Follow the Money: How Qatar, Soros, and a Terrorism Case Connect to New York's Next Mayor

"The effort to normalize extremism in American politics is not just a domestic issue; it's a gateway for foreign influences to undermine our security." — Bill Ackman

ACT 1: THE PRAISE

On October 18, 2025, Zohran Mamdani posted a photograph from Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn. Standing beside him is Imam Siraj Wahhaj. Mamdani's caption was effusive: "one of the nation's foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century."

The photo marked the culmination of a coordinated campaign between the two men that had already been months in the making.

Siraj Wahhaj had donated $1,000 to Unity and Justice Fund, the super PAC with direct ties to him, which subsequently funneled $25,000 to support Mamdani's campaign. That money had flowed into the race earlier in the cycle.

Then Siraj Wahhaj went further. He recorded a video endorsement, explicitly calling on Muslims to vote for Zohran Mamdani. The video circulated through Muslim networks in New York, delivered the Imam's blessing to the candidate.

At the October 18 mosque event, Mamdani spoke before an assembled group of New York's prominent Muslim leaders. This was not a casual visit. It was a public coronation, with Siraj Wahhaj, the patriarch of a convicted terrorism family, standing beside the man now asking New York voters to make him mayor.

It was a deliberate, coordinated public statement. A candidate for mayor of America's largest city publicly embracing a religious leader whose financial support he had already received, whose video endorsement he had already benefited from, and whom he was now praising before a gathering of the city's Muslim leadership as one of the nation's foremost leaders.

What followed should have been scrutiny. Instead, there was silence from New York's major news outlets.

ACT 2: THE RECORD—WHAT FEDERAL COURTS KNOW

The United States Department of Justice has a different view of Siraj Wahhaj than Zohran Mamdani expressed.

In 1993, federal prosecutors named Wahhaj as "an unindicted person who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in connection with the World Trade Center bombing and related terrorist plots. He was not charged, but prosecutors considered the evidence sufficient to name him in court documents.

More significantly, Wahhaj testified as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the "Blind Sheikh." Abdel-Rahman was convicted of masterminding a conspiracy to attack the FBI, the United Nations, and the Lincoln Tunnel. He is serving a life sentence. At Abdel-Rahman's trial, Wahhaj called a convicted terrorist plotter a "respected scholar" and a "strong preacher of Islam." That testimony is in the public record.

In 1991, Wahhaj delivered a lecture in which he stated: "Where ever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason, for one reason only—to establish Allah's deen." He urged Muslims to use politics "as a weapon in the cause of Islam." He has stated that Islam is superior to democracy, that democracy must be replaced by Islamic law, and that homosexuality is a "disease" that American society created. He has advocated that adultery should be punished by stoning.

These positions are documented. They are not allegations. They are statements Siraj Wahhaj made publicly and has not recanted.

But his record extends further, into his own family.

The New Mexico Compound: What the Courts Found

On August 3, 2018, law enforcement executed a federal warrant on a compound in Amalia, New Mexico. What they discovered should have been a warning to anyone paying attention to Siraj Wahhaj's influence in progressive New York politics.

According to the United States Department of Justice, the federal agents found:

"A heavily fortified, purpose-built, militarized compound in Amalia. The group intended to use the child as a prop in a plan to rid the world of purportedly corrupt institutions, including the FBI, CIA, and U.S. military, and to kill those who did not convert and follow Leveille. The planning and training for this conspiracy took place at a heavily fortified, purpose-built, militarized compound."

The defendants were Siraj Ibn Wahhaj (son of Imam Siraj Wahhaj), his two sisters Hujrah and Subhanah, and Subhanah's husband Lucas Morton.

They had abducted a three-year-old child from his mother in Georgia and transported him to this compound. According to court records, the group subjected the child to exorcism rituals, believing him to be possessed. The child died in captivity.

The training documents seized at the compound showed systematic preparation for violence. Federal prosecutors detailed the operation: "The group's firearms and tactical training ramped up in frequency, intensity, and complexity in anticipation of the Easter resurrection" of the dead child, whom they believed would return as Jesus and instruct them on which government institutions to destroy.

When the child did not resurrect, Leveille began promising he would return at his birthday. When that failed, she pivoted to claiming his resurrection was imminent.

In March 2024, federal judges sentenced Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, Hujrah Wahhaj, Subhanah Wahhaj, and Lucas Morton to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The convictions stand in federal court documents, undisputed.

Two weeks after these life sentences were handed down, Zohran Mamdani visited a mosque to publicly praise Imam Siraj Wahhaj—the father of three people serving life sentences for terrorism conspiracy—as one of the nation's foremost Muslim leaders.

