Adams event with Muslim leaders billed as campaign rally goes awry

Mayor Adams appeared on the steps of City Hall on Thursday for an event billed by his campaign as a rally where Muslim leaders would endorse him for reelection.

But several of the Muslim clerics in attendance told the Daily News afterward they had no idea the event would be focused on endorsing the mayor. Rather, they said they thought it would be a nonpolitical occasion to commemorate the 1,500th birthday of Muhammad, the prophet Muslims see as the father of their religion.

Some of the clerics even said they don’t, as it turns out, support Adams’ reelection.

“We didn’t come here because we support him,” said Mouhamed Mountakha Sakha, a community leader affiliated with the Islamic Cultural Foundation of America mosque on Staten Island who brought along several members of his congregation. “We were invited here because it’s Prophet Muhammad’s 1,500th birthday, so thinking that we came here to support the mayor — it’s not doing justice to Muslims … Politicians are politicians. Wherever they go, they will show their color.”




https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/09/04/adams-campaign-rally-muslim-leaders/