Mamdani cites the Quran and quotes Muhammed while announcing order to protect illegal aliens from ICE

New York City's first Muslim mayor cited verses from the Quran before saying he is strengthening sanctuary city laws to protect illegal aliens.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) made the comments during an interfaith prayer meeting on Friday morning. The order will prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering city property without a judicial warrant.

'If faith offers us the moral compass to stand alongside the stranger, government can provide the resources.'

"I consider my own faith, Islam, a religion built upon a narrative of migration," said Mamdani. "The story of the Hijrah reminds us that prophet Muhammad ... was a stranger too who fled Mecca and was welcomed in Medina."

The order will also create a new task force to focus on immigration and ICE, increase protections on private data, and institute a review on agency policies to ensure they follow the mayor's directives.

He went on to site several other Quran verses.

"'As for those who immigrated in the cause of Allah after being persecuted, we shall surely bless them with a good home in this world,'" he quoted. "Or as the prophet Muhammed ... said, 'Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange. So glad tidings to the strangers.'"

Here the audience applauded his quote.

"If faith offers us the moral compass to stand alongside the stranger, government can provide the resources," Mamdani continued. "Let us create a new expectation of city hall, where power is wielded to love, to embrace, and to protect. We will stand with the stranger today, tomorrow, and all the days that are still to come."

Video of Mamdani quoting the Quran was posted to social media.

RELATED: Mamdani housing official decries 'white middle-class homeowners' for stalling 'renter justice'

In January, Mamdani said that the city would expand free day-care opportunities to the city's residents and specifically included illegal aliens. He also signaled that he would continue the city's sanctuary policies.

"We are also proud to be a sanctuary city," Mamdani said at the time. "What a sanctuary city means is that we have policies in place, policies have existed for years in the city, that deny ICE agents access into schools, hospitals, city properties, or even the properties of city contractors unless those ICE agents can present a judicial warrant signed by a judge."

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