The New York Times did not cover this connection. Neither did the New York Daily News, the New York Post, or any other major outlet. Mamdani's campaign faced no meaningful questions about the relationship.

ACT 3: THE MONEY—WHERE IT COMES FROM

To understand why this network has coalesced around Zohran Mamdani, one must trace the money. The patterns are revealing.

Qatar's $100 Billion Strategy

In May 2025, The Free Press published an investigation that should have sent shockwaves through American politics. Investigative reporters Frannie Block and Jay Solomon documented that Qatar has deployed nearly $100 billion over the past two decades to establish influence across American government, universities, media, and corporations.

The Free Press found the deployment strategic and comprehensive:

Qatar has invested $6 billion in American university campuses, establishing facilities at Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern. It has spent $225 million on lobbying and public relations efforts targeting Washington decision-makers since 2017. It has invested $8 billion to build and maintain the Al Udeid Air Base, the Pentagon's primary logistical hub in the Middle East. In return, according to the investigation, it has secured relationships with leading lawmakers, defense officials, and White House personnel.

This is not charity. Money of this magnitude is deployed with expectation of return.

Critically, The Free Press documented that Qatar has funneled $1.8 billion to Hamas, the organization responsible for the October 7 massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis. This funding continues, even as American policy ostensibly opposes Hamas. Members of Qatar's royal family have publicly praised Hamas leaders. After the death of Yahya Sinwar, a Hamas leader and mastermind of the October 7 attacks, Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, mother of Qatar's emir, posted on social media: "He will live on, and they will be gone."

The same country that has poured billions into Hamas has simultaneously been funding Zohran Mamdani's family.

Mira Nair and the Qatar Connection

Zohran Mamdani's mother is Mira Nair, an acclaimed international filmmaker. Her work has received substantial funding from Qatar's Doha Film Institute since 2009.

2009 is significant. That year marks the beginning of Qatar's accelerated spending in America. That same year, Qatar began funneling billions to Hamas. That same year, Qatar began its systematic investment in American influence.

That same year, it began funding Mira Nair.

This is not a tangential detail. The filmmaker whose son is now running for mayor of New York has been on Qatar's financial support for sixteen years. Her films have been produced with Qatari money. Her international profile—which elevated her family's prominence—has been substantially underwritten by a state that finances terrorism.

Mamdani has never visited Qatar, according to his campaign. He claims to have received no direct financial support from the Qatari state. But on social media, something else has been happening.

The Royal Promotion

Since June 2025, Sheikha Al-Mayassa, a prominent member of Qatar's ruling family, has actively promoted Zohran Mamdani's candidacy on social media. She has used her platform and her influence to advocate for his election as mayor of New York City.

Why would a member of Qatar's royal family, who has no apparent connection to New York politics, begin publicly campaigning for a local mayoral candidate?

The Mamdani campaign has provided no explanation. No major news organization has asked the question.

The optics are stark: A state that finances Hamas is promoting, through its royal family, the election of a candidate who openly supports the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement against Israel and who has called Gaza a "genocide."

One does not require coordination to recognize alignment. One does not require conspiracy to see a pattern.

ACT 4: THE NETWORK—HOW THE MONEY MOVES

Money rarely travels in isolation. It flows through networks. To understand Mamdani's campaign, one must map those networks.

Linda Sarsour: The Central Node

Linda Sarsour did not work for Zohran Mamdani's campaign in any official capacity. She had no formal position. Yet she performed the critical function of political amplifier, validator, and mobilizer.

Sarsour is well-known in progressive politics. She co-led the 2017 Women's March. She has been a prominent voice in Palestinian activism. She co-founded the Muslim Democratic Club of New York in 2013 and served as its president.

What is less well known is the source of her financial ecosystem.

The Soros Connection

Investigative research has documented that George Soros and his Open Society Foundations have funded or maintained close relationships with more than 56 of the 403 organizations that partnered with the Women's March. These organizations span civil rights, immigrant advocacy, reproductive rights, and a range of progressive causes.

The Arab-American Association of New York, where Sarsour served as executive director, is a Soros grantee. Organizations throughout Sarsour's activist network—the groups she has worked with, spoken at, and endorsed—have received substantial Soros funding.

This does not mean Sarsour is a "Soros puppet." It means she operates within an ecosystem substantially funded by Soros capital. That capital shapes which organizations flourish, which voices amplify, and which campaigns receive infrastructure support.

When Sarsour moved to support Mamdani's campaign, she brought that entire ecosystem with her.

