far-left rival: “The fact that Mamdani stands with this imam is disqualifying.”
He added: “New York needs a mayor who protects New Yorkers from terrorism, not embraces terrorists.”
