{"id":32785,"date":"2025-11-02T00:04:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T00:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32785"},"modified":"2025-11-02T00:04:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T00:04:03","slug":"mamdanis-god-squad-the-clerics-activists-and-political-operatives-who-have-his-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32785","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani\u2019s God Squad: The clerics, activists and political operatives who have his back"},"content":{"rendered":"

When New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani stepped to the microphone outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx last week near Yankee Stadium, his voice broke as he spoke about \u2018the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after Sept. 11 because she did not feel safe.\u2019
\nBehind him, a Yemeni-American educator in sunglasses named Debbie Almontaser nodded. Almost two decades ago, in 2007, she was forced to resign as principal of a city school after defending a T-shirt with the slogan \u2018Intifada NYC.\u2019 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 of \u2018Islamophobia.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now, Almontaser was back, this time as a senior advisor to Emgage Action\u00a0and a board member of Yemeni American Merchants Association Action, two of 110 political nonprofits, community groups and political action committees backing Mamdani as he alleges \u2018islamophobia\u2019 against him. Recently, when critics questioned Mamdani\u2019s ties to hardline Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, she\u00a0sprang to action, helping to organize a protest to defend Wahhaj.\u00a0
\nThat 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.
\nMamdani\u2019s background diverges from many of his co-religionists. In an interview, he said he is a Khoja Shia\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.
\n\u2018It\u2019s a sophisticated fusion of religion, politics and identity,\u2019 said Mansour Al-Hadj, a Washington-based researcher on Muslim political movements and extremism. \u2018The same networks that once focused on community services are now mobilizing voters and producing candidates. This is how political Islam adapts inside democracy.\u2019
\nMamdani\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

Mamdani set off a firestorm on Oct. 7 when he walked into Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn and later posted a photo of himself beaming beside the mosque\u2019s imam, or prayer leader, Siraj Wahhaj.
\nThe imam\u2019s checkered past goes back decades. In a 1992 talk, he said American Muslims should elect an \u2019emir\u2019 rather than choose between George Bush and Bill Clinton. Soon after, he served as a character witness in the trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called \u2018Blind Sheikh\u2019 convicted for plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.\u00a0
\n\u2018You know what this country is?\u2019 Wahhaj said in 1995. \u2018It\u2019s a garbage can. Filthy. Filthy and sick.\u2019
\nIn 2018, three of Wahhaj\u2019s children\u00a0were arrested 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 local news reporters, \u2018Whatever they did wrong\u2026it\u2019s not acceptable to us.\u2019<\/p>\n

In New York, the Muslim American Society recently signed onto a letter to challenge \u2018unmistakably Islamophobic, anti-Black, and xenophobic\u2019 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 \u2018Syosset Muslim Community.\u2019<\/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.
\nAt 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 the local community\u2019s joy would only be complete when Muslims are \u2018victorious worldwide,\u2019 adding they would celebrate \u2018after the destruction of the illegitimate Zionist occupiers,\u2019 Israel.
\nHe regularly\u00a0organizes anti-Israel protests in a campaign against \u2018injustice and oppression.\u2019 At one protest, Badawi urged youth to \u2018fight back\u2019 against injustices \u2018by any means necessary.\u2019
\nThe Street Protester: \u2018Globalize the intifada\u2019
\nAbdullah Akl, a charismatic organizer with the Muslim American Society Youth Center, leads many protests under the banner of \u2018Within Our Lifetime,\u2019 with founder Nerdeen Kiswani. Mamdani\u00a0joined them before his run for mayor.
\nAkl calls the street protests \u2018sacred activism,\u2019 a mix of faith and resistance that will \u2018free Palestine.\u2019 Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, the Muslim American Society Youth Center has organized prayer protests on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange, street protests for \u2018Nakba Day,\u2019 calling the day Israel was created a \u2018catastrophe\u2019 and youth-led demonstrations outside BlackRock.<\/p>\n

Akl turned a subway car into a protest zone with chants: \u2018Globalize the intifada\u2026 There is only one solution: intifada revolution.\u2019
\nWhen the New York Police Department arrested Akl\u00a0and other activists, the Council on American-Islamic Relation\u2019s New York chapter sent out a press release demanding their release.
\nOn Oct. 7 protests this year against Israel, Akl shouted, \u2018We did not act enough! We will show up, stronger than we did the first October 7th!\u2019 In response to criticism, he posted a message on social media, doubling down and saying, \u2018Saying 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.\u2019
\nCAIR: \u2018We will teach these folks a lesson\u2019
\nFor 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 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\u00a0of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas. Ultimately, no CAIR officials were charged in connection with the case.<\/p>\n

