New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani attempted to clarify on Monday details about an emotional anecdote that drew national scrutiny, saying his comments about “Islamophobia” referred to a relative he described as his late cousin. The clarification followed online backlash and growing doubts over the socialist politician’s story, now known widely as the Mamdani clarifies controversy.
“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters, explaining that “fuhi” means paternal aunt in Hindi and Urdu. The clarification came after social media users questioned his earlier claim that his “aunt” stopped riding the subway after 9/11 due to Islamophobia. Public records and online profiles showed his only biological aunt, Dr. Masuma Mamdani, worked in Tanzania from 2000 to 2003 and did not appear to wear a hijab.
The dispute over the anecdote spread quickly online after Mamdani’s Oct. 24 speech, where he said, “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.” Vice President JD Vance weighed in, posting, “According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.”
The controversy has also renewed attention on Mamdani’s father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, whose past writings and anti-Israel activism have drawn criticism. In his 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, he wrote, “Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.”
Zohran Mamdani has denied embellishing his story and accused critics of anti-Muslim bias, stating on X, “The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker.”
