Zohran Mamdanis imam ally Siraj Wahhaj has history of vile anti-gay views: Disease of this society

Zohran Mamdani’s imam pal Siraj Wahhaj has a history of vile homophobic comments — and he’s only the latest person with similar beliefs the young mayoral candidate has been spending time with.Wahhaj, a prominent 75-year-old Brooklyn imam, once called on followers to intimidate the LGBT community into becoming straight and joining Islam — and invoked violent rhetoric about murdering gay people while doing it.“This is a disease of this society,” Wahhaj said in a sermon first revealed in 2017, advising followers to “defend against these homosexuals.”“No matter how much the American government and the Canadian government legislated in their law that it is acceptable, it will never be acceptable by the Muslims,” said Wahhaj, who Mamdani visited in Brooklyn on Friday before posting a photo of the pair smiling together.“And you know brothers and sisters, you know what the punishment is if a man is found with another man?” Wahhaj added.“The Prophet Mohammad said the one who does it and the one whom it is done to, kill them both.”Wahhaj said people shouldn’t kill gays and didn’t have the right to “go get sticks and start running outside looking for homosexuals” — but that scaring them into changing their ways was perfectly OK in his view.“You go to them and invite them to Islam and make them feel uncomfortable, but don’t beat them up,” he said.Despite those comments, Mamdani called the prominent Imam “a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century” in a post on X after meeting with him on Friday.Mamdani hasn’t returned requests for comment on Wahhaj’s homophobic comments — despite characterizing himself as a supporter of the LGBTQ community for years.But Wahhaj isn’t the first outspoken anti-LGBT personality Mamdani has been seen gladhanding with.In July, he was photographed visiting and mugging with Ugandan Deputy Prime Minister and Rebecca Kadaga during a July meeting after he clinched a Democratic pri...