New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani invoked Islam’s Hijrah — a concept he framed as a religious model for migration — as he rolled out a sanctuary-related executive order Friday, drawing backlash from critics who accused him of using religious doctrine to justify mass migration and shield illegal immigrants from federal enforcement.

Mamdani announced the order at his first Interfaith Breakfast at the New York Public Library, accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of “visit[ing] terror upon our neighbors,” and likening their presence to riders arriving “atop a pale horse.”

“We will make it clear once again ICE will not be able to enter New York City property without a judicial warrant,” Mamdani said, citing schools, shelters, and hospitals.

However, the New York Post reported the order “doesn’t appear to do anything more to protect New Yorkers than what is already on the books.”

Mamdani then moved from policy to theology.

“I consider my own faith, Islam, a religion built upon a narrative of migration,” Mamdani said. “The story of the hijrah reminds us that Prophet Muhammad was a stranger too, who fled Mecca and was welcomed in Medina.”

He cited Surah An-Nahl 16:42 — “As for those who immigrated in the cause of Allah after being persecuted, We will surely bless them with a good home in this world” — and then quoted a saying attributed to Muhammad: “Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.”

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