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Mamdani Uses City Account to Spotlight Schomburg Quran, Now on View at NYPL

As the city’s first Muslim mayor, he framed the gesture as a statement of religious inclusion.

Overview

  • In a post on X, Mayor Zohran Mamdani highlighted that he took his oath on an 18th-century Quran once owned by historian and collector Arturo Schomburg.
  • He described the manuscript as copied in Ottoman-era Syria and written in black ink with red markings, noting it was made for everyday readers.
  • The New York Public Library said the Quran is on display in the McGraw Rotunda at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building beginning Jan. 6.
  • Photos of the exhibit show signage reading “The People’s Qur’an” and images from Mamdani’s midnight swearing-in conducted by Attorney General Letitia James.
  • Mamdani wrote that the manuscript “now belongs to all New Yorkers,” and coverage noted this was his first official use of city channels to spotlight the artifact.