Old video shows Indonesian imam at 9/11 prayer service, not Mamdani's supposed inauguration

Published on November 28, 2025 at 05:39
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

After Zohran Mamdani was elected as New York City's first Muslim mayor in November, social media posts shared an old video falsely claiming it shows an Indonesian imam living in the United States reciting the Koran at his inauguration. But Mamdani would take the oath in January 2026, and the video was taken at a prayer service held after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"For the first time, the inauguration of the Mayor of New York was opened with a Koran recitation by an Indonesian imam, Shamsi Ali (an alumnus of a Muhammadiyah boarding school), who now serves as a senior imam in New York," reads the Indonesian-language caption on a Facebook video posted on November 6, 2025.

The video shows Ali, a Muslim scholar based in New York, standing at a podium and reciting the Koran in Arabic (archived link).

Screenshot of the false post taken on November 25, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The clip appeared after Mamdani became the first Muslim elected as New York's mayor on November 4 in a landslide victory -- taking 50 percent of the ballots cast compared to his opponent Andrew Cuomo, who got just shy of 42 percent (archived here and here).

Before Mamdani cast his vote, Ali had met and offered a prayer to him, according to a post on the imam's verified Instagram page (archived link).

The self-described Democratic socialist's victory came in the face of fierce attacks on his policies and his Muslim heritage from business elites, conservative media commentators and from US President Donald Trump himself.

However, many outside the United States celebrated his win, including in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population (archived here and here).

This post also spread on TikTok.

Comments indicated some users believed the claim.

"God is great," one user wrote, while another commented, "Thank God for this."

But Mamdani's inauguration isn't until January 2026, according to New York City's charter, and the video circulating of the imam is old (archived link).

Post-9/11 prayer service

Around the two-minute mark of the video, text displayed in the video's chyron reads "New York City Prayer Service" held at Yankee Stadium in New York.

A Google keyword search led to a clip that US Public affairs broadcaster C-SPAN published on its official website with the title "New York City September 11 Prayer Service (2001)" on September 23, 2001 (archived link).

"Religious leaders represented Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu faiths. The ceremony also featured both sacred and patriotic music," its description reads.

Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the C-SPAN video from 2001 (right)

Ali can be seen at the 2:14:25 mark.

The imam also responded to the false video in a post on his verified Instagram page on November 7, confirming that the recording of him praying is from 2001 (archived link).

"So the Koran recitation has nothing to do with Zohran Mamdani," Shamsi said in his Instagram post.

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about incoming mayor Mamdani.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail