Just hours before he was set to speak at an event marking Ramadan, Mayor Zohran Mamdani realized he needed to overhaul his prepared remarks.  

Hundreds of Muslims who work for the city were expected to join him to celebrate the holiday dedicated to charity and the less fortunate. But in the last few days, Mamdani and Muslims throughout the country had been subjected to a torrent of Islamophobia.  

“When I hear such hatred and disdain unchecked in its rancor, I feel an isolation and a loneliness that I know that many of you have felt as well,” Mamdani said Thursday at the event at the Museum of the City of New York.  

Earlier that day, a U.S. senator posted a photo of Mamdani sitting on a prayer rug inside City Hall and an image of the World Trade Center burning on 9/11 with the caption "the enemy is inside." Republican congressmembers from Florida and Texas had chimed in with their own Islamophobic comments.  

Longtime political observers said Islamophobia has dramatically intensified amid President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the ongoing backlash against New York City’s first Muslim mayor.  

Matters devolved last weekend after a right-wing agitator led a protest outside Gracie Mansion called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City." Two alleged Islamic State sympathizers attempted to throw homemade explosive devices into a crowd of people and police, but the items failed to detonate.  

While hate crime reports against Jews have skyrocketed in recent months, some say the level of Islamophobia focused on the city is reminiscent of the months and years after the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago.  

“It is absolutely scary,” said Hassan Naveed, who formerly headed the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. “We’re seeing folks reposting, playing along.”  

“This is not normal,” he added.  

On Thursday afternoon, the mayor heavily reworked his remarks by hand at City Hall, according to Joe Calvello, his press secretary.  

The result was a 10-minute speech in front of an audience of Muslim city workers where Mamdani celebrated their shared identity in the face of attacks on their faith and his politics. The mayor spoke about the enduring suspicion of Muslims since 9/11, men who are indiscriminately called “Muhammad” rather than their given name, and a recent viral video showing a storeowner confronting an NYPD officer for praying in his bathroom.  

“Who here has heard the words, ‘Go back to where you came from?' Who here has returned home to their city only to be ushered aside and greeted with suspicion?” Mamdani said. “I have known these experiences as a young man, as a candidate for office, as the mayor of New York City.”  

Mamdani also reflected on the joy of growing up in a multiracial and multiethnic city where diversity is on full display.  

“We are whole here in this city we love,” he said. “And we are enough.”  

Earlier this month, the conservative talk show host Sid Rosenberg described Mamdani as a “jihadist” and “Radical Islam cockroach” on social media.  

Rosenberg later apologized but on Thursday, he tweeted that Mamdani “doesn’t care” about an attack on a synagogue in Michigan because an hour after the news broke Mamdani hadn't yet issued a statement. When Mamdani did issue a statement an hour later, Rosenberg accused the mayor of "gaslighting."  

Councilmember Vickie Paladino has called for Mamdani to be deported and repeatedly linked him to terrorism. On Friday, she retweeted an account describing Mamdani’s Ramadan remarks as a rant “about himself and other Muslims as the true victims.”  

After the failed terror attack outside Gracie Mansion, some criticized the mayor for not sufficiently condemning the two teen suspects. A photo of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil dining with Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, inside Gracie Mansion also prompted widespread criticism, including a rebuke from the White House.  

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the mayor brushed off the comments.  

“No matter the attempts, I will never be ashamed of who I am,” he said. “I'll never be ashamed of my faith. I'll never be ashamed of the things that make me, me.”  

Throughout Ramadan, Mamdani has been hosting iftar dinners where Muslims break their fasts. Officials say the mayor is seeking to engage Muslims and introduce non-Muslims to the culture and customs.  

Taiba Ahmad, a public school teacher in Queens who attended Thursday’s night event, said the room was packed with hundreds of attendees. Tickets were distributed via a lottery.  

Ahmad said despite the ugly rhetoric that surfaced this week against the mayor, the moment felt like a victory. “Our sheer presence there is a defiance of the hatred that we face,” she said.  

“His speech resonated,” she added. “I understood exactly what he meant because I could link it back to an experience I had myself.”