MDCNY: The Institutional Vehicle

The Muslim Democratic Club of New York was founded in March 2013. In 2018, Zohran Mamdani was elected to its board.

In August 2025, after Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor, the MDCNY posted on social media: "Zohran Mamdani winning the democratic mayoral primary in NYC is a political earthquake that shook the establishment to its core. Muslim communities played a decisive role in this win."

This is not an organization passively supporting a candidate. This is an organization claiming ownership of his victory.

Sarsour, as co-founder and former president of MDCNY, maintained visible presence and influence throughout Mamdani's campaign. She appeared at MDCNY events where Mamdani was present. She mobilized the organization's networks. She used her social media platforms to direct followers to register as Democrats to vote for him.

The organization became a vehicle for moving support, infrastructure, and money toward his campaign.

The Campaign Finance: Following the $15.3 Million

Mamdani's campaign raised $15.3 million total. The sources are revealing:

Omer Hasan and Mohammad Javed, both former AppLovin executives, donated $500,000 combined. Why would tech executives invest half a million dollars in a municipal election for a candidate whose stated platform includes defunding police and implementing socialist economic policies? The question has not been asked publicly.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Unity and Justice Fund donated $100,000 to the pro-Mamdani super PAC. CAIR's own stated goal is to "elevate the influence of the Muslim community."

Imam Siraj Wahhaj—the same Imam Siraj Wahhaj whose children are serving life sentences for terrorism conspiracy—donated $1,000 to the pro-Mamdani super PAC, which then funneled $25,000 to the main campaign vehicle.

Approximately $13,000 came from foreign donors, 170 individuals from outside the United States.

Most strikingly: 78 percent of the super PAC funding came from outside New York State. This is not a locally-funded campaign. It is a nationally and internationally sourced operation.

The money came in. The talent mobilized. The networks aligned.

THE NETWORK MADE VISIBLE

Consider the density:

Imam Siraj Wahhaj publicly mentors Linda Sarsour. She calls him her "favorite person," her "mentor, motivator, and encourager."

Linda Sarsour co-founded and led the Muslim Democratic Club of New York.

Zohran Mamdani joined the MDCNY board in 2018.

Sarsour actively campaigned for Mamdani in 2025, mobilizing networks and voters.

Linda Sarsour operates within networks substantially funded by George Soros.

Zohran Mamdani's mother, Mira Nair, has received substantial funding from Qatar's Doha Film Institute since 2009.

Since June 2025, a member of Qatar's ruling family has been publicly promoting Mamdani's candidacy on social media.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj has donated to the pro-Mamdani super PAC.

This is not a series of coincidences. This is an ecosystem.

ACT 5: THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Several questions remain unanswered, and notably, they have not been asked by any major news organization:

Why did Zohran Mamdani choose to publicly embrace Imam Siraj Wahhaj, whose children are serving life sentences for terrorism conspiracy, mere weeks before the mayoral election?

What was the nature of the relationship between Mamdani and Sarsour that led her to invest substantial political capital in his campaign?

How did Mamdani's campaign acquire its $15.3 million? What were the conversations, if any, with major donors about what they expected in return?

Why has a member of Qatar's royal family been promoting Mamdani's candidacy on social media? What relationship exists between Mamdani and the Qatari state?

Has Mira Nair, the beneficiary of Qatari funding for sixteen years, provided advice or guidance to her son's campaign? If so, on what subjects?

How did 78 percent of campaign super PAC funding come from outside New York State, and who coordinated the sourcing of that out-of-state money?

What influence did Linda Sarsour and the MDCNY network exercise over Mamdani's campaign messaging and strategy?

These questions have not been answered because they have not been asked.

The Mamdani campaign has provided no statement addressing any of them. The New York Times has not asked. The New York Post has not asked. New York One has not asked.

CONCLUSION: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT REMAINS HIDDEN

We know that a state which finances Hamas has been funding Mamdani's mother since 2009.

We know that a member of Qatar's ruling family began promoting Mamdani's candidacy in June 2025.

We know that Mamdani publicly praised, as "one of the nation's foremost Muslim leaders," a man whose children are serving life sentences for terrorism conspiracy.

We know that his campaign was substantially managed by Linda Sarsour, who operates within networks funded by George Soros.

We know that 78 percent of his campaign funding came from outside New York State.

We know that these networks—the Qatari connection, the Soros connection, the Sarsour connection, the Siraj Wahhaj connection—have all aligned behind one candidate.

What we do not know is why.

New York voters are entitled to that answer before they cast their ballots for the next mayor of their city. And journalists are obligated to find it.

The question is no longer whether these connections exist. They are documented. The question is whether anyone has the courage to report on what they mean.