Muslim first responder 9/11: ‘Islam is being hijacked’
Zeshan Hamdani has a simple message for anyone who thinks a Muslim mayor shouldn’t stand at Ground Zero this September: his brother died there. Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old NYPD cadet and EMT, ran toward the North Tower on the morning of September 11, 2001, and never came home. Now, 24 years later, Zeshan is pushing back hard against critics who questioned whether New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani should attend the upcoming 25-year memorial.
“Islam is being hijacked,” Zeshan told reporters this week. “It was hijacked on 9/11 by terrorists, and it’s being hijacked again now by people who want to use my brother’s death to score political points.”
A brother remembered
Salman’s remains weren’t identified until March 2002, more than six months after the attacks. For a brief, ugly stretch of time, some media outlets and online commentators had speculated — without evidence — that he might have been involved in the plot. He was, in fact, one of the day’s heroes. His name is etched into the memorial at the World Trade Center site alongside 2,976 others.
Zeshan, now 41, has spent years speaking at schools, community events and congressional hearings about his brother’s story. But this week felt different. The criticism aimed at Mamdani — New York City’s first Muslim mayor, elected in 2025 — struck him as something uglier than political disagreement.
“Zohran being there isn’t a controversy. It’s appropriate. It’s exactly right,” Zeshan said.
The pushback against Mamdani
Mamdani, 35, a Democratic Socialist who won the mayoral race in a landslide this spring, confirmed he plans to attend the September 11 memorial at Ground Zero. That announcement drew criticism from a handful of conservative commentators and one state lawmaker, who questioned — without elaborating — whether his presence was “suitable.” None cited a specific policy objection. Still, the comments spread quickly on social media.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office declined to engage directly with the criticism but said Mamdani “will honor all victims and all heroes of that day, as every New York mayor has done.”
A faith under fire, again
For Zeshan, this isn’t abstract. It’s personal in a way that most people debating the issue online will never understand. His family spent the days after 9/11 searching hospitals and posting flyers. They were Muslim Americans grieving a Muslim American hero while an entire community braced for backlash.
That backlash came. Hate crimes against Muslim Americans surged 1,600 percent in 2001, according to FBI data.
“We’ve been fighting to be seen as Americans for 24 years,” Zeshan said. “Salman proved it with his life.”
Looking toward September
The 25-year anniversary memorial is scheduled for September 11, 2026, and planning is already underway. Zeshan says he intends to be there, as he has been every year. And he hopes the conversation between now and then shifts away from who belongs at Ground Zero and back toward who gave everything there.
“My brother didn’t check anyone’s religion before he ran in,” he said. “Neither should we.”
