Who is Siraj Wahhaj? Zohran Mamdani under fire for posing with Imam linked to 1993 World Trade Center attack
Zohran Mamdani is being blasted by survivors of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing for his smiling photo with a controversial imam, Siraj Wahhaj.
Zohran Mamdani is being blasted by survivors of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing for his smiling photo with a controversial imam federal prosecutors believed was a “co-conspirator” in the attack. The 34-year-old mayoral candidate shared a photo of himself with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, 75, referring to him as a “leader and pillar” of the Muslim community in Brooklyn and across the country.
Mamdani posted the photo of X, captioning it, “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.”
Who is Imam Siraj Wahhaj?
Wahhaj has a controversial past. Even though he was never charged in the attack, he came under scrutiny from federal investigators after it was revealed that some of the men behind it had attended his mosque, according to the New York Post. While prosecutors believed he had some sort of involvement in the attack, they did not have the evidence to charge him.
Some went on to criticize the investigation, noting that its scope of suspects was too broad, as reported by the New York Times. Wahhaj, too, has maintained his innocence. However, he later defended some of the attackers, and said the FBI and CIA were the “real terrorists.”
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Wahhaj is known for having made statements supporting Islamic laws over liberal democracy. He has also shown support for capital punishments like stoning for adultery and cutting off hands for thievery.
"Islam is better than democracy. Allah will cause his deen [Islam as a complete way of life], Islam to prevail over every kind of system, and you know what? It will happen,” Wahhaj had said.
He had also said, “If Allah says 100 strikes, 100 strikes it is. If Allah says cut off their hand, you cut off their hand. If Allah says stone them to death, through the Prophet Muhammad, then you stone them to death, because it’s the obedience of Allah and his messenger—nothing personal."
‘It shows a stunning lack of understanding of what New Yorkers lived through’
Critics have now called out Mamdani for posing with Wahhaj. “Nobody should minimize what happened,” said former Port Authority executive director Stan Brezenoff, whose offices were in the World Trade Center when Islamic extremists detonated a car bomb in the North Tower’s parking garage. Six people died in the attack, and more than a thousand were wounded.
“It was a hellish experience dwarfed by the unimaginable atrocity on 9/11,” he told the New York Post.
The hospitals were overwhelmed,” Brezenoff said, recalling that the towers were closed “for months” and that when they did reopen, workers were too scared to return.
“People didn’t want to go back to work,” he added. “There was trepidation.”
“These incidents are very personal to people in New York. They are our family members, our friends, our neighbors, people we care about,” said 69-year-old Maria Danzilo, whose sister was in the North Tower during the attack and managed to flee through a smoke-filled stairwell.
“Why trigger people like this? It seems unnecessary. Don’t you want to heal the past? Do we really want to make people so upset? It just seems like it’s not good for the city after so many terrible things have happened,” Danzilo added.
Danzilo also took to X to criticize Mamdani. “My sister was in the 1993 WTC bombing – trapped on a high floor, forced to climb down smoke-filled stairs,” she wrote. “She suffered serious smoke inhalation and lasting trauma. She left New York City because she just couldn’t work in the Trade Center after the attack, got a job transfer and relocated to the DC area. On 9/11 she was one block from the Pentagon when the plane struck, saw it happen, and was further traumatized by another close call. I thank God I still have my sister, but I lost several friends in the WTC attack on 9/11 and continue to mourn them to this day. So many people I know have stories to tell like mine.”
“These weren’t abstract “events“ for so many New Yorkers. They were life changing events,” Danzilo continued.
She added, “For Mamdani and @dr_yusefsalaam to stand with an unindicted co-conspirator in the ‘ 93 attack is deeply insensitive and shameful. It shows a stunning lack of understanding of what New Yorkers lived through and continue to live through. To laugh and smile like they are enjoying acting in such a menacing way is especially reprehensible.”
Port Authority’s current Police Benevolent Association president Frank Conti also slammed Mamdani. “Anyone who votes, supports or endorses Mamdani must suffer from a critical memory lapse of the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,” said Conti. “What happened to the New York City mantra, ‘Never Forget’?”
