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New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani offered up a clarification on Monday about an anecdote that sparked controversy on social media related to an anecdote he told about his “aunt” not using the subway in New York City due to post-9/11 Islamophobia.
“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters on Monday, using the term “fuhi” which the New York Post reported means paternal aunt in Hindi and Urdu, after social media users had raised questions about the veracity of his story.
“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani, fighting back tears, told a crowd on October 24 while outlining his concerns about Islamophobia and suggesting that criticisms of his anti-Israel positions are rooted in a disdain toward his Muslim faith.
Shortly after that clip hit the internet, a wave of criticism hit from conservatives and internet sleuths who poked holes in the story and suggested Mamdani had embellished it, pointing to his one direct biological aunt, Dr. Masuma Mamdani, listing on her LinkedIn that she worked and presumably lived in Tanzania from January 2000 to December 2003. Additionally, publicly available photos of Masuma Mamdani don’t show her wearing a hijab.
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. ( Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
The controversy reached the White House in the form of a post on X from Vice President JD Vance who expressed skepticism about the story.
“According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks,” the vice president wrote.
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks during an interview on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” at on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Mamdani’s father Mahmood, who Zohran Mamdani says is the cousin of the deceased aunt, has faced criticism during the campaign for his past controversial statements as a professor at Columbia University, including a claim that Hitler was inspired by Abraham Lincoln, which resurfaced on social media in recent days.
Mahmood Mamdani also sits on the advisory council of an anti-Israel organization that supports boycotts and sanctions of Israel, and routinely accuses the Israeli government of committing “genocide”, Digital reported this summer.
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, spoke to supporters at a canvass launch event in Prospect Park on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/ Digital)
“Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,” the elder Mamdani wrote in his 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror.
“We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier.”
Zohran Mamdani has pushed back in recent days against critics of his various anti-Israel policies and statements dating back to his time in college and suggested that those criticisms are rooted in anti-Muslim bigotry.
“The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker,” Mamdani posted on X on Friday with a video that was viewed at least 24 million times. “And yet, for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that, and endure hatred and bigotry in the shadows. No more.”
