Mamdani, Tish James Push Mosque Islamophobia Claim But Leave Something Out
What was not warranted was the reflexive rush to an Islamophobia narrative built on selective facts, by officials who knew, or should have known better.
A masked man pulled what appeared to be a gun during Friday prayers at the Muslim Center of New York in Flushing, Queens, on July 4. Worshippers tackled him and held him down until police arrived. The weapon turned out to be a BB gun. Police identified the suspect as Sheikh Haque, 33, of Buffalo.
Haque was charged with weapons possession and menacing. He was not charged with a hate crime. Another detail the police did not emphasize: Haque is Muslim.
That detail did not slow down New York Attorney General Letitia James, who moved immediately to frame the incident as Islamophobia.
James posted on X/Twitter:
Today, a masked individual reached into his pocket to pull out what appeared to be a deadly weapon during Friday Prayers at the Muslim Center.
This is horrific under any circumstances, especially when a community is joining in prayer.
We must stand united against Islamophobia. https://t.co/yGdC3XdcKs
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) July 3, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not use the word Islamophobia, but he used the same fear-and-intimidation frame in his own post.
Mamdani posted on X/Twitter:
Yesterday, during Friday prayers at the Muslim Center of New York in Queens, a man reached for his pocket and congregants saw what looked like a firearm, creating a terrifying situation for Muslim New Yorkers who had gathered to worship.
I’m immensely grateful and relieved that…
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 4, 2026
“Yesterday, during Friday prayers at the Muslim Center of New York in Queens, a man reached for his pocket, and congregants saw what looked like a firearm, creating a terrifying situation for Muslim New Yorkers who had gathered to worship.
I’m immensely grateful and relieved that an MTA employee, a cab driver, and an NYPD officer acted quickly to help ensure no one was hurt. Every New Yorker should be able to observe their religion without fear or intimidation.”
Rep. Grace Meng’s response was notably more measured. She thanked those who intervened and made a point of noting the weapon was a BB gun, not a firearm.
During Friday prayers at the Muslim Center of New York in Flushing, a masked individual pulled what appeared to be a deadly weapon, which turned out to be a BB gun. I’m grateful for the law enforcement individual on the scene and the brave bystanders who took action to disarm this person, who also held him down until police arrived.
Sen. Chuck Schumer joined the chorus, calling it a “potential act of violence in a house of worship” and declaring “Islamophobia is unacceptable,” also without noting that the suspect was Muslim.
But police had not charged a hate crime. They had a weapons possession and menacing case involving a BB gun, a suspect identified as Sheikh Haque, and no clear public explanation for why he was in Flushing or why he disturbed the service.
The omission did not go unnoticed. One user replied directly to Mamdani’s post:
The man who committed this act of violence against Muslims was Muslim.
Mamdani does not say that though because he is a fork-tongued deceiver. https://t.co/EHRTLXQm8V
— Kevin Bass (@kevinnbass) July 5, 2026
The reaction online reflected what many readers were already thinking. The worshippers who tackled Haque acted quickly and deserve credit. So does the NYPD officer, the MTA employee, and the cab driver, Mamdani acknowledged. The incident was real and alarming.
What was not warranted was the reflexive rush to an Islamophobia narrative built on selective facts, by officials who knew, or should have known, that the suspect shared the faith of the people he frightened. That is not advocacy for a community. That is using a community as a prop.
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Comments
Never let a crisis go to waste….
It’s the Emmanuel Way.
I’d give anyone who didn’t publish his religion but did publish his name a pass.
Not bothering to mention that a perp named Sheikh Haque was Muslim is the same order of ellipsis as not bothering to mention that a perp named Laqueesha Jackson was black. There are some lines that everybody can read between.
Upon careful reflection, I have a number of phobias (meaning an irrational fear of something, just to be clear). Stinging insects, spiders and snakes of all kinds set my reptile brain into overdrive. Can’t help it. Its reflexive.
One thing I don’t have an irrational fear of is Islam. I loathe it because of the beliefs and actions of its adherents. Flying planes full of innocent people into skyscrapers and pulling firearms (BB gun? A cop will shoot you just as dead as if you pulled a .45 on him) are just two sides of the same coin.
Muslims cannot coexist with the West. That’s the bottom line. Ain’t no phobia involved in that. Just simple observation.
Spot on. Winston Churchill made similar observations in 1899. Nothing has changed since then.
Exactly. And his words are worthy of repeating:
“ How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
We would do well to remember Jefferson & Adam’s letter to Congress:
[Tripoli’s ambassador to Britain, Abdul Rahman Adja] “…answered us that [their war upon us] was founded on the laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise” [dated March 28, 1786].
Nothing has changed with the jihadis.
And that letter was based on 1100 years of consistency. We’ve added another 240 years of consistency since then.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Clowns to the left us, jokers to the right, stuck in the middle with …..
Let’s start with the fact that the clowns and jokers don’t have a clue what a phobia is. I have Islamophobia and rightly so being a Jew. Any non muslim should have islamophobia given the insanity and violence of many of its practitioners. This is not a bad thing. It is for our own self-preservation.
What the angry black woman and the nutjob nepo baby Ugandan are trying to do is paint this incident as anti-islamic bigotry. I’m sure they’d love the term antisemitism but we got there first as we got to the land of Israel first and we’re not relinquishing either.
