NYC Mayor Mamdani breaks Ramadan fast with Muslim inmates at Rikers Island
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As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani embraced the Muslim faith in the middle of Ramadan, he decided to break his religious fast with inmates who share his faith at New York’s infamous Rikers Island prison, calling it “one of the most meaningful evenings” he has spent as mayor.
Although Mamdani has visited Rikers Island in the past as a state legislator, this was his first visit as New York City mayor.
Shortly before his arrival, he reiterated his promise to close the prison and have the city absorb the incarcerated population into county jails. He also hinted that he plans to hire a facilitator to expedite those plans.
“I’m just a Muslim New Yorker,” Mamdani said during a visit to Rikers, according to NPR. “There are those who see this as a political act.”
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks next to high school student Dylan Contreras, who was recently released from federal custody, during a press conference at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City on March 19, 2026. (Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images)
During the visit, Mamdani was accompanied by Yusef Salaam, a member of the “Central Park Five” who was cleared of a 1989 rape and assault. Salaam currently serves as a member of the New York City Council.
Afterwards, social media took off Mamdani’s X postMany critics question his decision to visit inmates at Rikers, a facility notorious for its violent criminals.
“You have to be an absolute monster to get sent to Rikers Island these days,” says New York-based mystery novelist Daniel Friedman, according to his biography on Macmillan Publishers’ website.
“Rikers criminals all have a long history of doing such terrible things that even the woke, pro-criminal judges and prosecutors in NYC don’t want to be held accountable for what they’ll do if they release them,” Friedman added.
Moshe Hill, a longtime Long Island resident and candidate for the Nassau County legislature, agrees with Friedman.
“According to Mamdani, the criminals in prison are just ‘detained New Yorkers’. Why are they in custody? You’re not going to Rikers Island for nothing!” Hill joked.
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A view of Rikers Island on a winter morning as seen from a passenger plane taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City’s Queens borough on January 31, 2026. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
“The Mayor likes to hang out with people who victimize us. It’s ridiculous,” Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt said on X.
Meanwhile, Emmy-winning producer and columnist Daniella Greenbaum Davis, in her own post, asked the New York mayor if he also visited the victims of the inmates he met with.
“Visiting people in prison is admirable, but have you also visited their victim/victims’ families?” he asked. “There seems to be a strange progressive determination to reverse victimization that I cannot quite understand.”
Mamdani’s celebrations during Ramadan included breaking the fast, or daily fast, at the Museum of the City of New York. This also includes former college football coach and congressman Sen. It also triggered some backlash, including from Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
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U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) speaks to reporters as he returns to his office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 10, 2026 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Tuberville shared a photo of Mamdani at iftar and a photo of the Twin Towers, which burned as a result of the crash of planes on September 11, 2001. Tuberville wrote in his post, “The enemy is within the gates.”
Tuberville faced backlash for the post, but the GOP senator stood firm and defended the social media post.
“I just go along with his rhetoric,” Tuberville said.
“He’s made a lot of statements about his stance on Islam and radical Islam and a lot of things that align with what he preaches every day. And I kind of echo what he said,” the senator told DC News Now’s Reshad Hudson.
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“We don’t need division in this country. We need everyone to abide by the Constitution, to understand that we have moral values. And if we all abide by those, I don’t care if you’re Muslim, Catholic or Baptist, it doesn’t make any difference,” he continued.
“We need to make the country better; we don’t need to divide it. That’s what he’s doing in New York.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