Years ago, Mamdani recorded rap lyrics celebrating the \u2018Holy Land Five,\u2019 urging listeners, \u2018My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look \u2018em up.\u2019\u00a0
\nBasim 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. 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 meeting of the Islamic Circle of North America:\u00a0 \u2018AIPAC has had the run for 60 years, but it is over now.\u2019
\n\u2018We will teach these folks a lesson \u2026 we are coming.\u2019
\n\u2018\u2026The game has changed. AIPAC has been around since 1961\u2026and now they have a formidable foe!\u2019
\nThe Former Al-Jazeera Host: \u2018Make American Planes Crash Again\u2019
\nThis summer, Mehdi Hasan, a former host at Qatar\u2019s Al Jazeera TV network, sat down 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 of provocateur, a \u2018once in a generation political talent.\u2019
\nHasan\u2019s own record includes sermons likening non-Muslims to \u2018animals\u2019 and comparing gay people to \u2018sexual deviants.\u2019 He has said his views have become more progressive since then.
\nAfter a series of plane crashes earlier this year, Hasan wrote on social media, \u2018Make American Planes Crash Again.\u2019\u00a0
\nHe deleted the message amid criticism and said, \u2018I 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\u2019
\nThe Global Imam: Read \u2018The Hoax of the Holocaust\u2019
\nYasir 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 \u2018Understanding Salafism.\u2019 Recently, he posted a two-part thread on X endorsing the idea of Mamdani\u2019s win as a \u2018civilizational victory.\u2019
\nHe urged Muslim Americans to move beyond \u2018naive\u2019 religious critiques of politicians who are more socially progressive than they are comfortable.
\nMeanwhile, Qadhi once mocked European Jews as \u2018white, crooked nose, blonde hairs\u2019 and \u2018not a Semitic people.\u2019 In the same lecture, he recommended a book, \u2018The Hoax of the Holocaust.\u2019
\nMost recently, he has backed the controversial Muslim housing development outside Dallas, called \u2018EPIC City.\u2019 He noted in his Instagram post: \u2018open to non-Americans as well.\u2019
\nHe touted some of its features: \u2018Islamic schools, college, masjid.\u2019
\nThe Popular Chaplain: Build \u2018Our Own Space\u2019
\nImam Khalid Latif is a popular chaplain at the Islamic Center of New York City, a $22 million project to build a hub and \u2018our own space\u2019 on Sixth Avenue for young Muslim professionals. He endorsed Mamdani earlier this year and has been an ardent supporter. He has called him \u2018a bearer of compassion in a time where it is far too rare.\u2019
\nIn 2012, Latif led a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that included Omar Mateen, 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.
\nAfter the backlash to Mamdani\u2019s meeting with Wahhaj, he posted: \u2018Happy birthday to my brother Zohran\u2026 Keep showing them who we are by showing them who you are.\u2019\u00a0
\nHe invoked the divine to bless Mamdani\u2019s mission, revealing the fusion of religion and politics for the Mamdani God Squad: \u2018May your 34th year be one of clarity, courage, and closeness \u2014 to your purpose, your people, and your Creator,\u2019 ending with the Arabic word for amen, \u2018Ameen.\u2019
\nOn Monday, Latif posted a sassy video from the Muslim Democratic Club of New York with a narration, \u2018The name is Mamdani, M-a-m-d-a-n-i,\u2019 with Latif mouthing the part where the narration turns to, \u2018You should learn how to say it.\u2019
\nThat day, Latif delivered a speech to support Mamdani, pivoting to allege Mamdani was now a victim of \u2018anti-Black racism,\u2019 saying, \u2018Anti-Muslim sentiment is always\u2019 a symbol of \u2018anti-Black racism.\u2019
\nThe \u2018Home Girl in a Hijab\u2019 from Brooklyn: \u2018I wish I could take their vagina away\u2019
\nIn a glowing portrait, The New York Times called Palestinian American political organizer Linda Sarsour a \u2018Brooklyn home girl in a hijab.\u2019 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.
\nAll the while, she has been a polarizing figure, once saying about two critics, author and ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali and activist Brigitte Gabriel, \u2018I wish I could take their vagina away\u00a0 \u2013 they don\u2019t deserve to be women.\u2019 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.
\nAs a co-founder of the Women\u2019s March, Sarsour stepped down amid criticism for alleged ant-semitism and not welcoming Jewish feminists who support the state of Israel, or \u2018Zionists.\u2019
\nAt a rally on Sunday night with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Imam Latif\u00a0told\u00a013,000 people: \u2018This is our city. This is our moment.\u2019
\nSome Muslims beg to differ.\u00a0
\n\u2018It\u2019s not our moment,\u2019 said Al-Hadj.\u00a0
\n\u2018Across the boroughs, the Mamdani God Squad is banging a drumbeat of grievance after grievance, from Staten Island to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Long Island,\u2019 he said. \u2018Across the city\u2019s Muslim institutions, you hear the same drumbeat: They smeared us. They silenced us. They fear us.\u2019.
\nHe added, \u2018In that rising volume, something is lost: Muslim pluralism. The God Squad does not speak for every Muslim in New York\u2014nor for every Shia, every Sunni, every immigrant family, or every second-generation kid trying to thread faith and freedom. It speaks for a coalition committed to illiberal ends, with socialist capture of city politics on the one hand and puritanical religious rhetoric on the other. They insist that to oppose them is to betray the community, so they actually push their own tyranny.\u2019\u00a0
\nWin or lose next week, Al-Hadj said, the Mamdani God Squad had actualized the words that had gotten Almontaser into so much trouble years ago: \u2018Intifada NYC.\u2019<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"When New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani stepped to the microphone outside the Islamic Cultural…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[230,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}