Invocation by Imam Khalid @ Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Inauguration

I believe the sentiments expressed in this speech reflect ideals we can all benefit from as we shape a new political landscape for America.

I present this invocation speech as an example of the heart and character of one of New York City's Islamic community leaders, and his hopes for the administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Transcript:

Let us pray. Yā Allāh, yā Raḥmān, yā Raḥīm, yā Arḥam al-Rāḥimīn. (Translation: O God, O Most Merciful, O Most Compassionate, O Most Merciful of those who show mercy.)

Most merciful of those who show mercy, we turn to you on this day from our city with hopeful hearts.

Thank you for this moment. Thank you for the amazing individuals you have gathered here, diverse in color, language, journey, and name, but united in purpose, stitched together by shared hopes, all yearning to build something meaningful, lasting, and rooted in love, dignity, respect, and justice. No longer for the few, but for all.

We come before you, mindful that moments like this do not arrive on their own. They are carried forward by sacrifice, by organizing, by courage, by people who refuse to accept that the way things were was the way they had to remain.

So we come knowing that this day stands on the shoulders of so many who were told to wait their turn, to quiet their demands, to lower their expectations, but instead chose to believe that another New York was possible.

We recognize that belief is not abstract. It was practiced by tenants organizing against displacement, by workers demanding fair wages, by parents advocating for their children’s futures, by communities who kept showing up even when the odds said they should not.

We gather today with hearts shaped by this city, by its noise and its neighborhoods, by its subways and sanctuaries, by the dreams carried in many languages and the prayers whispered on crowded blocks.

We thank you for New York City, for a place that has taught the world how difference can become strength, how survival can become solidarity, how strangers can become neighbors. And for being a place that taught us that a young immigrant, democratic socialist, Muslim can be bold enough to run and brave enough to win.

Not by abandoning conviction, but by standing firmly within it. Not by shrinking who he is, but by trusting that authenticity can move a city toward justice.

We thank you for the beautiful diversity of this city, for a people formed across continents and generations, across race and religion, culture and class.

Teach us to never see that diversity as something to manage or fear, but as a sacred trust, a collective inheritance that expands our moral imagination and strengthens our shared future.

On this day of transition and responsibility, we ask you to bless this moment of leadership and all who are entrusted with the weight of public service.

Grant wisdom to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and remind him that leadership is not about power, but about proximity—to the people who struggle, to the voices too often ignored, to the lives behind the statistics.

Keep him close to the realities of this city:
to the family doubling up in a one-bedroom apartment because rent has outpaced wages,
to the home health aide commuting hours each day to care for others while struggling to afford care for themselves,
to the public school student navigating overcrowded classrooms,
to the small business owner choosing between closing their doors or passing rising costs onto neighbors who already have too little.

Bless him with the courage to remain grounded, the humility to keep learning, and the strength to lead with principle, even when the pressure to compromise is loud.

Let his leadership reflect the movements and communities that made this moment possible, and never let him forget that this office exists to serve the people, not to rise above them.

We lift up all those who came together to make what many said could never happen, happen. Organizers and volunteers. Neighbors who spoke to neighbors. Young people who believe their voices matter. Elders who remembered past struggles and recognized this moment as part of a longer arc.

Bless those who knocked on doors in the cold, who stood on street corners with clipboards in hope, who had difficult conversations rooted in love, and who chose participation over despair.

Let the spirit that carried this moment forward not fade after today, but deepen and endure.

Make this city affordable for the families who built it and the workers who sustain it. Let no one have to choose between rent and dignity, between medicine and meals, between staying and surviving.

We lift before you those living paycheck to paycheck in the shadow of unimaginable wealth, those working multiple jobs yet still one emergency away from crisis, those whose labor keeps the city moving but whose lives feel increasingly pushed to the margins.

Let justice not be a slogan, but a structure.
Let equity not be a promise, but a practice.
Let policy be shaped by compassion and budgets reflective of our values.

Protect the most vulnerable among us—our children and elders, our immigrants and asylum seekers, our unhoused neighbors, our workers, our artists, our caregivers, and the students who keep the city alive.

Heal what has been broken by neglect and greed. Soften hearts hardened by fear.

Replace cynicism with courage and despair with collective hope.

And let that hope be something we practice daily, not something we push back. Let it live in our policies, our streets, our schools, and our systems.

Teach us that hope is not passive. It is built through accountability, through care, and through a refusal to abandon one another.

Remind all New Yorkers, those born here and those who arrived yesterday, that the city belongs to all of us and that our liberation is bound together.

Help us show up for one another, not just in moments of crisis, but in the long, patient work of care.

Teach us that the city we pray for is the city we must also build, and make this administration—and all of us who call this place home—a means of mercy, a force for fairness, and a reflection of your justice in this world.

Let this moment be not an ending, but a beginning.

Let what was once thought impossible become the standard by which we measure our future.

And let New York City continue to show the world what is possible when people believe in one another—and continue to show that respect, dignity, and compassion are no longer for the few, but for all.

Amen.