I’m sure actual real overt cases of anti-islamic bigotry exist. There are overt cases of most forms of bigotry. Not only was this not one of them but I can’t recall any such cases despite CAIR wailing about them all the time.
I don’t believe the published numbers of cases. There are probably a lot of covert ones but not too many overt ones. My opinion only.
They do exist. I do recall a case recently, though I can’t remember the details. But they’re not nearly as common as CAIR would have us believe. If they were there’d be no need to invent more.
Mind you, it’s possible that this was a hate crime after all. Perhaps Mr Haque thought the mosque worshipers were the wrong kind of Moslem. But that’s just speculation; the most likely answer is that it had nothing to do with religion. That’s why standard police practice is not to charge a hate crime until they investigate and verify the motive.
This is what I was thinking of, and it appears to be a genuine case of a crime motivated by hatred of Moslems. The attackers also hated a bunch of other people, but Moslems were on their list, and they decided to attack the mosque first before moving on to their other planned targets. Thankfully they were stopped at the beginning of their planned spree.
Hard to call it “Islamophobia” though, with all those other groups on the list.
Also, not sure why you have the 2 downvotes. You’re stating facts, and not even being pedantic.
Why is it hard to call it islamophobia? They hated a long list of kinds of people; one of the items on the list was Moslems. Just because someone has hypertension doesn’t mean he can’t also have diabetes and cardiac disease and cancer as well.
The down votes are a couple of Soro’s Basement Boys who monitor comments and get a Nickle a downvote. Or that’s the best we have been able to figure out.
The “rush to Islamophobia” works equally as well as the rush to “racist!” in creating a class of untouchable “victims.”
X has comments stating he was a Muslim that converted to Christianism. Unconfirmed and probably a deflection.
That’s certainly possible, but without any facts to back it up it sounds like wishful thinking by those desperate to find evidence of bigotry against Moslems to counter the very strong and obvious evidence of antisemitism — much of it by Moslems.
Too many are too eager to declare an entrant in the diversity olympics. Everything doesn’t revolve around ‘ists, isms and phobes’. Very often events have jack and squat to do with ‘ists, isms and phobes’ but to a racist race is always ‘the’ factor. I suspect it’s the same for the rest of the ‘ists, isms and phobes’ that the folks who keep those things foremost in their mind will always find them. Not so much b/c they are relevant but as to a starving man a crumb seems like a feast, to someone determined to find it a single glimmer of ‘ists, ism, phobe’ shines like the noon day sun.
Nobody is quite as focused on race as an “anti-racist.”
Letitia James…
New Yawk loves putting idiots in positions of power.
Surely the 3rd.
I assumed they were the congregants who tackled him. Why else would a cab driver or a transport worker be involved?
Hey, it’s New York, that place is so messed up now that the cops may be having to call a cab to respond to calls. 🙂
“Every New Yorker should be able to observe their religion without fear or intimidation.”
Unstated: Unless of course, that religion is Judaism.
No, it’s not one has no fear
Islam
Well, they really don’t want Christians exercising their religion, either.
are we being SPLC’d?
A masked moslem pulls a BB gun out at a mosque. The predictable outrage ensues with claims of islamophobia and victimhood over the incident in which they forget to mention the most important detail. The perpetrator is a moslem. Whatever. Cry me a river. Too many murdered Jews and Christians at the hands of moslems worldwide to make me care what happens to some moslems in a mosque in Queens NY. That is all.
eot
It’s fascinating that in a country that was attacked by Muslims TWICE you are told that you must accept Muslims into the country lest you be called names.
We need LESS Muslims in America, not more.
Islamophobia is kind of like Palestine. Few people know what they are, what they’re doing, or what they mean.
As usual, Letitsia got it wrong: s/b We must stand united against Islamification.
So, on the facts presented, a Muslim at a prayer service in a Muslim mosque pulled a BB pistol from his pocket, looking all of a more dangerous weapon, and was subdued by individuals present that may or may not have been Muslim, and in so doing the pistol puller is alleged beset with “Islamophobia,” an irrational fear of those of his OWN faith. “You keep using that word, ….”
I have islamaphobia and am proud of it. I have reptileaphobia as well as spideraphobia that nature supplied me with. Fearing something that you know from experience is dangerous is a natural instinct and should not be surpressed. Jessie Jackson said that seeing a gang of black teenage boys approaching was something to fear. While that typical Muslim might not attack you at any moment, you know what their long range plans for you are, death or submission. Their imams tell us outloud what their plans are and that is to subjigate us. They are not like the BLM or Antifa, they are like dripping water in a cave and eventually they will win if we don’t recognize the danger they pose.
Proper fear and respect of danger is not a phobia. Irrational fear is. If you don’t want to stick your hand into a black widow’s nest, that’s not irrational fear. Screaming and hiding from a daddy longlegs is. Hiding from someone just because they’re Muslim might be considered phobic. Hiding from someone who is Muslim because you can’t tell whether they might be a fundamentalist who considers your death a stepping stone to the global Umma and their ticket to paradise is just risk management.
Would Mamdani or James like to comment on this one? Man arrested for bringing flamethrowers, weapons to NC church, had list of churches and schools, was wearing body armor? We all know why he possessed these weapons and a list of Christian churches as well as public schools. But the silence from Mamdani and James is deafening.
eot
No, we don’t know why. At least not yet. He had a list of churches and schools. That seems to mean he was not targeting Christians specifically, but large gatherings where no one was likely to be armed.
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