In 2025, America’s fertility rate reaches a historic low, while Muslim and Arab communities maintain larger family growth. These groups have bigger households than the national average, shaped by cultural norms and immigration trends.
Islam, with over a billion followers worldwide, is the world’s second-largest religion. There are over 2.6 billion Christians worldwide, making Christianity the world’s largest religion, according to 2025 data.
During my childhood in public elementary school, each day began with a Christian prayer, the pledge of allegiance to the American flag, and a copy of the Ten Commandments hung on the wall. Most of that was changed by the legislature. Among the most egregious misconduct in my school days was chewing gum, running in the hall, and talking out of turn. Tragically, schools today experience rape, pedophilia, and mass shooting deaths. Those who railed against God in public schools may unknowingly cause unexpected consequences.
In our blue-collar neighborhood, it was understood that Jesus was the begotten Son of God, the promised Messiah, and the sacrificial lamb who died for our sins on the cross and rose again on the third day to eternal life. I grew up in Burrows Baptist Church, was baptized at twelve, sang in the choir, and was married there at twenty-two. In those days, Virginia democrats were conservative.
Islam’s followers believe Jesus was a prophet but not divine. They believe Allah is the ultimate and only God, not the Almighty who led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Author of the Ten Commandments, nor the deity referred to by Christians as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Muslims’ justice system is embedded in Sharia Law, which includes the death penalty for an offender who attempts to convert a Muslim to Christianity.
New York elected Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist. Mamdani, 34, will be the city’s youngest mayor since 1892, and its first Muslim mayor-elect, a historic turning point for American Muslim political engagement.
The Al Jazeera News Media informs us that Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents with Ugandan and American citizenship.His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Columbia University professor originally from Mumbai, and his mother, Mira Nair, is an Indian-born film director. The family moved to South Africa when Mamdani was five, and then to New York at age seven.
By 2018, Mamdani was a naturalized US citizen while keeping his Ugandan citizenship. He continues to visit Uganda, most recently for his wedding to American illustrator Rama Duwaji in July. She attended VCU.
Mamdani is a common Gujarati surname among Khoja Muslims, a sect of Islam.
Mamdani means “Mohammadan,” referring to followers of the Prophet Muhammad.
Zohran is a name of Arabic and Persian origin, meaning “light,” “radiance,” or “blossom.”
Kwame, his middle name, is a traditional Akan name from the Kwa ethnic group found mainly in Ghana and parts of the Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa.
Mamdani’s father greatly admired Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and leader of its independence from Britain in 1957.
Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination, campaigning as a democratic socialist on affordability measures like rent freezes, free buses, and universal healthcare, which attracted strong support from young voters. These promises remind me of the lad who told his girlfriend, “Honey, I love you with all my heart. I would even face death for you, and I will see you Saturday if it doesn’t rain.”
Of the exceptional facts in the Mamdani election, such as his youth, inexperience, religion, and multinational citizenship, the influence of his Islamist theological beliefs and practices invites our attention. Are we not compelled to objectively expand our understanding of Islam?
The word Islam is an Arabic term that means “submission to the will of God.” The term is derived from the Arabic root, which relates to concepts of submission, safety, and peace.
A follower of Islam is called a Muslim, meaning “one who submits” or “surrenders” themselves to God (known as Allah in Arabic).
Muslims consider Prophet Muhammad as the final and complete messenger of God, who received the ultimate divine guidance in the form of the Quran, the holy book of Islam.
Islam is considered a comprehensive way of life that provides guidance for all aspects of human existence—individual, social, moral, economic, and political—not just private worship.
The Five Pillars: A Muslim’s life is structured around five essential duties:
- Ritual prayers are performed five times daily.
- Giving an obligatory alms (charity) to benefit the poor and needy.
- Fasting during the month of Ramadan.
- Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if physically and financially able.
- Living a life of obedience and submission to God’s will as guided by the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s example (Sunnah), a Muslim aims to attain peace in this life and the hereafter.
Muhammad
According to Islamic belief, the Prophet Muhammad was selected by God (Allah) to receive the Quran through the Archangel Gabriel in a cave on Mount Hira, near Mecca, in 610 AD. This event marked the beginning of Islam’s divine revelations, which continued over a period of 23 years until his death.
Muhammad was traditionally considered illiterate.
There is no objective, external physical evidence that definitively confirms the divine origin of Muhammad’s experience with the Archangel Gabriel. The question of whether a theological event is “true” is ultimately a matter of religious faith and interpretation, not empirical proof.
Within Islamic tradition, the truth of Muhammad’s experience is supported by a variety of sources and arguments considered highly convincing by believers.
Conversion to Islam resulted in profound and widespread changes in the lives of Arabs, transforming their religious beliefs, social structures, political organization, and legal systems.
While George Soros and his family did not directly donate to Mamdani’s campaign, the financial support provided to the activist groups that backed him has been a point of considerable media coverage and criticism from his opponents.
George Soros is not a Muslim; he identifies as an atheist and was born into a non-observant Jewish family. He and his family survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary during the Holocaust by using false identity papers to conceal their Jewish background. This experience with persecution influenced his later philanthropic work focused on promoting open societies and human rights.
Alex Soros’wife ‘ wife, Huma Abedin, worked in a key role during the Hillary Clinton presidential race. She recently called herself a “proud Muslim” and denounced Trump.
The chair of Open Society Foundations, George Soros’s son Alex, publicly supports New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. OSF has also contributed millions to left-wing groups like the Working Families Party, which supported Mamdani’s campaign.
Mamdani proudly announced that 40,000 voters contributed less than $100 to his campaign, but the big money apparentlyassociated with his success came from sources remaining clandestine. Islam is a total way of life affecting all one does and thinks. Both the intent and the goal of every act must be righteous.
Muslims practice Sharia Law. It is complicated. It runs contrary to British Common Law and the Ten Commandments, with which American jurisprudence is established. However, Sharia Law must become familiar to Americans to appreciate just how deeply different Islam and Christianity are.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. This sentence is considered by many to be foundational to American democracy, even while acknowledging its historical limitations and contradictions.
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.
