“NY Imam Wahaj has been extremely clear that he is working for Islam to destroy America.

"You don’t get involved in politics because it’s the American thing to do,” he said. “You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam. Wherever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason — for one reason only — to establish Allah’s deen [‘law’ or ‘way of life’ in Arabic].” And he predicted: “Democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam.”

This is the man extolled as a role model by the probable next mayor of New York.

Mayoral candidate Mamdani’s brazen gesture in visiting the mosque of Imam Siraj Wahhaj was intended to normalise Islamist extremism in America and show that it is in the ascendant because no one is even trying to stop it.

-- Melanie Phillips